I'd always planned to get involved with the Friends of Gledhow Valley woods when I retired, but I put it off because as you know working life can be stressful and full on, then there’s family responsibilities, and there’s always a million and one reasons why you feel like you can’t do it.

Then in 2014 the field on Gledhow Valley Rd came up for sale and people wanted to build housing on it. It seemed a good idea to me for FOGVW to think of purchasing the field for common use, so I decided to take responsibility and suggested to the volunteer group that I lead on a crowdfunding campaign. Even though the Group didn’t really believe that I would get very far, they did support me.

And the campaign was really successful. We got support from people all over, and that got me involved and hooked on preserving the valley that I live in. It was a great boost to see local people and community really interested in protecting their green space. I feel so glad, appreciative and privileged to live so close to the woods.

Lots of people really came forward to support the campaign, and as well as sending the donations they would send messages about why the woods are important to them, and they would share memories of times they played in the woods when they were growing up with their friends and families, and memories from school days.