Our trustees

Tiddesley Wood by Paul Lane

Tiddesley Wood by Paul Lane

Who we are

Our trustees

Our trustees

The Trust is governed by a Council, the members of which are elected by the general membership at the Annual General Meeting to serve as Trustees for a three-year term.

Our Trustees are the most senior of more than 400 volunteers regularly contributing time and expertise to the Trust's work. Without volunteer input the Trust could not continue to deliver conservation action across Worcestershire. Some of our trustees have specific Officer roles in addition to their usual trustee responsibilities.

Elections to Trust Council

Elections to the Trust's governing body will take place at the AGM each October. Nominations must be made on the nomination form, obtainable from the Secretary or Director at the Trust's office, and returned by June each year. Nominations require six proposers who are members of the Trust. Details of members standing for election or re-election will be circulated to all Trust members with the summer issue of Worcestershire Wildlife.

Our honorary officers

C. Tipping - Chair of Council

A head and shoulders photo of Christianne Tipping

Key Responsibilities: Overall responsibility for the governance, organisation and financial strength of the Trust.

Christianne has experience across a range of disciplines and has been employed in both public and private sector organisations.  After spending several years working in organisational development, strategic planning, policy formulation and leadership and management research, she re-trained as a psychologist and also completed an MSc in Environmental Sustainability.  She subsequently spent five years at the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations at Cardiff University researching environmental behaviour change.  Since 2017, she has been a non-executive director of the UK River Restoration Centre and was Chair of the Board from 2019 to 2024.  With a lifelong passion for the environment and a deep appreciation of the positive effect that spending time in nature can have on people’s wellbeing, she is delighted to have been afforded the opportunity to use her interdisciplinary perspective, leadership skills and governance experience to help the Trust achieve its aims. 

T. Meikle - Vice Chair of Council

Tom is an arable and vegetable farmer at Wick near Pershore. He has a strong record of wildlife conservation achievements, based upon his involvement in both county and national farm-based conservation schemes. His farm has won awards for its conservation outcomes, including Natural England’s Farming and Wildlife Award in 2004.  Tom has wide interests in wildlife and has been a member of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust for more than 30 years. He is an active member of the Worcestershire Fungi Group, Plantlife, LEAF and the RSPB and has served at committee level on the Worcestershire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group. As an advocate for the therapeutic benefits of working alongside nature, Tom is a trustee, playing a supporting role in Wick Care Farm based on his farm.

R. J. Gillmor - Honorary Secretary

Bob Gillmor

Bob Gillmor by Julia Letts

Key responsibilities: Ensuring that the Trust meets all relevant legal requirements, uses proper administrative procedures and makes proper use of its resources.

I am retired after 23 years in international transport with a large manufacturing company, ten with my own company and a third career, self-employed as a driving instructor.

Joining the Trust in the late 1980s, I first volunteered in Tiddesley Wood work parties and became closely involved with the SE Worcestershire Local Group, helping to lead Tiddesley Wood Open Day and log sales. 

First elected to Council in 2001, I served as Honorary Secretary between 2011 and 2016, civic duties in Pershore causing me to step back before picking it up again in 2023. I am also privileged to serve as a trustee of Vale Landscape Heritage Trust and the Friends of Avon Meadows CIO. My natural history interests focus mainly on moths and wetland species but spiders are a fascinating diversion. Health and Safety remains a long-term key interest and I bring a range of business skills to Council and the wide-ranging Secretary role. I strongly believe in the continuing strength of this Trust’s partnership between trustees, staff and volunteers.

J. Blakiston - Honorary Treasurer

John Blakiston

Key Responsibilities: Acting as lead trustee in respect of the financial affairs of the Trust and providing advice and support to the Trustees and staff.

I have been a member of the Trust for over 25 years and am passionate about wildlife in my local area. At the start of 2017 I was co-opted to Council and elected to the role of Honorary Treasurer. While I had little experience of working with charities before the Trust, I have gained over 15 years’ experience working in senior management teams in industry, mainly in the packaging and automotive sectors. I have now been working for eight years as a self-employed Finance Director working for a number of smaller businesses and the experience I have gained is giving me very relevant experience to bring to the Trust. I am a qualified Chartered Management accountant and trained with Coopers and Lybrand in Birmingham.

Our other trustees

L. Bracewell

Lyndon has always been keen on exploring the outdoors on foot and bike. Soon after moving to Worcester, he became a member and volunteer with the Trust including as a committee member for the Worcester Local Group. After a career in economic regeneration where he was responsible for delivering a wide range of business, employment and training support, he is now keen to use his skills and knowledge to support the Trust sustain and expand its important role in helping to ensure the county’s nature recovery.

R. Cory

Born locally, Richard has been a member of the Trust for nearly 40 years. In 2015 he stepped down from 22 years as Chairman of the Wyre Forest Local Group. Like many he was first introduced to wildlife through birdwatching as a child but he has developed a wider interest in the living world and is particularly interested in the natural history and management of woodland. Now retired, Richard likes to use his 42 years of experience in property management and administration for the benefit of the Trust.

