I had the pleasure of attending my first Findhorn Hinterland Trust winter gathering at the woodland shelter back in December 2025. What a pleasure it was to see so many people from the community gathering enjoying a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine around an open fire singing Christmas songs and carols, and of course picking out their Christmas tree.
This was followed the next day by the Theatre of the 7 Directions’ artist hunt and a visit to Santa’s Grotto at the Hub. Making it the perfect way to lead up to Christmas. Thanks to all who took part and volunteered in these events helping to bring so much joy and light to the Park.
Another example of how well the people in the Community come together was the very well held meeting in the Sunshine Room mid-December to discuss the Whins Fire Pit plans. We heard from a well attended group the concerns raised over the plans for the fire pit. This was a great testament to the ability of this community to express openly their concerns and differences of opinion and to be able to come to a collective decision and conclusion about contentious matters.
Thanks also to all of the additional input that was necessary to bring this to a positive resolution including a very informative badger walk by ecologist Sean Reed where residents found out about the life of these nocturnal animals living on our doorstep at the Park. Also a number of smaller meetings with concerned residents attended by Jonathan Caddy helped to pave the way.
Having survived the festive season, a bit of snow, some stormy strong winds and the magic of the Northern Lights over the New Year period, I chaired my first Trustees meeting at the beginning of February. We have a busy year ahead and continue with the work of restructuring FHT to ensure its sustainability and resilience for years to come. At our Whole Team Meeting we continued the work on the restructuring, with each of our teams looking at and planning for the next year as well as working on a five year strategy.
February also saw the launch of the Local Biodiversity Action Plan and the beginning of this year’s work on the Dunes Restoration Project (DRP). This is the culmination of months of preparation and hard work by our Land Management Team and Sean Reed, our consultant ecologist. The DRP this year focussed on converting a much smaller area of gorse to open sand than last year (0.2ha cf 0.8ha), which is the intended norm going forward annually over the next five years. Thanks goes to the Moray Climate Action Fund for funds that made this year’s work possible.
The planned area turned out quite different in shape due to the results of an extensive badger survey in the thick gorse carried out by Sean and trustee Neil Meikleham beforehand, which established and mapped where potential badger setts and rabbit burrows were. Not glamorous work but absolutely essential to make sure that the utmost care is taken as the FHT manages the land in its role as custodian for all of nature. That care was also shown with a conscious blessing of the land by a small group before any work started.
Images: Javier Rodiguez’s funeral; creating dunescape; blessing the land
It has taken a while to get off the ground but the newest FHT team, the Education and Community Team, had their first official meeting in February, as part of the restructuring of FHT that has been taking place. The group is headed by ex chair Jonathan Caddy alongside our new membership secretary Dan Metcalfe, and Dell Horler and Jacqueline Buckingham who both create our newsletters. Jacqueline has also been working with Val McLennan of Digital Routes to get our new website off the ground. Other team members include Birgit Carow who does marketing work for FHT and is busy helping put together promotional material for this year’s new educational offerings, Roy Simpson with his great interest in and knowledge of environmental education and Christine Lines in support role as and when necessary.
Our Green Burials Team recently showed their strength and team resilience at the laying to rest of a dearly loved community member Javier Rodriguez. It was beautiful to see over 200 people gather to celebrate his life and bid him farewell at the Wilkies Wood burial ground at a beautifully held service by Maria Ancochea. Thank you to the whole team and all involved.
Other FHT activities that I have been aware of but not involved in personally have been the asset transfer meetings where a number of community legacy organisations will receive the assets of the Findhorn Foundation Trust as it winds up after 53 years. Also a tree risk assessment of the Park was FHT involvement in taking down a few trees of the highest priority this season. Our Monday projects group helped in the preparation for demolition of the Medway and Bookings buildings plus a couple of caravans. The latter enabled us to acquire metal roofing material that we hope to recycle as part of a future camp kitchen by the Woodland Shelter.
The asset transfer discussions were attended by Jonathan and have gone well, with FHT due to become custodians of the small area of land called St Barbes Wood that is right next to the Woodland Garden. This site includes the Earth Lodge and some beautiful big trees. FHT will also become one of the minority shareholders of the Findhorn Bay Holiday Park. We look forward to developing the partnership with FBHP that began last year, and hopefully in the future it will provide a little income to help with the charity’s operational costs.
I would like to thank our trustees, our team and all those who continue to make FHT a successful and sustainable organisation for their (often behind the scenes) hard work and dedication over the years. In particular Jonathan Caddy for the continued effort and time he gives to FHT, and for his support to me as Chair as we continue the succession process.
Images: the Earth Lodge in St Barbe’s Wood; removing the roof from the old Bookings building; arborist