Alexis Bowater
{{Short description|British television journalist and presenter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Alexis Bowater
| honorific_suffix = OBE
| image = Alexis Bowater OBE.jpg
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| birthname = Alexis Bowater
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| birth_place = Chagford, Devon, United Kingdom
| education =
| occupation = Newsreader, journalist
| alias =
| title =
| family =
| spouse =
| children = 2
| relatives =
| networth =
| credits = Westcountry Live
| agent =
| URL =
}}
Alexis Bowater {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} is a Devon-born British newsreader (first known for her career as a news presenter on Westcountry Live), journalist and women's campaigner. In response to her stalking experience whilst main anchor at ITV Westcountry,{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5000516/ITV-news-presenter-targeted-by-cyber-stalker-who-made-bomb-threats.html |title=ITV news presenter targeted by 'cyber-stalker' who made bomb threats |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=16 March 2009 |access-date=16 March 2009 |location=London |first=Richard |last=Savill |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611005948/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5000516/ITV-news-presenter-targeted-by-cyber-stalker-who-made-bomb-threats.html |archivedate=11 June 2009 }} she became the Chief Executive of the Network for Surviving Stalking and then campaigned for the laws to be changed in the UK and Europe.{{Citation |title=Ms Alexis Bowater, Chief Executive of the Network for Surviving Stalking (United Kingdom) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4qoBkzUaRg |language=en |access-date=2022-06-01}}{{Cite web |date=2012-11-26 |title=Do the new stalking laws show we are taking this crime seriously? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2012/nov/26/new-stalking-laws-take-crime-seriously |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} After stepping down as CEO, she set up her own communications and consultancy agency Bowater Communications.{{Cite web |title=Bowater Communications |url=https://www.facebook.com/BowaterCommunications/ |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=www.facebook.com |language=en}}
Bowater has been involved with community interest companies and projects including Beach Schools South West,{{Cite web |title=BEACH SCHOOLS SOUTH WEST C.I.C. overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08453381 |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |language=en}} The Venus Awards,{{Cite web |title=Venus Awards {{!}} The Devon Daily |url=https://www.thedevondaily.co.uk/tags/venus-awards |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=www.thedevondaily.co.uk |language=en}} South West Women in Business{{Cite web |title=SOUTH WEST WOMEN IN BUSINESS CIC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11191632 |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |language=en}} and from May 2022, the West Country Women Awards.{{Cite web |title=Alexis Bowater on LinkedIn |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-bowater-a426686/details/experience/ |access-date=}}
Bowater was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to the safety and equality of women.{{London Gazette|issue=63714|supp=y|page=B11|date=1 June 2022}}{{Cite web |title=Honours list marks HM The Queen's Jubilee year |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/honours-list-marks-hm-the-queens-jubilee-year |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}
Early life
The daughter of Sir Euan, 3rd Baronet Bowater and Lady Bowater, Bowater was born and brought up in Chagford, Devon. She graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a bachelor's degree in English and Geography. She graduated from Bristol University with an MSc in International Politics, Economics and Social Policy.
Bowater has two children.
Career
=News and journalism=
Bowater became a reporter in 1993 for the Express & Echo newspaper in Exeter.{{Cite web |title=Experience of Alexis Bowater |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-bowater-a426686/details/experience/ |access-date=31 May 2022}}
She joined Westcountry Television (ITV Westcountry) in 1995 as a newsroom researcher, before becoming a presenter/producer for Westcountry Live opt-out bulletins during GMTV, alongside reporting duties.[https://web.archive.org/web/20010413223041/http://www.westcountry.co.uk/news/index.html Westcountry News presenter profiles], archive.org{{Citation |title=Westcountry Live - 2002 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXJPCYFRwhs |language=en |access-date=2022-05-31}}
She later became a presenter/producer for late night and weekend bulletins, and an anchor for the main evening programme, Westcountry Live, before becoming a full-time main anchor in 2003. She has also contributed to a number of non-news regional programmes for Westcountry including output for the station's Britain on the Move and People's Millions campaigns.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121010180616/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/1223494?view=credit BFI entry] Bowater left the station in February 2009 when ITV Westcountry merged with ITV West, signalling the end of Westcountry Live.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
Also a Royal Television Society judge,{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=RTS Awards Programme 2021 |url=https://rts.org.uk/sites/default/files/imce/tvj_awards_2021_-_programme_1.pdf |access-date=31 May 2022}} she supports and recognises the skills and commitment of those working in the UK media industry.