G. Devries

Gail worked for many years in social housing, initially as a housing trainee in a London Borough, followed by a regional housing provider in various management posts. In 2009, she moved to the charitable sector, working across Kent and Sussex as CEO of a money advice charity, then a re-use and recycling charity and finally Director of a housing and support charity for single homeless adults. Outside the day job, she took a voluntary role with a social business as a director and president of Kent Savers - a start up credit union. Since retiring to Worcestershire in 2016, she has continued her commitment to the sector with trustee roles until recently with two other charities. She has a keen amateur interest in wildlife and a love of gardening, including wildlife gardening and growing many different plants, including the rare Whitty Pear from seed from her local arboretum where she also volunteers.

A. Forecast

Having worked for the Trust on a regular basis as a reserve manager and work party leader for several years, initially with the roving volunteers, Andrew has a good understanding of their needs and is interested in contributing to identify ways to support both the volunteer leaders and volunteers.  He is a qualified teacher with a particular interest in using the outdoors to promote personal development and understanding of the natural world. As a Trustee he hopes to develop his own knowledge of the issues involved in running a large conservation organisation whilst making contributions in his own specialist areas. Andrew has many years' experience of working with younger people and would like to see wider engagement of what he sees as our most valuable resource.

P. Gildea

Pat Gildea is a retired executive in e-business development, digital marketing and social media for green enterprises, most recently in the green electricity field. She has had a life-long interest in the natural world, becoming an environmental activist as a teen and attending the first Earth Day in 1970. She has a Bsc in Botany and an MSc in Plant Ecology. She began her career as a Research Scientist developing global models of land use in the study of global warming. She is particularly interested in climate emergency and greening the Trust, and as part of the WWT Sustainability Action Group, contributed to the first assessment of WWT’s annual carbon emissions. She is also interested in membership development and diversity.

G. H. Green MBE

Hon. Officer without portfolio

Harry has been a member of the Trust since its creation in 1968 and actively involved in its affairs as a volunteer and amateur, being first elected to Council in 1970. His volunteer work in the Trust has ranged from practical conservation work in reserves, through fundraising to committee work and as past editor of Worcestershire Wildlife News; with others he produced two books for the Trust.

He completed a long term as Chairman of Council in 1993 and is currently an Hon. Vice-President of the Trust. He has been interested in natural history since boyhood and an active participant in the activities of the British Trust for Ornithology and many other wildlife societies for much of his life.

C. J. N. Greensmith

Hon. Officer for Conservation

Chris is a keen nature lover with a particular passion for otters and an enthusiasm for exploring the Scottish highlands and islands – two interests which, fortunately, can often be combined. When he can he joins the Trust’s roving volunteers and is the volunteer reserve warden for the Trust’s Hardwick Green Meadows, a rare floodplain nature reserve in the south of the county. Previously a practising solicitor, in 2018 Chris completed a degree in Ecology and Environmental Science at the University of Worcester, followed by a Masters by Research (MRes) in River Science.

Dr. P. R. Holmes

Peter moved to Malvern in 1992 when he became English Nature's Conservation Officer for Worcestershire. Over 13 years he was involved in many conservation projects in the county, including the notification of 45 SSSIs, mostly hay meadows. For several years he led a large partnership project to restore and re-create floodplain wetlands in the Severn and Avon Vales. He still works part-time for Natural England, building partnership projects at a landscape scale across the West Midlands, but remains actively involved in Worcestershire. Much of his spare time is involved with bird-ringing at sites throughout Worcestershire, especially Castlemorton Common, Oakley Pool and a number of farms with winter finch and bunting flocks. He is interested in moths and runs a moth trap daily in his garden.

A. Muir

Andrew has recently retired after 36 years as a Chartered Town Planner during which time he gained experience in local authority, consultancy and client side.  His main area of expertise is Environmental Impact Assessment, which has allowed him to develop an understanding across a wide range of environmental disciplines.  He has worked across a range of infrastructure, including High Speed Rail and renewable energy, which present complex interactions between environment and community.  That experience has provided him with skills in commercial, quality and programme management.  During his career he undertook engagement with a broad spectrum of stakeholders where his role was to explain the environmental impacts of development clearly and accurately.  He has delivered STEM initiatives focused on the interaction between development and the environment.  Andrew has been volunteering with the Trust at a number of reserves and has recently become work party leader at Windmill Hill, so clearly likes a challenge!

C. Pawley

Hon. Officer for Resources

Carrie has a 20 year career in the public sector, the last 13 years spent in the Environment Agency managing intelligence, data and evidence teams to build tools and services to enable the organisation to make informed, evidence-based decisions across multiple sectors. She leads a disability network supporting staff across the Defra Group with long-term health conditions and takes an active role in the department’s EDI community. Carrie is also the co-founder of Women Who, Worcestershire, a networking group for female-fronted businesses in the county. She’s passionate about community and the value of nature in building and supporting community wellbeing and is keen to support the Trust to further its EDI ambitions.