People at the heart of environmental change
Welcome from Jayne
Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood co-founded Earth Trust in 1982 with the land acquisition of Little Wittenham Wood, recognising that, as well as being important wildlife habitat, this was a valuable opportunity to provide access to the countryside for local communities. From our earliest beginnings, Earth Trust has grown to be an influential regional advocate and demonstration of people connecting with the natural world – and importantly, connecting with each other in order to so.
You, our Friends and donors, along with our volunteers, our staff, visitors and those that enjoy our spaces are all part of a community of change-makers that we are proud to be a part of. Together we are guardians of some extremely special and inspiring places rich in nature and heritage, through which we are able to inspire and influence others with the power of nature based solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss and human health.
As we enter our 40th year, it has never been more critical to provide access to green space and to engage more people deeply with nature – both for our own wellbeing and to inspire action to protect the natural world for the future. We need to address this directly by building green spaces and nature into our lives and places where we live and work – but to do this, we need to work with – and as part of – communities to identify barriers and needs. We are sad that Sir Martin Wood is so longer with us in this special year, but he will always be in our thoughts and behind our actions.
Our 40th anniversary marks the launch of a new 5 year strategic period for the Trust- and we are working hard to share and launch our new strategy – and celebrate our anniversary- in the summer. Our new strategy will be centred around the need to further develop our community of change, working in partnership and collaboration towards a society where accessible, engaging green spaces enable nature and people to thrive in balance.
Over the next year, you will start to see some changes in the way we communicate with you as Friends and donors – for example, with briefer – but more frequent – newsletters. We are keen to listen and learn more together. Our intention is to share more of our work, experiences and, yes, the challenges so that we can work together to bring more people into our community.
Everyone of us has a vital role to play in connecting with and caring for our green spaces so that people and nature thrive together. Your continued support is so valuable and (as we hope this newsletter will show) impactful in helping us to champion accessible green spaces so that together we can take action for people and planet. Thank you.