"Proud to Support"

Our Proud to Support corporate programme is for companies who wish to philanthropically support our work.

By making a charitable donation these businesses help us to keep bringing rivers to life for all who depend on them, now and in the future.

Thank you to all of the supporters on this page.

If you would like to find out how your business could be one of our Proud to Support companies, please contact [email protected].

The Westcountry Rivers Trust launched the “Westcountry River Champions” initiative to increase public awareness and support for local rivers. This campaign aims to raise an Education and Engagement Fund to give communities a voice in protecting their local waterways from threats like pollution and climate change.

The trust seeks to secure 10 Champions who can each commit £5,000 annually for five years — either as individuals or corporations. This funding will support a dedicated education officer to run programs in schools and communities, foster volunteer action, and create resources. Champions will receive an impact statement and be publicly recognized. Even smaller donations are welcomed to help sustain this vital work.

Engie UK

Since April 2025, Westcountry Rivers Trust have been working with Engie UK to improve the future sustainability of maize grown for anaerobic digestion (AD) in North Devon. Engie UK operate the anaerobic digester located near South Molton that produces biogas to supply the local grid. Maize is a high yielding biogas crop that is widely grown in the area to supply feedstock to the digester.

WRT & Engie UK are working together, along with a group of local farmer suppliers to improve the sustainable production of maize, focussing  particularly on soil protection and nutrient retention. This work includes supporting farmers to trial new practices to further reduce soil erosion risk and nutrient losses by maintaining greater soil cover, reduced tillage and introducing a nitrogen fixing living mulch. Agronomic, economic and environmental performance of these options will be monitored throughout the trials.

In addition to this, the project is considering alternative crop options that can offer good biogas yields whilst providing the soil benefits we’re looking for. This work is currently in development, but further updates can be expected.

This project is funded by the Water Restoration Fund from the Rural Payments Agency.

Previous update can be found here

A Guide to our Proud to Support packages