=Stalking and protections=
While pregnant in 2006 and 2008, Bowater was cyber-stalked by Alexander Reeve, 24, who sent her 26 messages in one five-month period. Reeve, from Looe, Cornwall, pleaded guilty at Plymouth Crown Court to five counts of communicating false information with intent and causing fear of violence. He also admitted twice communicating false information that a bomb was in the ITV studios at Language Science Park. He was sentenced to four years and one month in jail, and received a lifetime restraining order.{{Cite web |last=Mirror.co.uk |date=2009-10-20 |title=Could you be a stalker's next victim? |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/could-you-be-a-stalkers-next-victim-426250 |access-date=2022-06-01 |website=mirror |language=en}}
Bowater subsequently became the Chief Executive for the Network for Surviving Stalking.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nss.org.uk/about/ |title=About the Network for Surviving Stalking |access-date=29 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503164953/http://www.nss.org.uk/about/ |archive-date=3 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}
In April 2010, the NSS, in collaboration with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Protection Against Stalking, launched the world's first National Stalking Helpline.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8650603.stm Stalking helpline for UK victims launched], BBC News, 29 April 2010
Bowater stepped down as CEO of NSS after successfully campaigning to have stalking included in The Istanbul Convention to combat Violence Against Women and Girls. The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence entered force on 1 August 2014. The new stalking laws to protect victims in the UK came into force on 25 November 2012.
From 2018 she worked with MP Sarah Wollaston on the Stalking Protection Orders which became law in the UK in January 2020.{{cite web |title=Sarah Woolaston: 'This bill takes the onus off the victim' |url=https://www.channel4.com/news/sarah-woolaston-this-bill-takes-the-onus-of-the-victim |website=Channel 4 News |access-date=25 April 2022}}
=Communications=
Bowater is still a working journalist and campaigner.
Since March 2013 she has been with Bowater Communications, a bespoke consultancy service advising on media strategy including PR, media training, presentation skills, strategic comms, campaigning, video production, copywriting, networking, social media management, website creation and speechwriting services.
=Projects and campaigns=
In 2018-2019, Bowater was the Project Lead for the Nancy Astor Statue Campaign,{{Cite web |title=Plymouth |url=https://research.reading.ac.uk/astor100/celebrating-astor-100/plymouth/ |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=Astor 100 |language=en-GB}} successfully crowdfunding more than £140,000{{Cite web |title=Nancy Astor Statue - donate here |url=https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/lady-astor-statue-100-campaign |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=Crowdfunder UK |language=en}} and gaining worldwide coverage for the project. The statue, the first of the first female MP to sit in the House of Commons, was unveiled on Plymouth Hoe on 28 November 2019, exactly 100 years after her landslide victory, by the only living female prime minister of the UK, Theresa May.{{Cite news |date=2019-11-28 |title=Nancy Astor: Theresa May unveils statue for pioneering female MP |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-50577118 |access-date=2022-05-31}} UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended the post-unveiling event to congratulate the Astor Statue Committee on their historic achievement.
Community organisations
Bowater launched an outdoor education company, Beach Schools South West CIC, taking children out of the classroom and onto the beach for curriculum-linked learning.
Bowater was a Regional Director of the Venus Awards, which at the time were high profile regional events. They rewarded women in local business for the outstanding contribution they made to their local communities. Their objective was to recognise female owned and female friendly businesses. The Venus Awards started in Dorset in 2009 and were developed into a number of regional events. In each region these events are fast becoming known as the social and networking event of the business calendar. Bowater held responsibility for the Devon and Cornwall regions.{{Cite web |date=2018-02-03 |title=Devon and Cornwall Venus Awards Semi-Finalists Announcement |url=https://www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk/devon-cornwall-venus-awards-2018-semi-finalists-announcement/ |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=Social Enterprise Mark CIC |language=en-GB}}
Bowater still supports women in business, and was the co-founder and director of South West Women in Business. Pre-COVID Business Networking was available at in Exeter, Plymouth, Truro and Taunton and was free to attend. The organisation was a registered community interest company and was run by four local women.{{Cite web |last=Morcom |first=Jess |date=2020-03-09 |title=Plymouth's most successful women share their secrets |url=https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/inspirational-stories-behind-plymouths-most-3919930 |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=PlymouthLive |language=en}}
As part of South West Women in Business CIC, Bowater hosted the annual International Women's Day conference in Plymouth from 2017 onwards.
Following on from Bowater's experience supporting local women in business through previous endeavours, she and her co-director Tess Stuber launched the independent West Country Women Awards in June 2022.{{Cite web |title=West Country Women Awards Launch |url=https://allevents.in/plymouth/west-country-women-awards-launch/10000341887724387 |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=AllEvents.in |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Website launching soon |url=https://westcountrywomenawards.co.uk/ |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=West Country Women Awards - Recognising Women in Business |language=en-GB}}
References
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Category:People from the Borough of West Devon
Category:ITV regional newsreaders and journalists