Annual General Meeting 2014

TODAY’S AGENDA1. Welcome, introductions and apologies for absence (Chairman, Chris Wilkinson).

2. Minutes of last meeting (16 November 2013). Available online at www.surreywildlifetrust.org or from Kati Reeve on 01483 795445.

3. To appoint or re-appoint Trustees (Gordon Vincent, Mary Adler, Adam Curtis, Kath Mills, Ron Pritchard, Sue Rooke, Chris Wilkinson).

4. To re-appoint the auditors.

5. To receive and consider the Council’s Report, the Financial Statements and Auditor’s Report for the period ending 31st March 2014. Available online at www.surreywildlifetrust.org or from Kati Reeve on 01483 795445.

6. Appointment of Honorary Members.

7. Annual Report presented by CEO, Nigel Davenport, followed by questions.

PROGRAMME10am - 10.30amFormal AGM.

10.30am - 11.30amSWT Annual Report, including time for questions.

11.30am - 12noonRefreshments and the opportunity to browse and purchase wildlife gifts and Christmas cards.

12noon - 1pmSWT Key Project Presentations.

1.15pmClose.

Aimée Clarke Director of Education and People & Wildlife, will be talking about the development of the exciting new Wildlife Gardening Scheme. Learn how SWT will be helping to link the

20,000ha of Surrey’s gardens and achieve our vision of a living landscape, connecting homes, churchyards and greenspaces throughout Surrey.

Andrew Jamieson Countryside Services Manager, will be highlighting the challenges in restoring UK woodland biodiversity and explaining the Trust’s current

work to survey and assess all of our woodland as part of an emerging policy on Sustainable Woodland Management.

Sarah Jane Chimbwandira Director of Biodiversity, Evidence & Policy, has been involved in developing a new initiative over the last two years called the Surrey Nature Partnership,

a group formally mandated by Defra and one of 48 Local Nature Partnerships. Sarah Jane will share the successes and challenges of the Partnership so far.

Presentations

A walk on the heath (Tom Marshall)

2014 in pictures...

Surrey Wildlife Trust Annual General Meeting 2014 | 2

Getting hands on with bank restoration at Thundry Meadows (Jamel Guenioui)

A ginger belty! (James Herd)

Beautiful Coronation Cowslip Meadow, Sheepleas (Marcus Wehrle)

A buzzing BioBlitz at Newlands Corner (Marcus Wehrle)

Pretty in pink... Cuckooflower at Vann Lake (Jamel Guenioui)

Hanging around... A Puss Moth Caterpillar on Wisley Common (Gemma Hayes)

Marching on the Wey (Glenn Skelton)

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SWT AGM 2014

Our Trustees Trustees Seeking ElectionGordon Vincent

Trustees Seeking Re-ElectionChris Wilkinson (Chairman)

Sue Rooke (Treasurer)

Mary Adler MBE

Adam Curtis

Kath Mills

Ron Pritchard

Incumbent TrusteesHeather Hawker (Vice Chairman)

Gillie Muir (Vice Chairman)

John Edwards

Alan Oakley

Shirley Scott

David Starkey

Pam Whyman

Chris Wilkinson (Chairman) Chris is a retired solicitor and former partner at an international law firm.

During a 35 year career he has gained extensive corporate and commercial experience, with a particular emphasis on corporate governance developments for listed companies and other organisations.

Chris is founder and chairman of the Next Generation NED Network, a new

training and mentoring network for aspiring nonexecutive directors formed in collaboration with Simmons & Simmons and a number of other leading service providers.

Chris is a keen walker with an avid interest in the countryside. He has lived in Surrey for over 20 years and is a long standing member of SWT as well as a number of other national and regional environmental charities.

Heather D Hawker MBE DL (Vice Chairman) Heather was elected an SWT Trustee in 2002. Heather lives in Weybridge and is Managing Director of a company that owns and manages industrial property.

A member of Surrey County Council between 1985 and 2001, Heather spent three fascinating years as Chairman, representing the County Council and increasing her knowledge of the county and its people.

In 1995 Heather was appointed Chairman of the Libraries, Leisure and Countryside Committee, including Heritage, Archives and Registration and, supported by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, led the team responsible for the building of the Surrey History Centre.

Heather is a Trustee of two local charitable trusts, she is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers (Master 2014-15) and a Freeman of the City of London.

Gillie Muir (Vice Chairman) Gillie has lived in Guildford for seventeen years. She has an MSc in Ecology and a Post Graduate Certificate in Environmental Assessment. After studying bats and other mammals in the Peruvian rainforest and Dominica, Gillie spent twelve years working for national wildlife conservation NGOs in

the UK, including the Mammal Society and the Bat Conservation Trust.

Currently a full time mother of two children, Gillie was elected an SWT Trustee in 2004.

Sue Rooke (Treasurer) Sue has been an SWT Trustee since 2007. Sue works as Director of Resources for an international children’s development charity.

A qualified chartered accountant, she has spent fifteen years working for charities both in paid and voluntary capacities, building up a deep knowledge of the technical and financial issues affecting them.

Her recent experience has widened to cover resource management, including human resource, IT, governance and office facilities. In her free time she enjoys the outdoors, particularly walking and visiting gardens.

Mary Adler MBEMary joined a campaign against a development close to her home in 1986, the success of which led to Surrey Heath Borough Council purchasing the land and agreeing that SWT should manage it as Brentmoor Heath Nature Reserve.

Mary was appointed Honorary Warden and her involvement as an inaugural member of the MOD Pirbright and Bisley Conservation Group in 1991 led to the MOD and SWT signing an agreement to manage 75 acres of training area adjoining Greyspot Range.

