We Are the Constellations: Aimee Felus's episode

By Sandy Glanfield

"Two men looked out through prison bars. One saw the mud, one saw the stars." Aimee Felus from the Western Sussex Rivers Trust shared that line partway through our conversation this week, a quote from her children's comic, Dog Man.

I don't like to admit it, but sometimes I see myself in the prisoner that sees the mud. I know the stars are up there. I just need reminding to look.

Planning for the Reboot Forum, rivers have been on my mind for weeks, trawling articles on the state of rivers in the UK, and it's easy to focus on how bad things are, especially after the summer and drought we've just had.

But I don't think it's wrong to be the person who sees the mud. I just don't think we're meant to stay there on our own.

What I loved about talking to Aimee was hearing how she described loving working for a Rivers Trust: the reciprocity of it, the energy that passes between people doing this work together. It's not one person holding an inspired vision while everyone else stays stuck in the challenges. It's people lifting each other's eyes, energy and potential.

That's what I hope the Forum will be. People helping each other recognise the mud and look up anyway, bringing forward skills, service and ideas, holding the hope when someone else's runs thin. 

That’s where I find the stars. There's something almost like a constellation in it. The image of our joining mirroring the constellations of the stars themselves, each small light only really findable as a shape when we're seen together.