George became a trustee and the chairman of the Wessex Rivers Trust in May 2012. He practiced for 38 years as a corporate lawyer, retiring in late 2012 from the City law firm Slaughter and May. He now farms in the Test valley. He has a strong interest in education and the environment, chairing the governors of Winchester House School in Brackley, Northamptonshire. He is also a trustee of Countryside Learning, a charity which educates inner city children about the countryside, the Wild Trout Trust, Hampshire Gardens Trust and the Wheelyboat Trust, a charity which provides boats for wheelchair users.
Zam has spent the last 25 years in television, initially as a film-editor, subsequently as Managing Director and Chairman and latterly as non-Executive Director of KEO films. This independent factual production company whose varied output has won many awards and includes numberless episodes of the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall River Cottage series, including the ground-breaking campaigning series’ Chicken Out and Hugh’s Fish Fight. He enjoys keeping pigs and making ham from them and, having spent much of his life in and around the headwaters of the River Itchen, is passionate about conserving the country’s freshwater environment.
Hailing from East London, Rae founded Borras Construction in 1980. Several acquisitions later Borras Group is now one of the most successful privately owned companies in this sector. A passionate angler, having fished the canals since he was seven, Rae became captivated by the Hampshire Avon after catching his first salmon from the river. He was later to achieve a lifetime’s ambition by owning an important fishery on the same river and is now committed to the cause of promoting the welfare of the southern chalk streams and their ecosystems. Today, Rae is actively involved with TV productions associated with angling.
Having enjoyed diving whilst studying Animal and Plant Ecology at Loughborough University, Fiona then spent 34 years working for Wessex Water, managing Environmental Services and project managing their freshwater research. Her career included many years representing Wessex Water on water industry steering groups for research and national standards as well as working locally with partners on the Hampshire Avon and developing a pilot project for the new Catchment Based Approach. Fiona continues her interest in river conservation as chair of the Stour and Poole Harbour Catchment Partnerships, the River Restoration Centre and also on the Council of the Freshwater Biological Association
Clay’s professional background is in the software industry, having founded Admiral plc (now part of Logica) in 1979. He is currently non-executive chairman of Anite plc and SThree plc. He is a trustee of Economist Newspapers Ltd, and a non-executive director of Herald Investment Trust plc. He was a former non-executive director of BT, and chairman of the Met Office. He is a riparian owner on the lower Test and is chairman of the Test and Itchen Association.
Paddy is a retired Chartered Accountant who, after qualifying with Price Waterhouse in London, spent thirty years of his working life in private practice in Salisbury where he advised landowners throughout Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset on financial and taxation planning. He remains a trustee of a number of landowning family trusts and charities. He is one of the founding members of Wessex Rivers Trust. He has been a dedicated fisherman from the age of four when he caught a rudd in a farm pond.
Jim retired from Shell Group in 1993, where he held various business management positions in chemicals. He has played an active part in fishery management and nature conservation issues in Hampshire both as Secretary of the Test and Itchen Association (1993-2009) and as a former Chairman of the Hampshire Area Environment Group, the Hampshire Fishery Committee and Southern RFERAC (2002 to 2008). He was also a member of the Moran Committee and sat on the South East River Basin Liaison Panel. Jim is a director of the Test & Itchen Association and a Board member of the Angling Trust.
For the past 30 years Jane has been a Furniture Conservator. Her areas of particular expertise are the restoration of Oriental Lacquer, gilding painted furniture and decorative finishes for some of the foremost antique dealers in the country. She has worked on many large projects including the restorations of Mansion House in the City of London and of Windsor Castle following the fire in 1992. She is a Member of ICON and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2013 she took over the running of her family estate near the New Forest.
For the past 27 years, Gary has been Chief Executive of Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. He has a degree in ecology from Lancaster University and a doctorate from the Open University where he studied fish farming. He was previously Head of Urban Ecology at Greenwich University and National Officer for a government initiative called UK2000. UK2000 brought together the private, voluntary and public sector in order to tackle environmental problems. In 2000 he was awarded an MBE for services to nature conservation. Gary is also founder and President of The Sensory Trust and a Trustee of the Wild Trout Trust
Hallam farms in the lower Avon Valley. His farm is predominantly specialist arable crops and dairy run on the New Zealand system with crossbred cows and extensive pasture-based grazing. His interest in rivers was sparked off by very early fishing expeditions in Switzerland. His respect for rivers and water generally stems from an acknowledgement that we know so little for certain about the rich habitat which they support, and he is very keen to do what he can to nurture this diversity. He is also a founder member of the Avon and Stour Riparian owners’ Association (ASRA).
Rose is Natural England's Principal Specialist for People and the Environment. Rose leads the social science function in Natural England and specialises in behaviour change. Prior to joining Natural England, Rose held roles in local government and at WWF where she led the UK water programme, working with government, water companies and catchment partnerships. Rose has a PhD in environmental science and a passion for rivers. Rose is also a non-executive director of Waterwise, the water efficiency NGO.
Rod is an agricultural economist who started his own consulting and market research business in biotechnology after 11 years with the Battelle Memorial Institute. He is involved with the fertiliser and pesticide industries and has developed methodologies to understand the dynamics of weeds, insects and diseases in crops. He is a naturalist and fisherman and has had a rod at Wherwell on the River Test for many years.
Dave spent 33 years with IBM research and development, technical, management and executive roles. He sat on the Council of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for eight years. He was awarded a CBE in 2017 for services to Engineering and Science research. Dave’s background is in physical geography, with his PhD examining the effects of large aquatic plants on water flow in chalk streams. His fieldwork centred on the River Ebble in Wiltshire. Throughout his life he has maintained a keen interest in the geomorphology and hydrology of watercourses. He is passionate about the need to encourage good practice in catchment management.
Mike retired as a Commander Royal Navy Submarine Weapons Engineer Officer after 34 years’ service. He started fishing in Scotland in 1983 and on moving south joined Portsmouth Services Fly Fishing Association (PSFFA), later becoming its Secretary & Treasurer - a post he held for 10 years. During this period Mike became heavily involved with various authorities - especially EA committees working on Catchment Management Plans to meet the Water Framework Directive. For 21 years he has been the Company Secretary for the Services Manor Fishery Ltd on the River Itchen. He is a Director of the Test & Itchen Association.