Community Action for Nature Workshops

Discover: 

• How to collaborate with neighbouring landowners. 

• How to inspire community action across your local area. 

• Ways to work with your local nature recovery strategy. 

• How to achieve scaled outcomes through the Land App mapping tool.  

During the workshop, join our Skills Café to speak to some of the Surrey Wildlife Trust team and partnering organisations, to gain guidance on a variety of topics.  

Throughout the event, there will be an opportunity to meet with other like-minded community groups to share ideas and support. 

10am – Arrival and refreshments

10.20am - Welcome and introduction

10.22am - Working with your Parish and Borough Councils, and accessing funds
Christine Howard, Trustee - Surrey Wildlife Trust, Chairperson - Surrey Association of Local Councils, President- Surrey Hills Society 

10.30am - Connecting your community, and how to collaborate with neighbouring landowners
Ben Habgood, Nature Based Solution Manager, Surrey Wildlife Trust 

Join this interactive session to look at ways in which to effectively and positively approach, engage and interact with neighbouring landowners/managers, focusing on maintaining and enhancing Surrey’s natural environment. We will look at some of the opportunities within the community space as well as ways in which to build interest and support towards a common cause to facilitate sustainable land management. 

11am - Creating new wildflower habitats to form a Betchworth B-Line
Norman Jackson, ReBetchworth community group

Join Norman to discover how they got over 40 households and 4 businesses in north Betchworth to join the community project to begin creating a Betchworth B-Line. As a result, they estimate that by mid-summer they will have well over 2000 square metres of wildflower rich habitat in north Betchworth. 

11.10am - Surrey’s emerging Local Nature Recovery Strategy
Vivien Greenough, Natural Environment Strategic Lead, Surrey County Council 

11.35am – Skills Café 

Join some of the Surrey Wildlife Trust team and partnering organisations to gain guidance on a variety of topics: 

Fundraising
Sarah Jordan, Head of Fundraising and Communications, Surrey Wildlife Trust 

Working with your Parish and Borough Councils
Chris Howard, Trustee - Surrey Wildlife Trust, Chairperson - Surrey Association of Local Councils, President- Surrey Hills Society 

Volunteering and accessibility
Jo Woodham, Project Manager, Green Social Prescribing, Surrey County Council 

12.05am - How to achieve scaled outcomes, using the Land App mapping tool
Tim Hopkin, Founder and Director, Land App 

 12.30 - 1.30 – Lunch 

Lunch will be provided by the Trust.

Christine Howard

Trustee, Surrey Wildlife Trust, Chairman of the Surrey Association of Local Councils. President of the Surrey Hills Society

Chris is the Chairman of the Surrey Association of Local Councils. She is also President of the Surrey Hills Society – the charity she helped set up fourteen years ago to support Surrey’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. She is also Chairman of Visit Surrey, Surrey’s official Tourism Board. She is a serving parish and borough councillor. Previously, she has worked as an officer in local government for both Waverley and Guildford boroughs. Having grown up on a farm in Australia, she is passionate about rural issues and the environment. In 2019 she helped set up a local environment group in her village, in partnership with Wonersh Parish Council and Waverley Borough Council.

Ben Habgood

Nature Based Solutions Manager, Surrey Wildlife Trust

Ben has worked with Surrey Wildlife Trust since 2015 delivering land management across the SWT wildlife reserves, including the extensive areas of lowland habitats. Ben is now part of the Nature-Based Solutions and Project team within the Trust, engaging and working with local landowners and managers to help them better manage their land for nature, biodiversity and landscape-scale connectivity. Ben is also currently the manager of the Red Deer Project on Pirbright Ranges and is delivering a wetland restoration pilot on Wishmoor stream valley mire near Camberley. Ben’s environmental aspiration is that he wants to help make Surrey a more diverse, naturally richer, better connected and more resilient landscape in the face of the biodiversity and climate crisis we all now face.

