14 February 2007

Richard Watson - 1965-2007

The Guardian:

"Born and brought up in Burnley, Lancashire, he left school at 16 and worked as a sheet metal worker, spending time with the Territorial army, which turned him into an accomplished caver and climber.

After leaving the TA at 22, he attended a local Greenpeace meeting, and quickly found that his rope skills could be put to good use in keeping with his conscience.

He first caused consternation in boardrooms and government press offices in 1992, when he broke into the controlled zone at the Sellafield nuclear facility and hung off the THORP reprocessing plant, unfurling an anti-nuclear banner. Three years later, he climbed the inch-thick lightning conductor of a 200m coal stack outside Amsterdam to publicise concern at the effect of CO2 on the climate.

Richard became Greenpeace's full-time warehouse manager in 2001 ... He taught dozens of Greenpeace volunteers how to climb, inspiring love and respect despite the verbal lashings he was capable of unleashing to those who did not clear up after themselves."

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