As we reach the final day of ORCA's 25th anniversary celerbations, we’re ending with a story that reminds us what truly built this charity: people. ORCA’s work has always depended on volunteers, supporters and partners who give their time, skill and passion to protect whales and dolphins.
We’re honoured to share this personal reflection from Dr David W. Smith, former Chair of ORCA and one of the people who helped shape the charity’s earliest years. His story captures the energy, ambition and belief that built ORCA from living‑room meetings and Bay of Biscay surveys into the organisation it is today.
It’s a fitting way to close ORCA@25: a celebration of the people who built this charity, and the community who continues to drive it forward.
Imagine you've been a 'wildlife geek' since childhood, and at 19 you find out you can pop on a ferry to Spain from Portsmouth and see fin whale, beaked whales, various dolphins and a variety of seabirds. The reports from the first Bay of Biscay surveys blew me away, and somehow I ended up speaking with Graham Cresswell in a Norwich pub, before Organisation Cetacea — ORCA — was formed. Several Bay of Biscay trips later, I was at my first ORCA AGM at the London Aquarium, standing for election as Publicity Officer. Through that initial conversation and associated introductions, I got to know Dylan Walker, Kelly Macleod, David Gray, Hugh Harrop, Phil Coles, John Young and several others who founded the organisation — at that point not yet a charity.
Meetings were on sofas, discussions interspersed with biscuits, coffee and tea. We piled into cars and travelled on trains around the Southeast to people's houses. The dual priorities at that time were evidence-based conservation through citizen science — where Kelly was a driving force — and inspiring and engaging people about the wonders of whales, dolphins and the marine environment — where Dylan was a high-profile advocate. Enthusiasm, ambition and drive were high; resources were less so. Yet those foundation stones laid by ORCA's founders still ripple through the charity I observe with pride today.
My role was small at first, but I managed to secure press coverage in various publications — with no training, but a high level of determination. Much of it was based on the first three ORCA reports that drew together the sightings and science from the Bay, including bespoke surveys using chartered vessels over the southern canyons for beaked whales. Over time, my role grew, and during my time at ORCA I held the posts of Publicity Officer, Charity Compliance Officer, Survey Coordinator, Science Officer and finally Chair.
The moment that changed everything was a collective decision: to become not just a charity, but a proper one — with paid staff, an office, and genuine foundations. With hindsight, we were very lucky to have extremely talented and experienced committee members and advisors who themselves had connections to others who helped the charity enormously through the transition. Ian Rowlands, Paul Davies, Neil Walker, Colin Williams, Ralph Todd and several others split the work up. Some tackled the dry but critical application to the Charities Commission; others, especially Neil, successfully worked on funding bids and building relationships with grant-giving organisations. Membership grew slowly. Our relationships with ferry partners — Brittany Ferries and DFDS among them — developed too, leading to our Wildlife Officer programme, inspired by a similar role that had worked so successfully on the Pride of Bilbao for many years.
It felt like many of us were holding down two jobs — our day role, and then our ORCA role. My memories and time frames blur because, at the time, everything was a blur of energy and activity. Progress was step-like and certainly not smooth, but each success led to the next. From short-term contracts to longer-term ones. From wildlife officers on one route, to several across different routes. It's lovely to see how one of our early wildlife officers — Richard Bull — went on to become a Trustee, and how he, along with Elfyn Pugh and several others, has been invaluable in ensuring ORCA maintained its organisational memory as it grew.
The pivotal moment came when Stephen Marsh, Neil Walker and others secured a significant three-year grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Paul Davies secured office space with Brittany Ferries in Portsmouth, and we finally became an incorporated charity. This, together with more wildlife officers and a move to a donation-based model — shaped by Ralph Todd's experience and wisdom — meant our annual unrestricted income was growing healthily, giving us real options and genuine security. That security allowed ORCA to advertise for two linked roles: a CEO, which is when Sally joined, and a supporting role, which brought Lucy on board. I can't imagine how daunting it must have seemed — joining with two or three years of funding certainty and so much to prove. I am immensely grateful they both took that leap, and it couldn't have gone better. You are both exceptional professionals. Huge congratulations on everything you have achieved.
During my time at ORCA, I crossed the Bay of Biscay more times than I can remember — on surveys and wildlife tour-leading with the Company of Whales, opportunities only possible because of what I had learned with ORCA. I surveyed other routes too and have many extraordinary memories. I also remember, sadly, one of the ferries I was on striking a fin whale — we never knew what became of it — but how ORCA turned that lived experience into something purposeful, securing funding for a ship-strike workshop with ferry operators, scientists and others, which led to a published report. I was fortunate to be part of that work after I left.
My final reflection is simply this: I cannot foresee successful conservation of the marine environment — including for whales and dolphins — unless we successfully engage, educate and inspire the public to care. So much of what we do on land ends up in the sea, and we all have the agency to make a difference. At the same time, our decisions must be grounded in scientific evidence — what cetacean species live where, and in what numbers. These dual, interconnected activities are what ORCA does so well, and why it matters. I am proud to have played a small — but I hope material — part in that story. And I am proud of everyone who has contributed to ORCA's journey, past, present and future.