|
What
are we?
The
Eternal Forest trust is a charity, formed in 2005 to enhance relationships between people and
natural woodland. We want to
give people of all abilities the opportunity to appreciate and enjoy our
native woods, by creating more accessible woodland, and protecting these
places of peace and beauty for eternity.
The Eternal Forest
Trust
is, as yet, a small organisation, but we are part of a growing network of
similar groups. We think of
ours as an acorn which, with your help, we hope will become a magnificent oak tree.
As a charity we depend on donations and
volunteers.
Currently, we are restoring a
wood at Boduan on the beautiful Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales.
We are managing it organically, as a nature reserve where we can
provide burials. We plan to
nurture and protect many more areas of woodland, and will do our utmost to
ensure that they will be natural woodland in perpetuity. Our
woods will never be sold or clear-felled.
The Eternal Forest trust
is a limited company as well as a charity.
This is the way charities are organised now; Companies House sets the
legal framework, whilst the Charity Commission decides whether the
organisation fits charitable criteria.
The company has no shareholders, nor can anyone take a profit from
it. Any surplus of donations over running costs will be used to
buy and manage more land and further our objectives.
Look through our website, follow
the links. If you don’t find
what you’re looking for, contact us and we shall do our best to help you.
Who are we?
The
Trustees of the Charity are Arabella Melville,
Colin Johnson,
Mike Unger, Richard and Sylvia Lemon, Nigel Beidas and Dave
Hillman.
Belinda Wain
runs the office and the website.
The original
mind behind the project belongs to
Colin Johnson
, a philosopher. His long-term
partner, Arabella Melville, liked the idea and made it happen.
Arabella
Melville and
Colin Johnson
became coupled in 1974. Their
joint projects range from looking after a flock of sheep on a Mid-Wales
organic farm to designing Accreditation Standards for Cancer Centres.
For a decade they worked together as authors; their first
groundbreaking book, Cured to Death: the Effects of Prescription Drugs
was published in 1982, followed by a series of books on medicine and health,
after which they de-coupled.
In 1995 they
moved to Yorkshire, where Colin began an M.A. in philosophy at
Hull
University
– the first student without any previous educational qualifications
whatever to get a Master’s degree. Meanwhile,
Arabella took advantage of her Ph.D. to become a Research Fellow at the
University
of
York
, where she joined the National Cancer Guidance Group and, as the writer in
the group, produced a series of guidance documents for the NHS which have
transformed cancer care in
Britain
.
Colin and
Arabella returned to
Wales
in 1998. They are now
semi-detached, living and writing in separate flats in the same building in
Pwllheli.
Mike Unger
was persuaded to join the project because neither Colin nor Arabella have
the personal qualities necessary to chair a meeting, let alone a charity.
As an ex-newspaper editor and Chief Executive of a major charity,
Mike brings valuable experience and the sort of gently smiling sanity that
is essential to keep an unstable team on course.
Richard and
Sylvia Lemon live in Garndolbenmaen, where they face outwards towards the
Llŷn
Peninsula
. Richard’s particular area of
expertise is in health and safety - crucial to a project such as this.
Sylvia, a retired teacher, devotes much of her time to gardening and
learning Welsh.
Nigel has been a Trustee since December 2007. He
discovered the Wood and the Charity earlier the same year when a
close relative was buried at Boduan.
A member
of the RSPB and The Woodland Trust, Dave Hillman became involved with the
Eternal Forest Trust to help develop the wildlife and habitat
aspects of the wood.
Belinda Wain
is a complementary health practitioner, opera singer, and is the plate
spinner in the office! She is also hoping to take a more active role
of helping in the forest in the future, but first she just has to finish
building the office database...
|
