The organisation was begun 23 years ago above a very small bookshop in the mean back streets of Brighton & Hove. To be honest it wasn’t exactly Brighton Rock and the shop was more in Hove than Brighton.
The mission statement has always been about water sustainability: the same as today . The organisation started as River Ocean Research and Education and then evolved into a charity called the River Ocean Foundation. Five years ago we changed into a social enterprise, simply called River Ocean.
Since the early 1990’s we’ve been involved in many projects both in the SE of England, as well as nationally and Internationally. We’ve worked in regional schools particularly with Key stage 2 teachers/students from which we – special thanks to staff education coordinator at the time: Dinah – wrote and published the educators guide to teaching about water referenced in part on this site.
From the start the organisation has been a mix of a small number of part-time paid core staff and volunteers. In the olden days of the EU we received funding that enabled organisations and local people in Northern France to get to know and work with similar organisations and individuals in East Sussex. In 1990 we started and coordinated a tidal festival – LowTide – held on the Saturday in May with lowest tide (next one is 27/5/2017). After 10 years it had become Britain’s largest environmental one day coastal events. It’s because of the festival that we began producing our lunar calendar.
Ten years ago several funding steams closed coupled with staff departures which resulted in a contraction of local and national services. Despite all we’ve been through the coastal festival and new activities keep going. The new website is testament to the continued belief and support of not only the staff, but also many others. All of us believe we owe the next generation a sustainable planet.