Environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey, who is the former lead singer with Northern Ireland punk and new wave band The Undertones, has joined the board of River Action, as part of a raft of top-level changes at the charity that campaigns against river pollution.
Sharkey, who is a regular guest on BBC show Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing to discuss river pollution issues, has been named vice-chair of the charity.
Meanwhile, River Action has also appointed James Wallace as its first chief executive, as the charity looks to scale up its campaigning around river pollution.
Wallace is a former chief executive of the Beaver Trust and has been involved in leading several environmental development schemes globally.
The charity was launched by its chairman Charles Watson last year. According to the Charity Register for the year ending March 2022 it had a total income of £278,000 and spent £211,411.
Its work includes lobbying agriculture and retail leaders in the Wye area to stop river pollution through their supply chains. It also backs river campaigners UK wide and has secured 58,000 signatures on a petition to increase environmental budgets to protect rivers.
Following on from our expansion announcement yesterday, we are pleased to announce @Feargal_Sharkey as River Action's Vice Chairman! 👏
— RiverActionUK (@RiverActionUK) November 9, 2022
Feargal's tireless campaigning for our rivers is inspirational to us all and we can't wait to work closer with him to address these issues. pic.twitter.com/MmzpwXhD6F
“With not a single river in the country receiving a clean bill of health, the emergence within the UK’s environmental movement of a new force of River Action’s agility and effectiveness is a very welcome development indeed,” said Sharkey.
“We only have a very short period of time left to save our rivers from irreparable damage and I am delighted to be working closely with the River Action team in the challenging months ahead.”
Watson added: “The environmental challenges facing our rivers have never been more severe and River Action is determined to play its part in both changing the behaviour of corporate polluters and restoring effective enforcement of environmental regulations, something which in recent years has all but collapsed.
“I am particularly looking forward to working closely with James Wallace in fulfilling this mission. As one of the most successful and entrepreneurial leaders in the environmental NGO sector, we are extremely lucky to have him as part of our team.”
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