The charitable object of
The High Leasowes Trust is:
For the public benefit, to promote the conservation,
protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment
of the Strettons and their surrounding area by promoting biodiversity,
in particular, but not exclusively by ...
... acquiring, leasing and managing land containing diverse connected habitats rich in plants, trees and wildlife.
... maintaining and monitoring the site for the purpose of promoting biodiversity.
... facilitating public access to the site.
To do this, we work closely with our partners, including Middle Marches Community Land Trust, Stepping Stones, the National Trust and a local ecologist to ensure that we manage the fields to protect and enhance biodiversity.
We rely on the support of the community, whose generous donations provided the funding to purchase High Leasowes and who regularly volunteer their labour.
We are fortunate to be supported by iDEA whose staff regularly carry out work at High Leasowes and who also support us in other ways such as creating this website and our branding.
We are also grateful to Agilent, Church Stretton Rotary, Church Stretton Town Council, Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Shropshire Wild Teams and Stretton Focus who all support High Leasowes.
Get Involved
Volunteer
We hold regular work parties to carry out a range of management tasks including tree planting, hedgerow restoration and meadow management. We usually meet for two hours and always take a ‘cake break’. See our forthcoming events page for volunteer work parties. Not all the volunteer work is physical as we also need people to survey the bird boxes and wildlife, to take photos, and to help with administration.
Become a supporter
We do not currently charge a membership fee although we are very appreciative if new supporters decide to make a donation to The High Leasowes Trust. Supporters receive our regular newsletter.
Please email us if you want to join us.
Donate
Like all organisations we need a certain amount of money to make sure we can look after High Leasowes both now and in the future. If you would like to make a donation or consider leaving us a small legacy we would be very grateful.
Please email us for further information.
Our Trustees
I lived and worked in Shropshire for some years before moving to Warwickshire; while there I set up ‘Friends of Abbey Fields’, which helped to support Warwick District Council in a more wildlife friendly approach to the management of a significant local green space. I was pleased to return to Shropshire in 2015.
I have always been interested in wildlife and nature conservation. I am a member of Stretton Area Community Wildlife Group, have conducted local swift and hedgehog surveys and have been involved with nearby Cudwell Meadow since we started fundraising to buy it in 2020.
I want The High Leasowes Trust to work towards nature recovery, helping nature to thrive in this changing climate.
My career included 20 years as a biometrician at the Agricultural and Food Research Council's Institute for Research in Animal Diseases near Newbury. I then worked as an animal scientist at the International Livestock Centre for Africa in Kenya.
On my retirement to Llanwrtyd Wells I served as Mayor for a year, and as Town Councillor. I led an eight-year project to convert a former Chapel into a Heritage and Arts Centre, and was responsible for fundraising for this. My wife and I also created a wildlife friendly garden which we opened under the National Garden Scheme.
In 2020 we moved to Hope Bowdler. For the last three years I have held the position of Finance Director for Stretton Focus.
I moved to Church Stretton in 2015 after retiring from full-time work as a professional engineer.
I have volunteered with the National Trust Cardingmill Valley education team, and am the Subscription Manager of the Stretton Focus magazine.
I was involved with the Cudwell Meadow fund raising and am now a committee member and active volunteer there.
Sandra and I worked on the High Leasowes appeal. I was stunned that we raised enough money to successfully bid for the fields and I’m determined to make High Leasowes into a special place for nature..
Originally from Kent, I moved to Church Stretton 4 years ago with my wife Nancy, having lived in the Middle East for the last 26 years. I’ve spent most of my career with major IT companies running sales & marketing operations across the Middle East & Africa.
I’ve been a member of Round Table/41 Club since 1995 and more recently spent some time with Rotary running their Community Team; I persuaded Rotary to buy and plant trees at High Leasowes. I’m also a member of the Parish Paths Partnership, building stiles & kissing gates around Church Stretton.
From the moment I first got involved with High Leasowes I knew that it was something special and I continue to be amazed at the level of detail involved, and at the community engagement which the project has achieved.
My background has always been agriculturally based. An idyllic Shropshire childhood, a BSc hons degree in agricultural science and then farming/smallholding in the Shropshire Hills for my adult life, where my husband and I farmed, diversified and brought up a family. We have been nurturing hedgerows, extending woodland and managing an old hay meadow for wildflowers throughout our time here.
I see High Leasowes as an opportunity for the community to enjoy, learn and grow a wonderful space to share and to allow and encourage nature to flourish.
I am an Agro-Ecological adviser with the Shropshire Hills National Landscape team, and have worked in the farming and environment sector for over 30 years, 28 of them in Shropshire.
Over the years, I have worked directly with a wide range of farmers, land managers, landowners and smallholders to find practical solutions which not only lead to environmental improvements on farms, but increase the sustainability and resilience of nature-friendly farm businesses.
These solutions, wherever possible, aim to protect, maintain, enhance or create the many and varied semi-natural habitats to be found in the Shropshire Hills, along with the range of species that depend on them. I feel that my experience will be of benefit in the management of High Leasowes in finding options which optimise the wildlife and landscape value of the site, whilst also improving its resilience to climate change.
I grew up in rural Kent, but since moving here I have been involved with the Shropshire Hills National Landscape (AoNB) Partnership, and volunteer with Restoring Shropshire’s Verges Project and the National Trust. I organised the recent hedge planting in the All Stretton playground, and joined in with a hedge laying project in the Batch Valley, where I live off-grid.
I trained as an economist, and have served as a Ward Councillor on the Parliamentary Backbench Communities and Local Government Committee. I was previously Director of the Isle of Dogs Community Foundation and of the Charleston Trust, an artists' home and garden open to the public.
Long ago, after working on UK farms, I studied Plant Sciences at university. But I then spent most of my career in agricultural development overseas, finishing as a lecturer in International Development.
In retirement I’ve rekindled my love for botany and volunteer as a plant surveyor for organisations including Shropshire Wildlife Trust and the Marches Meadows Group.
I help to manage Cudwell Meadow as well as High Leasowes and volunteer for the National Trust.
Originally from Buckinghamshire, I spent 12 years as a social worker before training to be a minister in the Church of England. I served my curacy in Kidderminster and worked as a parish priest near Dudley, escaping to the Shropshire Hills on my days off. Most recently I had a Diocesan role in Oxford.
I moved to Church Stretton in May 2020 and "accidentally" retired when my planned sabbatical time was extended due to lockdown. I love the outdoors and have observed a noticeable reduction in wildlife over my lifetime. I became aware of High Leasowes during the appeal and enjoy volunteering and helping.
Originally from Wiltshire, I moved to Birmingham for University and have remained there ever since. I have worked for iDEA in Longnor on and off for over 20 years.
With a background in sustainability, building services and building physics I am a CIBSE accredited Low Carbon Consultant and a Level 5 Low Carbon Energy Assessor with over 15 years experience developing Net Zero Carbon strategies for clients. I have a personal interest in local community initiatives to improve the local environment and sustainability of society. I believe it is extremely important to maximise green infrastructure and biodiversity for the wellbeing of the local community and to support mitigation and adaptation in response to the climate emergency.
Our Constitution
Our Policies
Click on the links below to read our policies
Complaints policy Data protection policy Volunteer policy
Expenses policy Health and safety policy Memorials policy
Click on the image on the left to read our annual report, accounts and minutes of the 2025 AGM.