Norman Jackson

Norman is a retired educator and founder of Lifewide Education – a social enterprise that promotes the idea that the whole of life contains potential for learning. Mindful of the growing urgency to live for a future that is more sustainable, his current educational work seeks to embed these ideas in a concept of lifelong learning in which helping nature, the envioronment and sustainability are embedded. His voluntary work for the RE-Betchworth Charity gives practical meaning to these ideas and he is currently leading a community project to develop a Betchworth B-Line through the creation of a patchwork of mini wildflower meadows. He enjoys making simple wildlife movies which he shares in his Garden Notes Blog

Vivienne Greenough CEcol, MCIEEM, MSc, BSc

Natural Environment Strategic Lead, Surrey County Council

Vivienne is a Chartered Ecologist with 15 years professional experience in ecology. She joined Surrey County Council in January 2023 as the Strategic Lead for the Natural Environment team. Her role involves advising on ecological aspects of planning applications, planning policy and Development Consent Orders as well as providing in-house ecological advice to other teams within SCC. She is leading upon the Council’s strategy for Biodiversity Net Gain as well as other statutory duties including the Local Nature Recovery Strategy and enhanced biodiversity duty. She is also working on developing a Land Use Framework for Surrey and is rolling out ecology training (including BNG) across SCC teams. 

Prior to joining the Council, Vivienne worked for 13 years in the private consultancy sector and two years within the NGO conservation sector. She holds protected species class licences for dormouse and great crested newt and is also a bird specialist. She is experienced in delivering ecological surveys and reports for large and small-scale projects, including at strategic scale, for public sector and private clients. In her spare time, Vivienne plays for her local hockey team, enjoys outdoor sports (mountain biking, walking) and enjoys visiting nature reserves for a spot of birdwatching!

Tim Hopkin

Founder and Director, Land App

In this role, Tim leads the overall company vision, new business development, and market engagement. Tim founded the Land App in 2015 to address the challenges he faced first-hand on his family’s 90- acre farm in Surrey: how to decide on the best land use strategy, where to find new sources of income, and how to work collaboratively with advisors, peers, and other stakeholders across the land sector to deliver environmental uplift. Tim has a keen interest in regenerative agriculture, permaculture design, and systems thinking.

Christine Howard

Trustee, Surrey Wildlife Trust, Chairman of the Surrey Association of Local Councils. President of the Surrey Hills Society

Chris is the Chairman of the Surrey Association of Local Councils. She is also President of the Surrey Hills Society – the charity she helped set up fourteen years ago to support Surrey’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. She is also Chairman of Visit Surrey, Surrey’s official Tourism Board. She is a serving parish and borough councillor. Previously, she has worked as an officer in local government for both Waverley and Guildford boroughs. Having grown up on a farm in Australia, she is passionate about rural issues and the environment. In 2019 she helped set up a local environment group in her village, in partnership with Wonersh Parish Council and Waverley Borough Council.

Jo Woodham

Project Manager Green Social Prescribing, Surrey County Council

Jo works on reducing barriers to engagement with nature and green spaces – particularly for communities that experience greater health inequalities. This includes First Step (Green) Volunteering, which aims to increase diversity and inclusion in Surrey’s environment sector, whilst empowering residents to make lasting change for the environment, climate change and biodiversity.

By utilising our Green Health and Wellbeing Network, carrying out community engagement and co-production, residents are empowered to improve and maintain their health and wellbeing through nature-based interventions and activities.

 Discover: 

• How to survey and monitor wildlife on your site. 

• Ways to plan small projects successfully. 

• How to make an action plan for your community space.  

During the workshop, join our Skills Café to speak to some of the Surrey Wildlife Trust team and partnering organisations, to gain guidance on a variety of topics.  

Throughout the event, there will be an opportunity to meet with other like-minded community groups to share ideas and support.

12.30pm - Arrival and lunch
Lunch will be provided by the Trust.

1.30pm - Welcome and introduction 

1.32pm - Working with your Parish and Borough Councils, and accessing funds 
Christine Howard, Trustee - Surrey Wildlife Trust, Chairperson - Surrey Association of Local Councils, President- Surrey Hills Society 

1.40pm – Introduction to surveying and recording wildlife
Dan Banks, Citizen Scientist Officer, Surrey Wildlife Trust 

In this session, Dan will introduce you to simple techniques to enable you to start recording the different species and taxonomical groups you might find on your site. We will also look at the importance of monitoring and why we record it. At the end of the session, we shall head out and complete a very small bird, or pollinator survey to give you an idea and taste of recording. 

2.20pm How to plan small projects effectively
Zoe Channon, Head of Projects and Partnerships, Surrey Wildlife Trust 

 Join Zoe to learn about a range of project management techniques to optimise nature recovery in your local green space.  

