Drovers Barn, Whitney-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR3 6EU, GB
About GF & GFEnts
Who he and what it?
Graham Fisher MBE FRGS is a devoted son of the Black Country. On obtaining a BSc in 1975 he pursued an eclectic range of interests en route to establishing himself as a writer, broadcaster and presenter.
He was an inaugural member of the West Midlands Waterways Partnership (part of the Canal & River Trust), developing matters from strategic planning to community engagement. His Places to Visit app was the first such to be rolled out by CRT and his online exploration of the Stourbridge Canal remains a popular download. A qualified Boatmaster, for several seasons he captained mv Oliver Cromwell (Gloucester), the largest passenger boat working the inlaid waters of the UK (more here) and is a freelance skipper for Dragonfly Cruises (Brecon).
He is a Trustee of the British Glass Foundation with responsibility for PR & Communications. In 2015 he sat as a jury member for the International Festival of Glass Biennale exhibition.
Graham was invested for services to inland waterways in 2001 and in 2005 was voted by his peers as Inland Waterways Personality of the Year, assuming the mantle from John Craven OBE, David Suchet CBE and Timothy West CBE. He is recognised in his former home town with inclusion on the Living Literature 'Ceiling of Honour' in The Crown Centre, Stourbridge, where his plaque hangs alongside personalities with local connections that include authors JK Rowling, and JR Tolkien, Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, cameo glass engraver John Northwood and Frank Foley, who helped thousands of Jews flee the Nazis during the Holocaust. (see below)
For many years he was freelance Review & Special Features Editor for a monthly waterways magazine. Author of numerous books and articles since, Graham’s 2015 Whiskers on Kittens completed his ‘Jewels’ trilogy comprising the groundbreaking Jewels on the Cut and The 2012 Portland Vase Project. His revision, Jewels On The Cut II, takes into account the extraordinary changes that have occurred since, not least the creation of a new world-class glass museum alongside the Stourbridge Canal Main Line at Wordsley. His launch of five books at five successive biennial International Festivals of Glass is both unprecedented and unequalled.
He has made frequent television appearances with key contributions to the pioneering Central Television series Waterworld and alongside household names including Julia Bradbury (Countryfile), Johnny Vaughan (Mud Men), Alistair Appleton (Escape to the Country) and John Sergeant (Barging Round Britain). He is a former Chairman of Stourbridge Radio Group Ltd, the operating company of 102.5 The 'Bridge, and is ‘the voice of the Black Country’ for History West Midlands (see Links and Films)
Graham latterly relocated to the Welsh borderlands where the solitude now affords him greater freedom to pursue his passion for philosophy and the wisdom of the Ancient Greeks. He shares an ancient creaky-spooky oak-framed pile with his publisher Mary (see Sparrow) and a menagerie of critters that tend to come and go as they please. And very little else. Bliss!