Singing to Source

Singing to Source is an act of love for our rivers imagined by Oxford Community Goddess Temple and Thames Headwaters Bioregion. We are inspired by our ancestors, who held water as sacred and protected the headwaters of their drinking water both practically and through ritual.

On Saturday March 14th we invite you to come out on the land and honour the sources of the rivers of the Thames Headwaters, at the Thames, Churn, Cherwell, Evenlode, Ock, Ray, Windrush, and Boundary Brook.* In the morning, we will walk to the source, leave offerings and sing together.

Singing is one way to show our love and care. See below for a video of song we will sing simultaneously at midday. You don’t have to be ‘a good singer’ to take part in this. It’s not about performing for the benefit of other people. It’s a simple way to show our thanks to the place.

Waters of the world, waters of our bodies

We see you, we hear you,

We thank you for our life.

We thank you and we’re sorry.

Waters of the world hear our song.

How / Where / When to Join In

See the joining details for each location below. We aim to sing at midday but as some walks are longer than others, the meeting times vary.

We invite you to WEAR BLUE and BRING AN OFFERING (something biodegradable and / or friendly to the local wildlife. e.g. water, dried petals, flowers, corn / grain etc)

Please come prepared for all weather possibilities and wear / bring sturdy boots – waterproof if possible. A flask of tea and a snack would be a good idea too.

There is no need to book. Some organisers would prefer you to email to say you are coming. For some you can just turn up. So see below for specific instructions. If you have a specific question you can email one of the facilitators below, before the day of the gathering. In order to prevent spam, we have not printed the organisers’ complete email addresses here, so you will need to copy and paste the email address, replacing -at- with @.

* NB If you live near another source and would like to go there instead, please let us know and we can include your details here.

Donations: There is no charge to join, but donations to the emergent Oxford Community Goddess Temple are very welcome. (Live link to https://www.goddess-in-oxford.co.uk/)

Saturday 14th March 2026

Source of the Boundary Brook with tbc

Source of the Ray with Tony Currivan (urieltony-at-gmail.com)

11.30am Meet at the lay-by on A4361 to Avebury just south of Wroughton (What3Words losses.stuff.safe) The entrance to Markham Banks Reserve is about 50m back towards Wroughton. We will walk along the public footpath to the source of the Ray (about 10 minutes). If the weather is looking good, we invite you to bring a picnic. Please get in touch with Tony nearer the time Transport: 49 bus runs from Swindon via Wroughton to Devizes. See timetable at https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/West/2024/Swindon/49_250124.pdf.

Source of the Cherwell with Jackie Singer (jackie-at-thehummingbirdlodge.com)

details tbc

Source of Thames with Varvara Mexi (taramexis-at-gmail.com)

11am Meet at Kemble Station Car Park, Station Rd, Kemble, Cirencester GL7 6AW for a short walk to the source. Feel free to bring a flask of tea and snacks. Transport: 10.32am from Swindon arrives 10.45am. Unfortunately on a Sunday there are no convenient trains from Oxford. We will try to coordinate lift-shares.

Source of the Evenlode with tbc

Source of the Thame with tbc

Source of the Windrush with Antony Melville (antonymelville–at–gmail.com)

details tbc

Source of the Churn with Vicky Sweeney (vickysingtastic – at – outlook.com)

details tbc

These are some pictures from 2024 and 2025 – at the Boundary Brook, the Ock and the Ray