Mary worked with Deepcut and Pirbright camps encouraging recruits to participate in conservation tasks. In 1998 she became involved in the Folly Bog Project, restoring and enhancing a valley mire system on the Pirbright Ranges.

Mary was a joint prize winner of the coveted

MOD Sanctuary Award on three separate occasions.

Mary received a Surrey County Council Achievement Award in 1996 and in 2002 was appointed MBE for services to conservation and Brentmoor Heath LNR. She was elected as a SWT Trustee in 2006.

Adam Curtis Adam enjoyed a free-range childhood close to Chobham Common. His interest in wildlife and the countryside led to a career in countryside management via four years vocational training. After a short time working in Berkshire and Dorset he returned to Surrey working on Ashtead Common and as the County Woodlands Officer. He earned a BSc and an MSc through evening classes and is a licensed bat worker.

In October 2005, Adam became the Assistant Superintendent of Richmond Park, reputably the UK’s busiest National Nature Reserve. He was elected an SWT Trustee in 2008.

John EdwardsJohn began his nature conservation career in 1979, firstly as a researcher evaluating open spaces for their ecological value, then as a countryside ranger.

As Surrey County Council’s Ecologist, John advises both SCC and the public.

John joined Surrey Wildlife Trust in 1978, was Local Group Organiser for Elmbridge in the 1980’s and also served as chair of the Wildlife Trust’s Conservation Committee.

He was elected an SWT Trustee in 1993. John is a member of the Surrey Botanical Society, Association of Local Government Ecologists, the Chartered Institute of Ecology & Environmental Management and is a chartered Environmentalist.

Kath MillsKath has lived in Guildford for 13 years. She has worked in marketing and communications for over 25 years, much of it with and for the not-for-profit sector. She has led successful marketing teams for the last 12 years, and currently heads up the communications and brand function for a large federated organisation.

Kath became involved with the Trust following an advertisement for Trustees with marketing skills. Her professional expertise and her fondness for the Surrey countryside, where she likes to go walking with her husband, has proved to be a good match.

Alan OakleyAlan is a retired Chartered Surveyor and Town Planner with both private and public sector experience. Whilst working with Surrey County Council he was instrumental in extending the Metropolitan Green Belt, writing the Countryside and Recreation Chapters of the first Surrey Structure Plan, setting up four Countryside Management Projects and establishing the Surrey Historic Buildings Trust.

As Countryside Manager he oversaw the restoration of the Basingstoke Canal and Chobham Common’s designation as a National Nature Reserve. Alan was Chairman of the Surrey Branch of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a member the RICS Countryside Policies Panel.

Formerly he was a Member of the Country Land and Business Association’s Surrey Committee, the Surrey Branch Committee of CPRE and is a member of the Surrey Industrial History Group and Chairman of his local Conservation Area Advisory Committee.

Alan served as SWT Chairman between 2001 and 2007 and is currently a Director of Norbury Park Wood Products.

Ron PritchardRon became a trustee in 2006 and served as Chairman of Council from 2007 to 2014.

Originally from a farming background, Ron gained post-graduate qualifications in Freshwater Ecology and Applied Educational Studies before starting a thirty-seven year career in education.

During that time posts ranged from Tutor of Ecology at a Field Studies Council Centre to Principal & Chief Executive of two Colleges of Further and Higher Education, plus twenty years spent as part-time tutor with the Open University’s Ecology Course.

He was also involved in several community regeneration schemes in South London and helping define the Member of the Freshwater Biological Association and the Field Studies Council and a Member of the British Ecological Society and the Institute of Biology.

Shirley Scott Shirley worked for 25 years at the Charity Commission, the charity regulator, before crossing the fence to be Chief Executive of the Charity Finance Group. Her role included raising funds, organising conferences, recruiting members and being a trainer.

Now she works part time as the sole staff member of an old grant making charity which gives her time for her birding, walking and singing with Guildford Choral Society.

David StarkeyDavid has been an SWT member for more than thirty years. Enjoying a career in commercial banking, mainly within international finance and product marketing, he developed a keen interest in the natural world after moving to Surrey as a young man, walking the North Downs

Way, and wanting to improve his wildlife identification skills.

A long standing association with SWT’s Tandridge Group culminated in his election as Group Chairman. David is still a keen walker, other interests include music, theatre and active membership of many environmental charities including Falklands Conservation.

Gordon VincentGordon was born in Surrey and grew up on his father’s farm at Sunbury on Thames. His career has spanned three major Estates.

He managed Firle in East Sussex which consisted of 2,500 acres together with 1,200 head of cattle. He was the Farms Director of Milton Estate in Cambridgeshire, consisting of 21,000 acres, 1,700 breeding sheep and a herd of Longhorn cattle.

It was at Milton in 2000 that he won The East of England’s Agricultural Society’s Supreme Farm Championship Competition. He was also the chairman of the Longhorn Cattle Society.

Gordon also managed the Daylesford Estate in Gloucestershire which is an Organic Estate, producing and marketing its own livestock and cheese.

For the past ten years until retirement he was the Chief Executive of Wimbledon and Putney Commons, a 1,200 estate in SW London, which includes two golf clubs together with 17 rugby/ football pitches, where he developed the annual “Schools Rugby 7’s” with over 1,200 rugby games played in one week.

Pam WhymanPam graduated from the University of East Anglia and gained a postgraduate Certificate in Education at the Institute of Education in London, before teaching in Surrey.

Returning to teaching after a break to bring up her family, she brought her students to Nower Wood and was soon volunteering there. She was invited to join the Education Committee, eventually becoming Chair, and an SWT Trustee in 1993.

Pam still teaches at Esher College and fulfils an educational advisory role for the Trust, working closely with staff in all sections of the Education department.

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SWT AGM 2014

Green lightning ... A Green Tiger Beetle on Wisley Common (James Herd)