Change comes to the Board of Trustees at nature conservation charity Herefordshire Wildlife Trust as Chair Brian Hurrell and Vice Chair Will Bullough step down and Alison Mclean accepts the role of Chair with Matt Williams as Vice Chair.
The appointments come at an exciting time for the Trust with a big wetland habitat restoration project beginning at Oak Tree Farm in the Lugg Valley, fundraising to buy a new nature reserve near Woolhope almost complete and the Trust’s Team Wilder programme supporting increasing numbers of communities and individuals to take action for nature across Herefordshire.
Incoming Chair Alison McLean has spent her career in rural community and economic development, working for both public and voluntary organisations and, before her retirement, as an independent consultant. As a rural policy specialist, she was formerly a Trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund, a Board member of the Countryside Agency and Commission for Rural Communities and a Governor at the Hereford College of Arts. She has lived in Herefordshire for nearly 40 years and is now busy introducing her grandchildren to the wonders of the natural world. Alison was awarded an OBE for services to rural affairs in 2010.
Incoming Vice Chair Matt Williams is a nature writer, wildlife photographer and environmental communications and policy expert. He’s a lifelong nature lover and environmentalist – beginning birdwatching at the age of five – and grew up in Malvern. He has spent more than a decade working in the environmental sector, including founding and leading organisations such as UK Youth Climate Coalition and UK Youth for Nature, and winning major grants to support these projects. He has worked in the Indonesian rainforest following primates, and previously worked on environmental policy for the National Trust and RSPB. He’s currently the Climate and Land Programme Lead at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.
The charity’s Board of Trustees comprises 11 Trustees in total who oversee the Trust’s work and support its 27 full and part-time members of staff and over 500 volunteers.
Brian Hurrell, Chair for six years, will continue to sit on the Board as well as continuing his role with the nature reserves volunteer ‘work parties’. Will Bullough, former Vice Chair, will also continue on the Board, and as a member of the Trust’s Conservation Committee. During their tenure, the Trust has seen much change, including the move of their headquarters from Tupsley in Hereford to Queenswood Country Park & Arboretum which it now manages in partnership with New Leaf Sustainable Development. It has also increased its landholdings during that time and now manages 57 nature reserves across the county. Much has also been achieved through several major projects including Lugg Wetland Gem which saw the creation of fantastic habitat features such as reed bed and shallows to benefit wetland wildlife at Bodenham Lake and Pooling Together, which saw the restoration of a network of ponds across the Bromyard Downs and Bringsty Common as well as the ongoing successes of current projects: Hereford Yazor Brooks Restoration project, Conserving Herefordshire’s Ice Age Ponds and Nature, Nurture, Nourish which supports the Trust’s volunteers.
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