Director moves in worlds of water

21/12/2006

A top tourism expert is leaving one major North East attraction to take up a newly created role of Director at another of the region’s leading visitor centres.

Elisabeth Rowark, is leaving The Alnwick Garden to become Director of the Kielder Partnership which promotes Kielder Water and Forest Park also in Northumberland.

Her appointment is the first step to spearhead the development and transformation of the Kielder area over the next ten years.

There are major plans on the drawing board for Northumbrian Water’s Kielder reservoir, the Forestry Commission’s Park and the surrounding area under the banner of ‘The Big Picture’.

Currently the area attracts some 210,000 visitors each year. In ten years time it is targeted that annual visitor numbers will reach 380,000. That impact will see the annual financial benefit to the immediate area rise from £6.7 million to £29m and its impact in the region rise from £24m to £74m.

An estimated £30m will be invested in a wide variety of development attractions as well as community initiatives which it is expected will create a further 75 more local jobs together with 250 regional jobs.

Member organisations of the Kielder Partnership are Northumbrian Water, Tynedale District Council, The Forestry Commission, The Calvert Trust and Northumberland County Council.

Newly married Elisabeth – formerly Elisabeth Smith - will start her new job in March. She said: “There is a fantastic opportunity waiting to happen at Kielder which will not only benefit the locality but will also have a significant impact on the North East.

“I’m sad to be leaving The Alnwick Garden but this challenging, exciting and rewarding new job means I can build on what I have been able to achieve at Alnwick and continue to contribute to the economic and social development of Northumberland, my adopted home and a county and a region which I am passionate about.”

John Cuthbert, Kielder Partnership Chairman and Managing Director of Northumbrian Water, said: “We are extremely fortunate to have someone of the calibre of Elisabeth joining our team and we are confident that the remarkable successes she has enjoyed elsewhere in the region will now be repeated at Kielder.”

Elisabeth has been The Director of Fundraising and on the board of Alnwick Garden Enterprises for the last five years, and has seen it transformed from a £14m project attracting 67,000 visitors to the third biggest attraction of its kind in the UK as a £62m flagship project receiving a rising 500,000 annual visits.

For further information and to arrange an interview contact Communications and PR Manager Alistair Baker on 0191 301 6851 or mobile 07711 793 493.