Alan Herd is a British

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

, a specialist woodworker and TV presenter of hobby and restoration projects often screened on

Discovery Real Time Discovery Real Time was a British television channel owned by Discovery Networks UK focused on educational and learning content. History It was originally launched on 9 March 1992 as The Learning Channel, United Kingdom's version of the Americ ...

TV channels. A native of Hickling, a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in south

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

near to

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

and the border with

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, Herd was concerned about the increasing flood risk across the world, and developed a defence system called ''Wata-Wall'', a flexible barrage system of portable interlocking plastic containers which are assembled into an array then filled with water for stability, creating a temporary

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

. All association with "Wata-Wall" and Willy Johnson has now ceased but invention is still a big part of Alan's life.

Shows

*Challenge Tommy Walsh with Tommy Walsh *Narrow Boat *Narrow Boat Afloat *Narrow Boat Afloat 2 *Restoration man with

Eric Knowles Eric Knowles FRSA (born 19 February 1953 in Nelson, Lancashire, England) is a British antiquarian and television personality, whose main interests are in ceramics and glass. Early life Knowles joined the London auction house Bonhams as a port ...

*Barn free *The Water Boatman with Alan Herd

References

British television personalities Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-tv-bio-stub