Meet the team

Sarah Pitt
Chair, CPRE Avon and Bristol

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 in conservation for the past 4 years.

“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

Louise has a huge passion nature and the environment. She has spent many years travelling and working on conservation projects around the world. She has BSC hons degree in Integrated Wildlife Conservation from UWE in Bristol and has a specialism in Science Communication.

“Communication is a vital part of all effective conservation work, I am so excited to be part of this talented team supporting their work through communication”

If you have any comms queries for the CPRE Avon and Bristol team please email:

louise.vanderleeden@cpreavonandbristol.org.uk