Rivers4Life
Our exciting new education project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Inspiring Communities
Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK's heritage. Rivers4Life is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to extend our education and engagement programme to connect schools and communities with rivers and wildlife through science and the arts, to inspire everyone to get involved with caring for our rivers.
More about Rivers4Life
The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players we support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past. Find out more at www.heritagefund.org.uk.
Thanks to National Lottery players the Rivers4Life project will enable us to work with schools and communities along the rivers Wharfe, Swale, Ure, Nidd and Ouse, and their tributaries. Through the project we will inspire children and communities about everything to do with rivers and wildlife.
This 3-year project will allow us to deliver an exciting programme combining the arts and science, to reach a wider audience. We will be working with local schools and community groups offering workshops to engage people through visual art, soundscapes, theatre, stop-frame animation and music; we'll also be running guided walks, art workshops and family activity sessions during school holidays.
If your school or community group is in the catchments of the rivers of the Yorkshire Dales, please email education@ydrt.co.uk to enquire about Rivers4Life workshops or booking the Rivers mobile classroom to visit your school in 2025-6.
Year 1 - 2025
In Year 1 of the project, in addition to our rivers workshops with the mobile classroom, we have been working on some amazing arts projects linking groups with rivers and wildlife! School and community workshops have involved collaborating with fabulous artists including
Ashford Cottage Design, filmmaker, animator and community artist
Finn Varney,
Falling Stars Theatre,
Music Box, and Soundscape artist
David de la Haye. The finished pieces will be included in the
Rivers4Life exhibition in the summer of 2026.
Year 2 - 2026
In Year 2 of the project, the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes, will be hosting our Rivers4Life summer exhibition showcasing the work of the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, and including art produced in the Rivers4Life workshops. The exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday 6th June to Sunday 27th September 2026.
We will also be continuing our schools workshops and running training sessions for teachers, leading guided river walks, and presenting an exciting bespoke community theatre performance about the River Ure at the Dales Countryside Museum on 27th and 28th June and during the Ripon Theatre Festival on 4th July.
Year 3 - 2027
In Year 3 we will be working with two local schools to install Sustainable Drainage Solution (SuDS) features such as rain gardens and water butts, in school grounds. There will also be training opportunities for teachers and group leaders to learn about river wildlife and freshwater invertebrate sampling. If you work at a school in our catchment and you'd like to find out more about the SuDS installations or teacher training sessions, please get in touch:
education@ydrt.co.uk.
Rivers4Life Events
Open Rehearsals for "Tributaries" Theatre Community Play - free event!
Save the dates! Ripon Workhouse Museum: Saturday 21st March 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes: Saturday 28th March 10.30am to 12.30pm
Leyburn Arts Centre (The Old School House): Saturday 18th April 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Join Fell Foss Theatre to find out about how you can be involved in the "Tributaries" production, a celebration of the River Ure.
Suitable for adults and children 8 years +. Children must be accompanied by a parent or carer over 18.
Ripon and Wensleydale Community play 2026 will discover the spirit of our very own River Ure, exploring its history, folklore and importance to communities who have lived along its banks through the ages, to the current challenges facing the health of our rivers.
Tributaries promises to be a rich theatrical event, with music, poetry, Greek choruses, a giant and a kelpie!
Public performances will be in June and July, in Hawes and Ripon.
No booking required for the open rehearsals, just come along! Or email enquiries@ydrt.co.uk for further information.
River Lines Linocut Workshop
A linocut workshop using rivers and their natural history as inspiration, led by Sally from Ashford Cottages design.
Date: Tuesday 23rd June 2026
Location: Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes, 10.30 am to 3.30pm. £50 pp including lunch and all materials. Booking required through DCM Events at https://www.dalescountrysidemuseum.org.uk/events
"Tributaries" Ripon and Wensleydale Community Play 2026
Performances at:
Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June
and
Ripon Workhouse Museum on Saturday 4th July
Times and booking details coming soon!
Felted Rivers - free event!
Wednesday 5th August 2026
Make your own needle-felted river scene, to coincide with the Rivers4Life exhibition at the Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes. Included in museum admission.
Family drop-in sessions from 1pm to 4pm.
No booking required.
Watery Weavings - free event!
Thursday 6th August 2026
Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes.
A free family art workshop on rivers and wildlife, linking with our Rivers4Life exhibition.
Morning session 10.30am to 12.30pm
Afternoon session 2pm - 4pm.
Spaces are limited so please book ahead to avoid disappointment. Book your FREE place at https://www.dalescountrysidemuseum.org.uk/events/
Rivers4Life Photography Competition
A big thank you to everyone who has entered our photography competition. We've been blown away by the standard of your beautiful images!
The competition is now closed and the final stage of judging is underway to choose the best photographs of our Yorkshire Dales rivers and wildlife, to be included in our Rivers4Life exhibition.
We will be contacting the successful photographers by the end of March. Five winning images from each of the four seasons will be on display in the exhibition at the Dales Countryside Museum this summer!
Some feedback from the groups we have worked with:
Hunton & Arrathorne CP School
”The children really enjoyed it and I felt there was a fun atmosphere in both the initial workshop and then the final performance, helped by the enthusiastic delivery of the team."
(Falling Stars Theatre workshop and performance of the River Project).
Hawes Community Primary School
”The children loved the whole process from drawing, to cutting the lino and printing it at the end. A brilliant experience for the children - they loved it and so did I!"
(River wildlife lino printing workshop).
Boroughbridge Primary School
”Extremely inclusive - our SEND children were fully involved and engaged."
"Child 1: I enjoyed everything about the whole experience!"
(River wildlife and Music composition workshops).
Women's group, Refugee Council
“The women (enjoyed) talking about their own connection to rivers in Afghanistan and sharing it with each other, (giving a) sense of empowerment. Felt like a good springboard in connecting to the rivers project." (Group leader).
"Before I came here, I was feeling unhappy. Now I come here and I'm happy." (Participant).
(A series of textile and art workshops on the theme of rivers and wildlife).
