When Flora Blathwayt, 36, started her community beach cleans in Battersea, Southbank and Greenwich two years ago, she introduced a five-minute sound meditation at the start of each session to help her attendees unwind. The quiet banks of the Thames felt like an escape from the madness of the city; a quiet, traffic-free oasis where frazzled Londoners could come, breathe and listen to the waves, the seabirds and the crunch of the pebbles under their feet.
Some 24 months on and that sense of peace is proving increasingly difficult to find. “London definitely feels a lot louder now,” says Blathwayt, the founder of Washed Up Cards who runs wellbeing-focused beach cleans and creative workshops for the public and staff from companies including Depop and Hachette Books.
