Philip Perkins’ calendar event capturing the beautiful Kennet raises £780 to boost finances for ARK

His aim was to raise £,1,000 for Action River Kennet, which cares for the famed chalk stream that flows through Wiltshire and Berkshire.

And with a smile on his face, 67-year-old Philip Perkins produced a larger than life cheque yesterday (Thursday) to present to ARK’s director, Charlotte Hitchmough.

He didn’t quite hit his target, the cheque being for £780, but Philip was more than pleased with his initial success in producing the first ever Kennet Calendar – and presenting the cheque to Charlotte on the banks of the Kennet at St George’s Church, Preshute.

“I like to consider the project a big success,” he told Marlborough News Online.  “And I would like to thank all those who showed their goodwill by buying a calendar – and your website for giving such positive support to the enterprise.”

It was Philip’s own passion for photography that inspired the idea of producing a high class calendar without any experience of marketing it – and in fact over-producing 750 copies for an initial print run.

He sold some 600 in the end despite retailers at shops, pubs and post offices in towns and villages along the banks of the Kennet advising him that it might prove too costly at £10 in tough economic times.

“But it was a first bash at this sort of thing and I’m delighted to have raised so much to help the work of ARK,” he said.

And at Tesco’s, Marlborough, on Saturday, there will be an opportunity to buy Philip’s splendid calendar at a reduced price.

Meanwhile, he faces the challenge of producing a new calendar for 2014, the problem being that he has no access to long stretches of the Kennet because the river flows through private property.

So he has sent off free copies of the current calendar to the landowners and asked for their permission to allow him to roam their river bank to find new vistas for the next ‘Beautiful Kennet’ calendar.  River keepers are also keeping a look-out for seductive scenes he might add to his collection of Kennet photographs.

“I do want to have another go,” said Philip, a telecommunications consultant who has lived in Ramsbury since 1984. “Something like 90 per cent of the land through which the Kennet flows is private, and this time I want to take more photographs of the eastern end of the river.”

“So all the help I can get will be gratefully received.”

And Charlotte Hitchmough has given her blessing to the production of another calendar too.  “The project has been a terrific success – as well as being very beautiful,” she said.

 

A burst water main and sewage in the Kennet are causing concern ARK expressed its concern this week after a major burst main at Axford resulted in hundreds of families in Ramsbury, Axford and Mildenhall going without water on Sunday and Monday. Pressure in most places was reduced to 85 per cent and caused consternation for businesses as well as households. “Keeping treated water in the system by minimising leaks has been a priority for Thames Water and this sort of leak is bad news at a time when we are trying to encourage people to use less water,” said ARK director Charlotte Hitchmough. “Another issue bubbling around is the number of sewers which are overflowing while the groundwater is so high.  Some are discharging straight into the river. “At East Kennet there seems to be a hole in the sewer upstream of the pumping station, which is letting water in to the sewer at such a rate that a team of tankers are running backward and forward to Swindon all day to take the diluted sewage to the treatment works because the pumping station can’t cope.” She added: “There is no public health risk – no-one is swimming in the river or drinking directly from it – and the sewage is too dilute to cause fish kills.  But it still shouldn’t be happening.”