Yesterday, some of the best of humanity came together on the Aldersbrook in Ilford to uncover a river so choked in plastic & rubbish it had ceased to flow. With a day of difficult & tiring work, they managed to uncover the river & begin bringing it back to life. We had previously thought that the river was gone/silted up here, with just a layer of plastic sitting on top. As a volunteer plunged in waist deep with waders on, we realised that the river was still 2-3 ft deep, but was full of plastic & floating rubbish built up over decades