Meet the team

Mary Jane Wilshire

Director, CPRE Avon and Bristol

Mary-Jane Wilshire has a life long connection to the Countryside having grown up on a hill farm in rural Wales between the towns of Aberystwyth and Machynlleth. Mary-Jane studied Geography and for a while taught in secondary schools but later retrained in Protected Landscape Management. Mary-Jane has a passion for supporting people to come together to make positive changes in their community and local environment. She believes that if we are serious about nature recovery, climate resilience and health inclusion, we must start in the places where we live, work and enjoy.

She worked for Natural Resource Wales, Groundwork, Learning Through Landscapes, The Royal Town Planning Institute and Bristol City Council. The common thread across her work is bringing communities and professionals together to advocate for fairer more sustainable outcomes for the places we care about.

“I am very excited about working with the highly skilled volunteer networks in CPRE Avon and Bristol to bring the national CPRE campaign to the local level, while also taking strong action on local issues that are affecting our Countryside in West of England”

If you wish to contact Mary-Jane Wilshire, please do so on

director@cpreavonandbristol.org.uk

Tel: 07854 741130

Sonia Parsons

Hedgerow Heroes

Sonia grew up in the countryside on a dairy farm in Dorset. She studied Zoology at the University of Reading and has been working for conservation charities for the past 6 years, including The Conservation Volunteers and YourPark Bristol.

“Being outdoors doing practical conservation work is what I’m passionate about, so I’m thrilled to be leading the Hedgerow Heroes project for CPRE Avon and Bristol for another year. Hedgerows are an underrated asset of the countryside that make our landscape unique and are the home for so many important and declining species of birds, insects and mammals. Conserving and improving the health of hedgerows we already have is just as important as planting new ones.”

You can get in touch with Sonia at: Hedgerows@cpreavonandbristol.org.uk

Sarah Sawyer

Hedgerow Heroes

“I have always loved the countryside and spent my childhood, climbing trees, building dens and immersed in the woodland and farmland of the Forest of Dean where I grew up. Passionate about birds I joined the Young Ornithologists Club and my first paid job in conservation, was as a Field Teacher with the RSPB. I spent 13 years with the Wye Valley AONB, running a wide range of projects that created landscape enhancement, nature recovery and promoted greater public understanding of the Wye Valley’s unique landscape characteristics. More recently I have worked for Natural England as Team leader of Landscape, Heritage and Geodiversity Team within Strategy and Government Advice. I commenced my role at CPRE Avon and Bristol in July joining Sonia Parsons to assist the roll out of Hedgerow Heroes to Bath and Nort East Somerset. In 2023 – 24 we will enable and support landowners to restore and maintain hedgerows, making a positive contribution to Nature Recovery Targets. I am looking forward to playing my part to achieve our shared goals.”

Sarah Pitt

Chair

Sarah brings a depth of experience to her role as Chair of CPRE Avon and Bristol.  She grew up in the Chew Valley and moved to Bristol where she worked as a Producer and creative team leader at the BBC, specializing in countryside and wildlife programmes. She has served as a Trustee for Avon Wildlife Trust, the Wildlife Gardening Forum and on the Board of The Community Farm in Chew Magna.

Sarah is committed to making CPRE Avon and Bristol, an inclusive and vibrant place to work and to taking action to build a sustainable, healthy countryside for people and wildlife.

“In the face of potentially rapid housing growth and other demands on our finite countryside, CPRE will work hard to communicate with local communities; councillors and MP’s to ensure housing need is met without despoiling the open green spaces local people value so much.  These vital assets are also needed for farming and food production; nature’s recovery; mitigation against climate change and our own mental health and wellbeing”.

If you care about these issues do join us! CPRE Avon and Bristol is recognised across the West of England as the only charitable organisation that stands up for the countryside across the whole range of issues affecting it. In doing so we can daw on CPRE’s national expertise and experience acquired over nearly a Century.

Charlee Bennett

Vice-chair

Charlee is Vice Chair of CPRE Avon and Bristol and brings over 15 years’ experience in the charity sector, including nine leading small environmental charities. She has a strong background in public campaigning with a number of significant policy wins for people and the environment.  One of which was during her time as Director of CPRE Hampshire where she secured commitments to explore introducing new Green Belt to South Hampshire.

Charlee is passionate about providing equal access to green space.  She has been privileged to enjoy the countryside through cycling, walking and camping throughout her childhood and adult life.  Having experienced the health and wellbeing benefits and joy this has provided, she firmly believes that more needs to be done to make these benefits available to everyone.

She has lived in Yatton for the last five years and while she is relatively new to the area, her job as CEO of Your Park Bristol & Bath means she is well connected across the region with a good understanding of regional priorities, opportunities and funding.

Charlee is excited about CPRE Avon & Bristol’s transition to running positive projects, like Hedgerow Heroes, and the developing work to engage under-served communities through in our activities.

Kaley Hart

Honorary Treasurer

Kaley is the Honorary Treasurer for CPRE Avon and Bristol, and she also sits on the Policy and Campaigns Committee for CPRE Nationally.

She went to University in Bristol and has been involved with CPRE since 1998 when she was a Rural Policy Officer.

In her day job she is the Associate Research Director for an environmental thinktank – the Institute for European Environmental Policy – where she oversees their work relating to agriculture and land use, biodiversity and climate.

Kaley is also a Member of the College of Experts for England’s Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter.

Danica Priest

Trustee

Danica is Trustee of CPRE Avon and Bristol because she is passionate about saving the countryside and protecting nature. She is the Bristol Regional Representative for the Community Planning Alliance, a national group that supports and unites grassroots environmental campaigns and lobbies for a better planning system.

Danica is also a committee member of ‘Friends of the Western Slopes’ who helped get the Green Spaces motion passed at Bristol City Council and saved a beloved wildlife haven in Knowle West from development. This group is still fighting to protect the privately owned section of the Slopes from a planning application that would cause irreparable damage to the wildlife corridor.

“I have helped lots of campaign groups in Bristol and I hope my skills are an asset to CPRE Avon and Bristol.  In my free time you can find me running around the countryside”.

Sophie Spencer

Trustee

Sophie has had a life long interest in countryside and rural issues. She was brought up on a small organic farm in rural mid-Wales with her environmentally minded family. She lives in Bristol with her husband, three children and dog, and maintains regular contact both with local countryside and her childhood landscapes of Wales.  In her spare time she regularly enjoys singing, swimming, reading and walking. She was Director of CPRE Avon and Bristol from 2014 to 2022.

After graduating from Swansea University, Sophie worked for a small environmental consultancy in Leicester, before traveling throughout India and Nepal. She joined CPRE’s Policy Team in central London in 1999, and quickly developed her knowledge and expertise in rural policy, particularly farming and local foods, trees and hedgerows, rural communities and services, planning and special landscapes.

After 6 years at the CPRE national office, Sophie moved to Bristol.  She took up the post of Director at CPRE Avon and Bristol from 2014 – 2022 and particularly enjoyed working with local volunteers and Trustees on projects, campaigns and policy issues.  Sophie then joined Natural England as a Senior Advisor, Strategic Plans for Places, in March 2022, including helping to implement new Environment Act legislation.  She now works for the West of England Combined Authority as a Senior Environment Manager, overseeing work on green infrastructure, climate resilience and nature and health for the region.