I've been told by our new MD that the most requently given piece of feedback given to him about our website is: 'It's great... but I wanted to find out how Whitewater got its name?!'

Well, as the longest-standing member of staff (more years than I care to remember) and daughter of one of the founders I am uniquely placed to respond.

The answer to the question is... well, it depends who you ask.

According to Sarah Hamilton Fairley (Whitewater's founder, first MD and now Chief Exec of charity Starthere), the name came from a promise she made to herself on an ill-advised rafting expedition in Nepal. Swept off the raft and hurtling downriver, preoccupied with the purifying tablets she felt she should be swallowing to compensate for the vast amounts of river water being ingested as her fellow rafters bobbed by, she swore that, should she come out of the ordeal alive, her brand new company would be named Whitewater.

But if you ask Richard Crofton (co-founder of Whitewater, also now at StartHere), the story is quite different. His version includes a hike up Mont Richard in the French Pyrenees, where he was greeted at the summit by a breath-taking view including glacier, snow, cloud, and spray from a waterfall casting rainbows. The ensemble of different forms of 'white water' were his inspiration for the name of the fledgling company.

Both stories are true and both inspired the naming of the company. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that two such different stories resulted in the founders (neither of whom lack the courage of their convictions) being able to actually agree upon the name.

Whether Whitewater says to you, 'excitement, danger, thrills' or 'beauty, nature, peace', there's a story behind the name to fit.

Anna Bell