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Who are we?
TOE2 operates from the offices of the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC). There is a board of trustees and a small administrative team.
TOE2 BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Karen Woolley, Chairman
Originally a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS), I moved to Oxfordshire in 1988, and have since played an active role within the community, mainly in education, local government and the environment. I have set up a number of community organisations, including a village conservation group, where I am still a board member. I spent 8 years as a School Governor, 12 years as Parish Councillor, and have been a Trustee of ORCC since 2005. I have worked in the Charity Sector for nearly 20 years, including 6 years for the environmental charity BTCV, whose Head Office was then in Wallingford. I currently run a small company that provides charity projects for corporate training and learning and development purposes, as well as working as a charity consultant.
Craig Blackwell, Vice-Chairman
Trained in Biology, Ecology and Landscape Architecture, I have worked in nature conservation for all my career beginning at Lincolnshire Naturalist’s Trust as a Team Leader for an Ecological Sites Survey of the County. I became the County Ecologist with Nottinghamshire County Council in 1977 and then moved on to become County Ecologist with Oxfordshire County Council in the early nineties until retiring in 2009. I am still closely involved with a range of conservation projects in the County and am a Trustee of the Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum and Pond Conservation.
Bruce Tremayne, Honorary Treasurer
Following a career in Shell International based mainly overseas, and subsequently working with the FCO and DTI as an official Trade Promoter for UK environmental goods in north-east Asia, I have for the past 15 years been closely involved with conservation concerns in Oxfordshire. I am currently Hon Treasurer of ONCF, Vice Chairman of CPRE Oxon, and Chairman of the Oxfordshire Tree Club. I was an erstwhile assessor for TOE.
Linda Watson, Company Secretary
I have worked in a number of different roles in Oxfordshire over the last 20 years, somewhat unusually including positions in the voluntary sector, local authorities and the NHS. Since 2005 I have been the Chief Executive of Oxfordshire Rural Community Council which gives advice and support to communities across the county, in relation to community-led planning, community transport, village shops and halls and affordable housing. ORCC has been the ‘home’ of TOE2 since its inception (also of its predecessor body, TOE, throughout its life) and the ORCC Board is very committed to seeing the new organisation flourish. My involvement with TOE2 includes acting as its company secretary and as the line manager of our able administrator, Fiona Danks.
Robin Buxton MBE
I have been involved with the Earth Trust since 1982 as warden, executive director, trustee and chairman. I have chaired Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum since its launch in 1993. I was a trustee of BBOWT for 16 years through its transformation into the highly professional and effective body it is today. I helped to set up the Oxfordshire Woodland Group and have sat on Environment Agency committees. I was a director of the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment (TOE), set up in 1998 to distribute land-fill tax credits in Oxfordshire. I am a chartered member and current vice-president of the Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management. I chair my late sister, Patsy Wood’s legacy charity and I chaired the Oxfordshire Environment Partnership for 2 years. I am a trustee of The Ecological Continuity Trust which promotes very long term ecological experiments
Ian Curtis
Ian is obsessed by 2 things: sport, and the marketing failure of planet-saving. As an ex-pro-cricketer he’s fascinated by what the latter can learn from the passion that drove English cricket from laughing stock to world leaders. And from Apple Inc and Tom Watson’s Re-imagine! He is Development Officer at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, founder of Oxfordshire ClimateXchange, board member Low Carbon Oxford, and trustee of Earth Trust and Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum.
Victoria Fletcher
Natural Environment Manager with Oxfordshire County Council’s Countryside Service since 2010. The team provides specialist advice on ecology, landscape character assessment, and Green Infrastructure, and also hosts the Wychwood Project, Lower Windrush Valley Project and the Oxfordshire Woodlands Project. I have previously worked for Hampshire County Council as a land management planner, Wiltshire Council as a community and environment development officer and the RSPB, helping to restore opencast coal sites. I have an M.Phil in biogeography from the University of Wales, and B.Sc in Environmental Science. I am a Member of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management and sit on the Training and Education Committee.
Dominic Lamb
I have worked in nature conservation as a volunteer and professional since 1993. I have worked for the Cornwall Wildlife Trust the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and for the last 10 years as Countryside Officer for South Oxfordshire District Council and more recently also with the Vale of White Horse. I am a Trustee of the Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum and I chair the Oxfordshire Biodiversity Action Plan Steering Group. In my spare time I also run the local conservation group in Letcombe Regis.
Steve Roscoe
Technical Director for Grundon and a TOE Board Member since 2001. Prior to joining Grundon I was a partner on the family farm in Oxfordshire, where I still live. Educated at Henley Grammar School before going to the University of Nottingham where I attained a B.Sc. (Honours) in Agricultural Science. I also have a Business Administration qualification from Oxford Brookes University and qualifications in Health & Safety and project management. I have a keen interest in the environment and enjoy walking in Oxfordshire with my family.
Jon Scourse
I had a career in the shoe industry prior to joining the charity sector in 1993. My fundraising career spans from Fundraising Director of a top 100 charity to consultancy with air ambulances, NHS charities and hospices. My last full time role was as CEO of the Fundraising Standards Board, the self-regulatory body for UK fundraising. In addition to consultancy work, I am a landscape photographer with a keen interest in the Chilterns and Thames Valley and I live near Wallingford.
Jane Wates
For over 20 years I have been actively involved in charity work particularly in grant making and in the setting up of new organisations. Currently I am a trustee of both Oxfordshire and Berkshire Community Foundations. In 1999 I was awarded the O.B.E. for my charitable work in the Community.
Fiona Danks, TOE2 Administrator
After doing an ecology degree and a PGCE, I worked for several years in environmental education. I joined ORCC in 1998 to administer TOE (the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment), overseeing the distribution of over £5million of landfill tax credit funding to community and environmental projects across Oxfordshire over a 12 year period. I now combine administering TOE2 on a part-time basis with writing books in partnership with Jo Schofield. Under the name Going Wild we are writing a series of fully illustrated books to inspire children and families to get outdoors to enjoy and explore the natural world.
TOE2 PROJECT ASSESSORS
TOE2 works with several individuals and organisations with local and relevant expertise who can be called upon to assess, and if need be advise on, projects before applications are considered by the Board. Projects will be evaluated in terms of relevant work already going on in Oxfordshire, where they fit into broader strategies, what will be achieved on the ground and longer term sustainability.