Riverlution's September 2026 Newsletter

News and Wins
Welcome, Leo! We’re delighted to welcome Leo to Riverlution as our new Apprenticeship and Learning Support Tutor. Leo joins us with experience as a Skills Tutor supporting Horticulture and Arboriculture apprenticeships, as well as previous roles with Groundwork and The Eden Project. When asked what he’s looking forward to, Leo said: “For me, the most rewarding part is seeing learning translated into action. I’m passionate about supporting people into rewarding careers while helping deliver genuine, visible improvements to our natural environment. I’ve already seen examples of this in my first few weeks, which tells me this is the right place to be.” It’s great to have you with us, Leo, welcome to Riverlution!
	Thank you and goodbye, Finn! We’d like to say a big thank you to Finn, who joined the RSC team this month for a two-week internship from the University of Sheffield. Studying Biological Sciences and heading into his fourth and final year, Finn spent his time joining Leo (RSC) on site visits, creating templates to support tender writing, and getting an insight into the work that happens behind the scenes at RSC. Wishing you all the best for your final year, Finn, it was great to have you on board!
	Ross at Riverlution Though Ross is by no means a new face, we’re excited to be able to say that Ross is now a more permanent member of the Riverlution team. Ross will be assisting with supervising the South Yorkshire Partnership team and delivering training. Ross, we’re glad to have you with us on a more regular basis.
Learning and Training This month, our apprentices took part in another set of block weeks, cohort one began preparing for upcoming EPA’s later this year and cohort two were with Rosie, Leo and Geoff each teaching different sections throughout the week. They worked on installing leaky dams at Bentley, as well as completing their woodchipper training and First Aid course, making for a full week of hands-on learning and practical training. Across the wider Riverlution team, there’s been plenty of training too, including chainsaw, brushcutter, Safe Working Near Water and offroad vehicle operating courses taking place throughout the month.
	Volunteer Days Another busy month of volunteer sessions! We held four sessions with SPRT, Loadhog and the EA, making great progress on the closed section of the Five Weirs Walk ahead of future funding for the construction work needed to reopen it. We also continued our work with SPRT at Abbeydale Road. A huge thank you to the South Yorkshire Partnership operations team, whose support has been instrumental in making these sessions run smoothly and successfully for everyone involved.
Insider Property Awards Yorkshire 2026 This month, Tirion attended the Insider Property Awards Yorkshire 2026 in Leeds alongside Caddick Construction. Caddick were shortlisted for the Sustainability & Social Impact Award in recognition of their Dane Park Road and Isledane housing developments in Hull. Caddick is one of Riverlution’s key Humber partners, working with us to deliver social value across the local area through skills training, community engagement and environmental stewardship.
	Awards recognition We’re delighted to share that this month we’ve been selected as a finalist for Local Impact of the Year at the Doncaster Business Awards 2026, as well as being shortlisted for the Green Innovation Award at the 2026 Chamber Business Awards. It’s incredibly uplifting to see our work recognised through these shortlists. Whether we take home an award or not, being selected is a huge achievement and means a lot to the whole team. Fingers crossed for success at the awards evenings!
Monthly Focus – NFM
Bentley Leaky Dams NFM This month, we worked with six apprentices in Bentley, Doncaster, to install a series of leaky dams as part of the Source to Sea programme. The team prepared, fitted and secured the dams, while also training Doncaster City Council staff on their ongoing maintenance to ensure they remain effective. It was a successful and rewarding project, helping raise awareness of the important role Natural Flood Management can play in reducing flood risk and supporting surrounding communities. To complement the training, an animator also created an engaging video explaining how leaky dams work and why maintenance is important, featuring our very own Roxy as the voiceover! Here is the link on our YouTube channel if you'd like to take look at it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2nLGC46f2c