Summertime and it is raining as usual, but we will not let a little rain put us off. Findhorn Hinterland Trust has been as busy as ever this quarter with many events. Including the continued upkeep and maintenance of the hinterland, bee apiary inspections, monthly work parties, weekly volunteer opportunities and not forgetting the good work being done behind the scenes in the marketing, finance and administration teams. Thank you all for your hard work and continued support of FHT.
My particular favourite event was the visit from the students on the Forres Academy Transition Days. Over 80 students descended upon the hinterland over two days, accompanied by teachers and helpers. They were split into three groups for activities, art on the dunes, removal of invasive tree saplings on the hinterland and the group I was with was building bird nest boxes. It was my first time being involved in this event along with other volunteers and we each helped guide a smaller group of students in making the boxes. Alongside obvious carpentry skills, they learned how to work together as a team and at the end of each session they had produced a bird box. About 30 boxes in total were built over the two days and these were completed by our work party volunteers and will be put up on trees around the woods for next season.
We continue to enjoy the collaboration with the Theatre of the 7 Directions, which this quarter has included the Artist Hunt ‘Stories That Took Root’ in April as part of the Beltane Festival, and two performances of ‘Alice In Hinterland‘ in May. These performances by artists and actors bring such a depth of meaning to the community, help inform a wider audience about the important, ground-breaking conservation and land-based work FHT does and are appreciated by all who attend.
At the beginning of May, there were the annual May Day festivities culminating in Maypole dancing to live music with the women and girls dressed in their finery with flowered garlands on their heads. Thanks go to many people for once again making this a successful circle involving over 120 community members up on the green burial site but particularly Draeyk van der Horn for his ceremonial input.
During the last weekend of May, the Park played host to the Rise Festival organised by the charity Dance North and much preparation work was put in by the FHT to enable a group of Australian Aboriginal dancers and creatives that wished to put on a performance to tell their story around their people’s connection to their land through dance, puppets and music.
Before their performance was to take place the idea was to have a number of Scottish participants sharing their own stories of connection. Ultimately, due to a number of reasons the spectacular main performance did not take place on the green burial ground but took place in the Universal Hall instead although the Scottish story telling did take place on the land and this world-class performance has been talked about ever since.
FHT has also hosted several groups this quarter, including a group of 10 teens from the USA with Travel With Teens. They spent the day with us looking at our conservation work and aspects of sustainability within our community. We have continued our involvement in the new and modified Findhorn Foundation Experience Week: I to We programmes where we offer a morning to touch in with our work and give back to the land with a little love in action work party. There was also a special Japanese Experience Week where we had another morning introducing the 13 of them to our work.
Other educational events have included another one-day bee workshop, and the regular Thursday with the Bees events have been popular, particularly with young people who have been attracted to these mornings – they now have time due to the closing of the Steiner middle and upper schools in Forres.
On the land there have been a few things happening, including the gift of a trailer tent with two double beds in it, which can be used for long-term volunteers going forward. We built a camp kitchen from wood produced from sawn timber from storm-damaged trees – thank you local local miller Ben Moore – and recycled metal roof sheeting from the now-demolished Medway building. This replaces the green tent at the Woodland Shelter. The project was led by long-term volunteers George Paul and Jonathan Caddy, who instigated a new offering for volunteers in Monday Makers and Menders, so more people can join in the fun of creating and looking after structures on the land. A good selection of new cordless power tools were purchased for this project, so there are now new toys to play with and make what we do even more fun!
The Land Management Team had a demonstration of electric chainsaws by Strathbogie Woods and Gardens, as we have been thinking of how we can seriously start moving to a more climate‑aware way of operating, starting with this relatively small step. We have submitted a grant for these tools to the Moray Climate Action Network fund and should hear the result any day; fingers crossed! We previously received £2,000 of funding from that grant last year, which was spent in February on the work to increase the size of the new sand dune area as part of our dune restoration work, where gorse-covered land is modified to create a landscape reset. A podcast produced by the NatureScot communications team has recently been released to a huge national audience, so the dune restoration work really is on the map.
Beloved community member, musician and dear friend, RJ Chapman was laid to rest in the Green Burial ground last month – part of a poignant and well-attended event. This brings the total number of burials on the site to 61. During this last quarter a further two lairs were pre-purchased, bringing the number now to 95. The charity has been in active conversation exploring a possible extension to the original site or even looking at another possible area on the land where burials could take place – watch this space.
Finally I wish to mention that Neil Meikleham has recently stepped down as a trustee as his work and family circumstances are taking him more over to Canada. It has been such a pleasure to have his expertise and enthusiasm on both the trustee and the land management teams, and we are delighted that he will still be supporting us from afar with work mapping the biodiversity on the land.
There are many opportunities to get involved with FHT. If you have not yet taken part, we warmly invite you to join us. If you would like to know more about our work, please ask.
Colin Shreenan
FHT Chair
17th June 2026