The announcement follows on from the after-dinner speech that Waterman gave on the evening of the MMMA–ISME Gold Medal Awards night in May 2018. Waterman was on his feet for over an hour, speaking about his successful music career, and giving an interesting and passionate talk regarding his enthusiasm for engineering and training younger people within the industry. So much so, that in 2013, the Government invited him to sit on its HS2 growth taskforce, which was challenged to identify and promote opportunities that would provide economic development and other benefits.
Railways also provide a life-long passion for Waterman, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the UK rail industry. In fact, he built from scratch two successful business and, in the process, created hundreds of jobs in Crewe. The preservation of steam locomotives is close to his heart, in order to educate and entertain future generations.
Waterman was awarded an OBE in 2005 for his services to the music industry. Today he devotes a large amount of his time to public service, as a director of the Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and as patron of the National Skills Academy for Railway Training.
