Chart topping singer-songwriter raises funds for Welsh restoration project
Amelia Jones
A chart-topping singer-songwriter paid a visit to Welsh marshland, after revealing proceeds from his recent tour have helped fund their restoration.
David Gray, who is best known for hits including Babylon, This Year’s Love and Sail Away, posted a video in Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) Llanelli Marshes this week.
In the video, Gray tells his followers that funds raised from his tour have been used to support restoration and conservation projects in Llanelli.
He said: “I’m here at Llanelli Marshes, the WWT reserve to see where some of the money’s going to be going raised on the Past and Present tour.
“Just over there there’s going to be some landscape restoration work across the marsh, and it’s strengthening the ecology here, so that it can withstand climate pressure and sea level changes.
“…So this is the place, one of the places where the money for the tour that you so kindly gave or from the ticket sales, this is where it’s going. It’s exciting to see the actual place.”
Gray lived in Altrincham in Manchester before moving with his family at the age of nine to Solva, Pembrokeshire, Wales, where his parents took over a gift shop and started a clothing business.
Speaking about growing up in Wales, he told WalesOnline: “I had an amazing time growing up there … My imagination could run wild … It was that which gave me the kind of insane self-belief I have, and had even then, that I could do something as unlikely as play music for a living.”
He went to Ysgol Dewi Sant high school in nearby St Davids and then on to Carmarthenshire College of Art and finally Liverpool School of Art.
The summer leg of his Past & Present Tour will continue to raise funds for these landscape restoration projects.
He said: “The landscape restoration work funded directly by the tour will include the creation of a new expanse of salt marsh and the deepening and reshaping of existing lagoons and water filled areas to better withstand climate change and future sea level rises.
“In essence future-proofing the existing site with the aim of safeguarding the wildlife there for many years to come.”
David Gray is embarking on tour this summer with dates scheduled across the UK and Ireland. He will be performing live at Cardiff Castle 11 July 2026, as part of the “Depot Live” series.
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