Using Soft Power to Protect Trees by Christopher Neilan – Acknowledgments

Acknowledgements

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When I joined Epping Forest District Council Planning Department in 1989 there was already in place a culture of working creatively to protect the natural environment, including the existence of a remarkable organisation, Epping Country Care, created for that specific purpose.  This was as a result of the vision of colleagues Ivan Le Gallais and Andy Robinson.

Without the active collaboration of many past and present members of the Tree and Landscape team, Epping Forest Country Care, Forward Planning and Epping Forest Arts the projects described here could never have happened.  These include Melinda Barham, Tony Bradford, Gillian Clark, Tracy Clarke, Lizzy Haines, George Haley, Robin Hellier, Paul Hewitt, Russell Horsey, Sophie Layton, Kevin Mason, Abigail Oldham, Alexandra Sleet and Ian White.

Protection of trees and of Epping District’s countryside has also consistently been supported by the elected representatives of the community across the political spectrum.  I should particularly mention the longstanding support of Councillor Penny Smith, well before her current responsibility as our Safer Greener Portfolio Holder and Councillor David Wixley, a longstanding tree warden for Loughton before his election to the district council.

The Community Tree Strategies have depended in each case on the active participation of the parish or town councils, the local tree wardens, past and present and many volunteers from across the various communities of the district.  Crucially all of these projects, and in particular the Community Tree Strategies, would have been meaningless without the active support and involvement of the parish or town councils concerned, the local tree wardens and many individuals and members of community groups.  In connection with the series of Community Tree Strategies these should be mentioned particularly:

• Stapleford Abbotts: John Mugleston and David Stubbs.
• Theydon Bois: John Conroy, Ernest Crouch, Bob Day, John Plume, Robin Llewellyn Jones and Jane Turner.
• Roydon: the tree wardens and Roydon Country Care led by Alan Burgess and Charles Abbey, custodian of the World’s End poplars.
• Ongar: Alan Brett, Anne and Robert Brooks, Lucy Davis, Bob MacDonald, Paul and Tricia Moxey, Tayna Welford and from Ongar Parish Council Brian Surtees, Keith Tate, Eric Crook and (then) Town Clerk Enid Walsh. John Price was responsible for the design of the completed document.
• Loughton: Len Haynes, Helen Reynolds and Ian Strugnell.  From Loughton Town Council Margaret Chalk, Suzanne Harper, Chris and Caroline Pond, David Wixley, and Town Clerk Enid Walsh; Epping Forest Verderers Peter Adams and Richard Morris; Paul Thompson, Superintendent of Epping Forest, Dr. Jeremy Dagley Conservation Manager of Epping Forest.  The project benefitted from access to the historical records kept by the late Ernest Lloyd and Paul Moxey. The author was Tricia Moxey and the photographer and designer was John Price.

John Price also deserves special mention for his wonderful photographs of the Landmark Trees, a few of which may be seen above.