‘We Have Utterly Decimated Our Rivers’

Author Patrick Galbraith speaks to punk star-turned-water campaigner Feargal Sharkey about why decisive political action and natural regeneration can both point a way forward in reclaiming our rivers

I knew the song long before I’d made the connection.

For the last two years – for a book I’ve been writing – I’ve been travelling the country talking to people about what the land means to them. Whenever I’ve been flagging, I’ve wound the window down for some air and turned The Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks’ up to full volume.

I’ve also, for quite some time, known vaguely about Feargal Sharkey, an indefatigable Irishman – who was the punk rock band’s frontman – who campaigns vociferously to improve the quality of rivers in Britain.

That song – I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight / Get teenage kicks right through the night – is full of life and go. Sharkey, born in 1958 in Derry, is also full of life and go.