• Dream it

    Formed in February 2022 by Ian and Lyn Carter who had identified a need to make the riverwalk known as True Lovers Walk accessible to all taking into account mobility of users. Having established there was no funding available to maintain this wonderful area Ian and Lyn set up a volunteer group with a drive to make the walk accessible to both Yarm residents and visitors

  • Build it

    In early 2023 the group was formalised as a community group setting up a constitution, mission statement and associated documentation. A formal committee was elected to ensure the smooth running of Friends of True Lovers Walk. Today the group has more than 1000+ ‘friends’ and a core of around 25 volunteers (plus a further 5 young students who are pursuing their Duke of Edinburgh accreditations) who are keen and dedicated to maintaining and improving this wonderful walk. Visitors will see the results of our work including tree planting, installing benches and wooden sculptures, planting, weeding and making good the footpaths….. all of which we call our “work in progress”

  • Grow it

    We work with a number of organisations including Yarm Wellness Centre who have offered advice and guidance as we moved forward as a community group. Also the Rivers and Canal Trust, Tees Barrage, NETA and the Environment Agency as well as local colleges and businesses.

Nobody knows who the ‘True Lovers’ were but we like to think of them as Yarm’s very own Romeo and Juliet.

The riverside path leads to West Street and the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene. The present church is the third built on the site. The first was Saxon and the second was Norman, built in the 12th century. The third rebuild was in 1730 after a fire. On the left of the entrance porch there is a cover of a tomb, carved with the figures of a male and female, possibly dating back to the 14th century. Who the figures actually were remains a mystery but they became known as ‘The True Lovers’.

Making a difference

Groups of volunteers from BT and EE have taken time out of their workplace to join us at Yarm Wharf where they have assisted us with activities to restore, preserve and improve this delightful area of our town. Also, we continue active conversations with Erika Marshall, Marketing Director, Education Training Collective, who is keen to bring along around 20 volunteers annually in order to help us with work along the riverside. This forms part of ‘Time for Teesside’ for the local colleges (in particular Stockton College) and in total we will involve more than 700 students. Erika’s students worked on building bird boxes in 2024 which are now installed along the walk. We will continue to work with Erika and her students to seek other potential collaborations including working on creating a children’s interactive mobile phone app along with work experience opportunities in artwork and fabrication.

In 2023 we commissioned NETA (which also forms part of the Education Training Collective) to design and create a piece of artwork which could be installed on the walkway based on ‘True Lovers’. Sean Johnston, Director, together with Rory McIntosh, Curriculum Manager, coordinated a team of their trainees to subsequently produce a magnificent metalwork piece which now proudly stands looking over the riverbank.

The True Lovers