• Discuss why project management is so important 

• Consider what is key to managing a project  

• Learn about a variety of project management techniques 

• Discover how to apply these techniques to small projects in your community 

2.50pm – Skills Café 

Join some of the Surrey Wildlife Trust team and partnering organisations to gain guidance on a variety of topics:  

Fundraising
Sarah Jordan, Head of Fundraising and Communications, Surrey Wildlife Trust 

Events management
Sophie Coad, Events Manager, Surrey Wildlife Trust 

Communications, marketing and media
Lauren Leftley, Digital Marketing Officer, Surrey Wildlife Trust 

Coordinating volunteers, and delivering community events
Christa Emmett, Project and Volunteer Coordinator, Surrey Hills Society 

3.20pm – How to create an action plan for the management of your community space
Zoe Channon, Head of Projects and Partnerships, Surrey Wildlife Trust 

Join this workshop to talk through the benefits of producing a management plan that’s suitable and realistic for nature restoration where you live.  

• Discuss the common issues that you might come across in your local area 

• Learn about the basics of a site management plan, along with a template that you can take back to your community group 

• Consider what species are on site, and if any are protected 

• Zoe will also touch upon other considerations, including people, communication, working with local councils, and landowner permissions 

3.45pm - Finish 

Daniel Banks

Citizen Scientist Officer, Surrey Wildlife Trust

Dan is currently working the role of the Citizen scientist officer, for the Space4nature project. Dan joined the trust in 2022, working as in intern in the education department. Engaging and enthusing young children about wildlife conservation. The Citizen scientist role is working with volunteers to ‘ground truth’ areas to help record different species across Surreys habitats. In his spare time Dan is a licenced bird ringing for the BTO (British trust for ornithology) and enjoys completing a pan species list, recording everything he has seen. Dan is passionate about connecting Surrey’s nature reserve and helping to protect all our wildlife.

Zoe Channon

Head of Projects and Partnerships, Surrey Wildlife Trust

Zoe has worked in conservation now for many years and joined the Land Management Team at Surrey Wildlife Trust in 2017. She is now the Head of Projects and Partnerships and has responsibility for all the Trusts central Project Management, the Nature-Based Solutions Team and Wetland Strategy which encompasses co-hosting the River Catchment Partnerships for the Mole and Wey with the South East Rivers Trust. Every day is different and fast paced and it’s truly inspiring to work with a team of people dedicated to making a difference for nature in Surrey.

Sophie Coad

Events Manager, Surrey Wildlife Trust

Sophie has 20 years experience of managing a wide variety of events from large public events seating 13,000 people at Earls Court to royal visits, private receptions, public engagement and fundraising events to conferences (hybrid, online & in person), exclusive drinks receptions and competitions.

Over the last 8 years at Surrey Wildlife Trust, she has been responsible for organising the Wild About Woking & Guildford Goes Wild pop up Garden, Wild Surrey art & photography competition and exhibition, Biodiversity & Planning conference, royal opening at Nower Wood, walks and talks and many more events. Previous to joining SWT she worked at ABF The Soldiers’ Charity organising fundraising challenge events as well as a large-scale event at Earls Court called the British Military Tournament, which involved organising MOD resources and assets, management of the VIP and Royal Box areas, and coordination of stakeholders and sponsors. She has also worked at WWF & Crisis where she was responsible for organising campaign launches, sponsored walks and private receptions for MPs, major donors and celebrities.

Lauren Leftley

Digital Marketing Officer, Surrey Wildlife Trust

Wildlife and nature is a personal passion of mine and after working in marketing and communication in the higher education sector, I joined the team at the Trust to focus on the development of digital channels. I enjoy working with data insights to improve user journeys and to create new content across digital platforms. I have worked on various projects at the Trust from income generating activity and large scale email communication, to supporting national campaigns and promoting events.

My specialisms include social media (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and blogs), customer journeys, content creation (both written and visual), email communication and internal communication.

Christa Emmett

Project and Volunteer Coordinator, Surrey Hills Society

Christa works as Project and Volunteer Coordinator for Surrey Hills Society which is the charitable arm of the Surrey Hills National Landscape. Her main role is to engage different volunteers and volunteer groups in conservation activities across the Surrey Hills. She is very happy to help with and talk about managing and coordinating volunteers, engaging with members of the public and liaising with landowners. This includes organising, promoting, and delivering community events and she is happy to share her experience of what she has found has worked well and what can be improved upon.