A NEW chairman has been appointed for the West Cumbria Rivers Trust.

Founding chairman John Wilson has stepped down after seven years of running the conservation charity.

The role has been taken over by David Calvert, the longest standing trustee of the board and a keen fisherman and conservationist.

He said: "All the people of West Cumbria who are concerned about our freshwater environments owe John Wilson a tremendous debt of gratitude for his vision, drive and enthusiasm in starting up and leading our local Rivers Trust through its formative years of life. Much has been achieved and of course much remains to be done for our local lakes and rivers.

"The Trust is fortunate indeed to have had John as its first chairman as well as such an expert and dedicated staff team led by our director Jodie Mills, together with a diverse and broadly skilled management board, and not forgetting a broad spectrum of partnership organisations. I’m greatly looking forward to working in collaboration with them all to help guide the Trust to ever greater achievements over the coming years”.

Jodie Mills, trust director, added: "The trust has achieved a great deal during John’s time as chair – we have an ever growing portfolio of successfully completed projects carried out by our nine strong team.

"For me and all the staff it is very much business as usual and I’m now looking forward to continuing to work with all the Trust’s partners, the Board and the staff to develop and expand our workload, with the first step in that process being to recruit a new education officer generously funded by Copeland Community Fund and United Utilities."

West Cumbria Rivers Trust aims to restore and enhance the value of rivers, lakes, estuaries and surrounding countryside in Copeland and Allerdale.

It aims to protect, improve and raise awareness of the water environments of West Cumbria through practical conservation, research and education.