Well, it was the end of an era last week, I headed out to Preston to record the last of the Mersey People interviews for Mersey: The river that changed the world. But it was a good one to bow out with. I spoke to Shanthi Rasaratnam, former Programme Manager at United Utilities, and the man behind several large scale projects that have had a major impact on the quality of the River Mersey. Shanthi was the man behind a massive improvement programme at five wastewater treatment works on the banks of the river during the late 1990s. He also led a team that developed a revolutionary technique for making sludge, a by-product of wastewater treatment, safe for use as an agricultural nutrient. Just as his career was drawing to a close in 2003, he was awarded the MBE for services to the water industry, and visited Buckingham Palace, where he had the chance to meet HM the Queen and explain to her about the scale of the clean-up on the Mersey.
Now that all the recording is completed, and I've produced the text for the Mersey People section of our book, I'm working hard on editing the audio material, as well as working on the practicalities of the Mersey: The river that changed the world exhibition. We've started to develop a website to provide an online home for the project, of which more will be revealed soon. Meanwhile, Colin's also out and about tying up loose ends - last night saw him take to the waters with John Curry, another Pilot, and I believe he'll be casting off on New Brighton beach with Louise and Les from Sefton Sea Anglers very soon (hope the sun keeps shining, Colin).
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