The Darent is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames and takes the waters of the River Cray as a tributary in the tidal portion of the Darent near Crayford, as illustrated by the adjacent photograph, snapped at high tide.'Darenth' is found in the spelling of the river's name in older books and maps, Bartholomew's "Canal's and River of England" being one example. Bartholomew's Gazetteer demonstrates that Darent means "clear water" and separately explains the other name. Considering the River Darent runs on a bed of chalk and its springs rise through chalk, this is not surprising; the original purity of the water was a major reason for the development of paper and pharmaceuticals in the area. Darenth Parish derives from a Celtic phrase'stream where oak-trees grow'; the landscapes of the valley were painted in a visionary manner by the renowned Victorian artist Samuel Palmer during the mid 1800s. Fed by springs from the greensand hills south of Westerham in Kent and below Limpsfield Chart in Surrey it flows 21 miles east north by Otford and Shoreham, past the castle and the ruined Roman villa at Lullingstone by Eynsford, Horton Kirby, South Darenth, Sutton-at-Hone, to Dartford whence it proceeds a final two miles as a tidal estuary until it drops into the Thames "Long Reach".

North of Dartford the Darent is tidal and, just before entering the Thames, receives the waters of the River Cray at Dartford & Crayford Marshes where the rivers form administrative boundaries between Greater London and Kent. The Darent enters Thames Long Reach to the East of Crayford Ness. Kent County Council has signposted a 19-mile walking route along the Darent between the Greensand Hills above Sevenoaks and the Thames and named it The Darent Valley Path; the route receives no obvious attention from councils or'focus' groups although all or part is used by joggers, walkers, dog walkers and curious adventurers, availing themselves of the Darent Valley Path to access or view the river's amenities, such as they are. This lack of attention is being addressed in the tidal section by a group of concerned locals, the "Friends of Dartford and Crayford Creeks"; as of mid-2016 a trust is being formed to promote regeneration and give formal recognition to the protection of this valuable public amenity.

The tidal section is being furbished and improved by volunteers of "Friends of Dartford and Crayford Creek". to permit marine traffic, such as narrowboats and leisure cruisers to sail up to Steam Crane Wharf and beyond, to overnight or stay awhile. Much mud was laid down by river and tide from 1986 when the Creek was abandoned; the tops of some mudbanks are now some two metres high. Work parties surveyed and removed hazardous debris from the river bed to permit safe passage of all types of craft during low water. Volunteers and lengthsmen removed a number of self-seeded trees, lopped others and removed debris from the banks; the trust is an offshoot of the Northfleet Harbour Restoration Trust. In April 2015 a narrowboat arrived in Dartford Creek, with a crew of four canal skippers, to establish the feasibility of canal-boats visiting and by extension boats from the Medway, the non-tidal Thames and various sailing clubs along the Thames estuary; this was the first time in over forty years that a registered ship lay over in Dartford Creek."Pentargon" returned in June 2015, familiarising more canalboat skippers, stayed until October.

Weeks of tide-waiting established a'sailor's knowledge base' for future visits. During the period, the boat rested on a berm near the lock only at spring tides. Upon its departure, the feasibility of both creeks for access and dallying by a range of craft had been established. "Pentargon" was the first boat to undertake an overnight stay in the creek with crew on board since the late 1970s. To facilitate her tying up on first arrival volunteers dug away forty years of neglect and inertia to provide a clean quayside and temporary mooring in the lock; this work was extended in 2016 by a volunteer lengthsman Hugh Nesbitt. Who is a skilled amateur archaeologist. In February 2016, Network Rail engineers removed trees at the top of Crayford Creek, re-establishing access to the "End of Navigation". Crayford Creek is considered capable of development for masted craft unable to proceed to Dartford because of Bob Dunn Bridge. Dartford library and museum provides a wealth of evidence that both creeks have been used for trade since pre-Roman times.

Trade reached a modern zenith during the Industrial revolution and beyond. In 1835 60,000 long tons was carried in or out and supporting considerable industrial activity. Navigational factors meant that single cargoes were limited to 50 long tons on spring tides. A ship canal was failed to achieve momentum. In 1839 a new proposal achieved an Act of Parliament allowing development to proceed and tolls were levied from completion in 1844; the work included straightening and shortening the navigation. On Dartford Creek, close to its junction with the Thames, is the Dartford Creek Tidal Flood Barrier with two 160-tonne drop-leaf gates, which may be lowered if the sea threatens to inundate the land; the barrier is managed by the Environment Agency. Dartford was a major fording place on Watling Street. Research by Woodla

Helen Gym is an American politician. She serves as a member of the Philadelphia City Council, is the first Asian American woman to serve in the body. A second-generation Korean-American, Gym is a community organizer, former school teacher, is on the board of Asian Americans United, a racial justice and advocacy group. Gym was born in Seattle and raised in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, her parents immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. Her father was a computer engineer, her mother worked in the food services department at the Ohio State University. Gym has a younger sister; when Gym was growing up, the family attended the Protestant Korean Church. In 1993, Gym graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. After leaving college, she worked for the Mansfield News Journal as a reporter. In 1994, she worked as a teacher. In 1996, Gym completed. Gym has worked as a grassroots community organizer in Philadelphia has been involved in education reform there since 2006. Around that year, she co-founded the Parents United for Public Education.

She is a member of the editorial board of Rethinking Schools and one of the founders of The Philadelphia Public School Notebook, a nonprofit, free news service. She co-founded a charter school in Chinatown called the Folk Art Cultural Treasures School. In 2000, Gym led a campaign called the "Stadium Out of Chinatown Coalition" against the construction of a baseball stadium north of Chinatown, due to the fear that it might result in gentrification of the area, she has led other campaigns. In 2008, she fought against the establishment of the proposed Foxwoods Casino planned near Philadelphia's Chinatown because of the concern that unchecked development would compel longtime residents of that area to move away, she has organized in opposition to state-sponsored, predatory gambling. In 2009, she worked on a successful federal civil rights case to help stop the bullying and harassment of Asian American students in South Philadelphia High School; the case came about due to a series of assaults at the school on December 3, 2009, when as many as thirty Asian immigrant students were attacked and beaten by large groups of African-American students.

In her testimony, she called for the commission to require the school and district officials bear responsibility for not addressing the problem, to differentiate bias-based harassment and generalized violence, take a different approach for each, to develop effective anti-harassment policies and procedures. One result of the case was the 2014 creation of the AAPI Bullying Prevention Task Force. In January 2016, Gym succeeded newly-elected Mayor Jim Kenney as a Democratic member of the Philadelphia City Council at-large district, she ran on a platform of housing education. As councilperson, she has worked to ensure that Philadelphia's communities have an equal voice to wealthy entities and lobbyists, she proposes a fair standard of living for schoolchildren, to combat hunger, lack of housing, poverty. Following the aftermath of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Gym posted on Twitter, "All around the country, we're fighting to remove the monuments to slavery & racism. Philly, we have work to do.

Take the Rizzo statue down", referring to a statue of former Philadelphia mayor, Frank Rizzo. In 1995, she married a lawyer, they have three children. Eddy Award, 2007 White House's "César E. Chávez Champions of Change", 2014 The Philadelphia Inquirer's Citizen of the Year One of Philadelphia Magazine's 75 most influential people in the city Emily’s List’s 2017 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award Official website TEDx talk "Why The Fight For Public Education Matters" Appearances on C-SPAN