By Jonathan Caddy
There are many things going on connected with the FHT this spring both on the land and within the organisation. Here is a brief roundup of some that may interest you:
EWG Work Party – The Trust is in the process of securing a small grant from Volunteering Matters to help us run the first of our work parties for over a year. This will be to carry out a spring clean up of our Edible Woodland Garden. This will take place over a number of sessions to reduce the number of people involved at one time to comply with covid restrictions. The first will be 9.30pm- 12 noon on Saturday the 29th of May and will be at the same times over the following two weekends. Contact [email protected] to get involved. This will be honouring, caring and bringing more life to this great resource that we have on our doorstep.
FHT Employment of Kajedo Wanderer as a Land Manager – After almost five years of seconding Kajedo from the Findhorn Foundation and with his position within the FF being terminated, the FHT has taken the bold step of becoming his employer for at least half his working time. Kajedo, with his considerable skill and land-based knowledge, is warmly welcomed as a FHT employee. There will be some further relooking at innovative ways of increasing financial income to meet this important and long-term commitment.
Opportunities to contribute – A part time Land Manager cannot do everything that needs to be done to care for the land that we look after. There are a whole host of ways others can meaningfully get involved – helping give guided tours when they restart, taking on an awareness of a part of the land (the green burial area, paths, lichen beds, grassland and butterflies, bird boxes), being a camp host for those camping on the land, attending our work parties or green gym activities etc. Please get in touch by email [email protected] or phone 07825212816 if you are inspired to contribute in any way. Thank you.
Paid Membership Campaign– One of the ways the FHT is making sure that it is sustainable well into the future is by people who appreciate what the organisation does contributing by becoming a paid member. At present there are 82 people who are paid members out of a previous membership of 262 – many of these people still do not understand that the membership criteria has changed. If you are one of them or simply feel inspired, please do join and support us in this way by following this link – it really does make a huge difference.
Other Personnel Changes –We welcomed three new trustees in January, Paulo Bessa, Arun Patel and Bryan Parsons as Sylvia Robertson and Donna Skelly stood down after their valued input over the last few years. Donna did so saying that she was very willing to carry on as the FHT’s solicitor, which is much appreciated. Paulo has been of considerable help already as he took on a fundraising role to help with the funding of the Conservation Hub and Arun has agreed to be the new Membership Secretary as our Lorraine Rytz-Theriault stood down after several years of valiant service – she carries on as our tea lady when work parties happen.
There are also two other new members of our team – Birgit Carow who is contributing her talented design skills helping produce articles for the Bridge and Christine Lines who takes over from Shanti Codee as our webmaster, updating the website and supporting the marketing efforts.
Will Russell our Green Burial Coordinator is also looking to release his role after over a decade of building up and holding this vital part of the organisation. As we all know the multi-talented Will cannot be replaced but over the coming months we will be looking together at ways that his FHT functions can be covered.
As you can see there has been a lot of changes in the last few months which I see as positive as ultimately it is the robust organisational structure that will carry on the good work of the trust into the distant future as all the talented people serving it come, enjoy giving of themselves to our great cause and then move on.
My thanks goes out to all of you, past and present, that so generously contribute to the smooth running of the trust and ultimately to the benefit of the beautiful land we live next to with all the amazing beings that live there.
Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
20th May 2021
FHT Chair’s Spring Roundup
By Jonathan Caddy
There are many things going on connected with the FHT this spring both on the land and within the organisation. Here is a brief roundup of some that may interest you:
EWG Work Party – The Trust is in the process of securing a small grant from Volunteering Matters to help us run the first of our work parties for over a year. This will be to carry out a spring clean up of our Edible Woodland Garden. This will take place over a number of sessions to reduce the number of people involved at one time to comply with covid restrictions. The first will be 9.30pm- 12 noon on Saturday the 29th of May and will be at the same times over the following two weekends. Contact [email protected] to get involved. This will be honouring, caring and bringing more life to this great resource that we have on our doorstep.
FHT Employment of Kajedo Wanderer as a Land Manager – After almost five years of seconding Kajedo from the Findhorn Foundation and with his position within the FF being terminated, the FHT has taken the bold step of becoming his employer for at least half his working time. Kajedo, with his considerable skill and land-based knowledge, is warmly welcomed as a FHT employee. There will be some further relooking at innovative ways of increasing financial income to meet this important and long-term commitment.
Opportunities to contribute – A part time Land Manager cannot do everything that needs to be done to care for the land that we look after. There are a whole host of ways others can meaningfully get involved – helping give guided tours when they restart, taking on an awareness of a part of the land (the green burial area, paths, lichen beds, grassland and butterflies, bird boxes), being a camp host for those camping on the land, attending our work parties or green gym activities etc. Please get in touch by email [email protected] or phone 07825212816 if you are inspired to contribute in any way. Thank you.
Paid Membership Campaign– One of the ways the FHT is making sure that it is sustainable well into the future is by people who appreciate what the organisation does contributing by becoming a paid member. At present there are 82 people who are paid members out of a previous membership of 262 – many of these people still do not understand that the membership criteria has changed. If you are one of them or simply feel inspired, please do join and support us in this way by following this link – it really does make a huge difference.
Other Personnel Changes –We welcomed three new trustees in January, Paulo Bessa, Arun Patel and Bryan Parsons as Sylvia Robertson and Donna Skelly stood down after their valued input over the last few years. Donna did so saying that she was very willing to carry on as the FHT’s solicitor, which is much appreciated. Paulo has been of considerable help already as he took on a fundraising role to help with the funding of the Conservation Hub and Arun has agreed to be the new Membership Secretary as our Lorraine Rytz-Theriault stood down after several years of valiant service – she carries on as our tea lady when work parties happen.
There are also two other new members of our team – Birgit Carow who is contributing her talented design skills helping produce articles for the Bridge and Christine Lines who takes over from Shanti Codee as our webmaster, updating the website and supporting the marketing efforts.
Will Russell our Green Burial Coordinator is also looking to release his role after over a decade of building up and holding this vital part of the organisation. As we all know the multi-talented Will cannot be replaced but over the coming months we will be looking together at ways that his FHT functions can be covered.
As you can see there has been a lot of changes in the last few months which I see as positive as ultimately it is the robust organisational structure that will carry on the good work of the trust into the distant future as all the talented people serving it come, enjoy giving of themselves to our great cause and then move on.
My thanks goes out to all of you, past and present, that so generously contribute to the smooth running of the trust and ultimately to the benefit of the beautiful land we live next to with all the amazing beings that live there.
Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
20th May 2021