Meet The Organising Team

  Chris Algar, Chair of Trustees of What a Wonderful World, is a retired IT project manager living near Belford, now putting her efforts into Net Zero projects. Next year she and husband Mac will embark on a deep retrofit of a 1980s timber-framed bungalow in Alnwick to create an eco- and age-friendly home. They aim to share their learning about this complex and ever-evolving subject with others both online and in person. 

  Liz Anderson is a retired arts fundraising consultant. She was inspired to set up What a Wonderful World Trust with husband Alistair after hearing Mike Berners-Lee talk about his book ‘There is no Planet B’. They hope that through the WaWW Festival, the talents of writers, musicians and visual artists as well as scientists and natural world activists can be enlisted to help us all imagine a sustainable future on this planet for our children and grandchildren and take action to achieve it. Liz and Alistair have lived in rural Northumberland for over 40 years their favourite pastimes are walking in the hills, swimming, gardening, reading and playing music. 

Walter and his wife Lucy are running their estate at Hepple for nature in a system called “managed wilding”.  Grazing by pigs, ponies and cattle, tree and scrub planting and wetland creation are tools that being constantly refined to improve overall ecological health over 4,000 acres of the Simonside range. Baseline monitoring has been done and already anecdotal evidence is strong that an insect recovery is underway. While the clear priority is nature recovery, there are opportunities to develop commercial activities from the Hepple Spirits distillery he set up in 2014 and the Hepple Wilds tourism business in 2024.

Tom Burston works for the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, developing practical policy recommendations that respond to the urgent and interconnected challenges of our climate, nature and health crises. Tom previously worked with development agencies around the world, embracing different perspectives in order to find shared interest and common cause.

When Tom is not working, you will find him in the Northumbrian hills with his wife and their two children. A huge fan of Northumberland, Tom farms Alwinton farm with his brother and is vice Chair of Alwinton Border Shepherds’ Show, the north of England’s premier hill-farming show.