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Flood wardens, statutory services staff, and emergency organisation volunteers chatting at the event

26 Mar, 2026

Peter Richardson

GRCC's First Ever Volunteer Flood Wardens Information Fair - 24 March 2026

This month we organised the first ever Gloucestershire Volunteer Flood Wardens Information Fair, bringing together around 70 flood wardens, exhibitors and speakers to work together on the theme of the event: Building Long Term Flood Resilience in Gloucestershire Communities.

There are currently 95 volunteer flood wardens registered across Gloucestershire, as part of flood warden schemes managed or supported by GRCC on behalf of the district and borough councils in Stroud District, Cheltenham Borough, Cotswold District, and Tewkesbury Borough. This event was the first time that all of Gloucestershire's volunteer flood wardens had the chance to get together for a learning and networking event, which was organised by GRCC's Community Resilience Officer Lucy Eccles .

"It has been really rewarding to see all our volunteer flood wardens from across Gloucestershire connecting and sharing ideas," said Lucy. "This is exactly what building long term community resilience looks like – enthusiasm, proactivity, and collaboration. Thank you to everybody who has made this event possible – and in particular to our volunteers for their hard work and dedication."

Feedback from our volunteer flood wardens about the event was very positive, with comments including

‘Flood Mary was inspirational’
‘Lots of useful ideas, too many to list!’
‘We have gained helpful examples of different ways of engaging the local community’
‘This has been a brilliant event, informative and well organised. Thank you GRCC!’
‘We have gained lots of connections with other flood wardens’

The headline speaker at the event was nationally-famous flooding campaigner Mary Long-Dhonau OBE, who is better known as "Flood Mary" . Mary, who is based in Worcestershire, started campaigning for better awareness, preparedness and responses for flooding about 25 years ago, after suffering a flood herself and being shocked by the devastating personal impact of having your home flooded. She is now an expert on measures that people can take to prevent or reduce the impact of flooding, such as ways to stop flood waters entering homes, and ways to ensure that if they are flooded, the impact is minimal.

The full list of speakers and exhibitors and at the event was:

Speakers