Who We Are
Meet The Trustees
Widmer Fields is managed and maintained by a small local charity, The Grange Area Trust, or GAT for short. GAT is a registered charity, number 1167347 with the charity commission. The patron of the charity is The Countess Howe, His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. The trustees, officers and volunteers all live locally, are unpaid and give their time freely as they are passionate about keeping the fields an accessible green space for the community to enjoy.
Colin Stevens
Chair of the Trustees
A “recent” arrival to Widmer End in 2009 having taken early retirement. He has been a regular out in the fields getting hands on in maintenance activities with the other volunteers and trustees.
Contact: chairman@grangeareatrust.org.uk
David Field
Chair of Land Management Committee
He has lived in Hazlemere for over 30 years. A retired engineer and our tractor tamer. A fields supporter since days of H7. He and his family have been regular users of Widmer Fields for dog walking and recreational purposes.
Hugh McCarthy
​Resident in Widmer End since 1962. Served on the Hughenden parish councillor for 30 years, and was a Buckinghamshire County Councillor for Hazlemere. Works tirelessly to preserve open green space around Widmer End and Hazlemere for the benefit of the local population and wildlife habitats. Walks Widmer Fields twice daily with his dog.
Bob Pangborn
Resident in Hazlemere since the creation of the Cedar Park estate. Continues to enjoy Widmer Fields walking his dog when not actively mowing, hedging, tree pruning, path making or other odd jobs on the fields themselves to keep them accessible for us all.
Brian Dugan
Has lived in Hazlemere for 30+ years. Has been walking his dogs around the area ever since moving to Hazlemere and considers himself extremely lucky to have such a wonderful area on his door step Really enjoys working on Widmer Fields keeping everything under control.
Sally Taylor
Sally has lived in Widmer End for over 40 years and has recently retired and decided to start volunteering on Widmer Fields, and took up a trustee position to help manage and set the direction for the trust in the future.
Sharon Cook
Moved to Hazlemere 10 years ago and enjoys walking the Widmer Fields with her dogs. Sharon runs her own business and appreciates having such a wonderful community asset on the doorstep to get away from the stresses of work!
She has been lucky enough to meet so many local people thanks to the fields.
Peter Dwelly
Peter has always lived locally and he and his family settled in Widmer End in 2003. He has two talents which are so helpful to GAT. He is an I.T. Technical Consultant and has offered this vital service to GAT. In addition, when initially volunteering, he spent time assisting the bee keeper, Ron White, and when Ron suffered ill health Peter took over this role and maintains the bee hives on Widmer Fields.
Jo Withers
Moved to Hazlemere in 2008 with family and quickly fell in love with Widmer Fields while walking their chocolate lab, Stanley, soon joined by Rodney. After losing her husband a few years ago, spending time in the fields with Rodney has become even more special. After recently semi-retiring from a busy career in further education, she’s pleased to have the time to give something back as a GAT trustee to help support the future of these wonderful fields.
Meet The Officers
Along with the trustees the trust has a number of officers. They are the Honorary Secretary who manages all official communications with the public and the charities commission and the treasurer who manages the finances such as banking, gift aid and tax submissions .
Joanna Davinson – Honorary Secretary
Joanna has lived in the area since 2009 and retired in 2023. She volunteered to take up the honorary secretary role from long serving, Lyn Marchant, and does a fine job keeping the trustees and volunteers organised.
Contact:
honorarysecretary@grangeareatrust.org.uk
Catherine Wetherell – Treasurer
Catherine is the treasurer of the charity and is also on the Widmer End Residents Association, helps publish the Widmer End News, sits on the village hall committee so is very active in the local community.
Contact:
treasurer@grangeareatrust.org.uk