Gloucestershire charity founder awarded for water project

Mr Linacre started the Wellboring project in Africa in 2012

A "selfless" man who has provided thousands in Africa with clean water wells has been given an award.

Nigel Linacre, from Chippenham, has been given a British Empire Medal for his work in Uganda, Kenya, Gambia and Malawi with his charity WellBoring.

His organisation has built wells in 300 schools and aims to get clean water to a million people within three years.

Africa head of operations Benjamin Koyoo said the charity had made a "huge impact" on people's lives.

Mr Koyoo said the charity has made a "huge impact" on people's lives

"We here in Kenya, we're celebrating the medal that Nigel received," he said.

"The guy is selfless and has gone out of his way to ensure that small children in the village can get the clean water.

"The impact is huge."

Mr Koyoo said water-related diseases were common in the places the charity worked in before the bore wells were made.

"The children are now healthy and they can attend school without missing class to fetch water for family," he added.

The charity has built water wells in more than 300 schools

Mr Linacre founded the Gloucestershire-based charity in 2012.

He said WellBoring initially aimed to provide 100 schools with clean water but that figure continued to increase.

Mr Linacre said having access to clean water in these places "really is a game changer".

Mr Linacre said he hoped to give a million people access to clean water within the next three years

"Instead of having to walk to a river or a stream, where they'll get water that can and often does make them sick, they've got water in their school that is shared with the community as well," he said.

"Sickness goes down, attendance goes up, lives are changed.

"We've already got safe water to over a quarter of a million people. We'll get safe water to a million people in about three years."

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