Anagach Woods Trust represents the people of Grantown-on-Spey and surrounding area and cares for this community owned woodland.
The Board of the Trust meets once a month to plan volunteering days, maintenance work, conservation work, annual events, community engagement and to process important legal and governance ‘issues’. The Trust holds an Annual General Meeting (AGM), usually in November, where members can attend. At this meeting, Trustees are elected, finances are presented and a report on the year’s activity is given.
Board Members
Basil Dunlop
Honorary PresidentBasil Dunlop is a retired Chartered Forester. He was the Chief Forester of the Seafield (Strathspey) Estates, which included the Anagach Woods, from 1965 to 1983 when he started Forest Conservation Services (a forestry consulting business). Basil was a member of Highland Regional Council from 1988 to 1996 and an elected Highland Councillor from 1996 to 2007. He has also been the Highland Council representative on the Council of the National Trust for Scotland from 1996 to 2002, and a board member of the Cairngorms National Park Authority from 2003 to 2007. In 2002 he led the community buyout of the Anagach Woods, and became a Trustee of the Anagach Woods Trust from 2002 to 2022, and served as Chair of the Trust from 2002-2010. Basil was appointed Honorary President of the Trust in 2023.
Linda Coe
ChairLinda joined the Board in 2022 and is currently the Chair. She moved to Grantown in 1999 and has always loved walking in the woods. Her appreciation of the woods has developed since retiring as a Solicitor in 2017 and having more time to explore the paths and enjoy the natural diversity within.
The woods proved to be a lifeline during the Covid pandemic providing much needed solace following the loss of family members. Linda is keen that everyone in the Community, residents and visitors alike, enjoys being in the Woods as much as she does
Alice Fogg
Vice-ChairAlice joined the Board in August 2023, becoming Vice-Chair in November 2023. She is incredibly passionate about enabling the local community and nature to thrive.
Alice brings experience in community development, including third-sector governance, communications and project management, and lots of energy to the team. Alice currently heads up Voluntary Action in Badenoch and Strathspey (VABS), which supports a wide range of third sector projects in the area.
In her free time, she loves wandering round Anagach’s paths, playing volleyball, swimming, volunteering, and bird-watching.
Ian Pratt
SecretaryIan is a retired accountant who moved to Grantown, with his wife Jacky, in 2021, having holidayed in the Cairngorms for over 30 years. Ian helps with the finance and administration of the Trust and really enjoys getting his hands dirty on volunteer days.
Andy Robertson
TreasurerAndy is a land agent by profession but, having spent over 40 years working with farmers and landowners across the length and breadth of Scotland, and occasionally further afield, is now semi-retired. While continuing with part-time professional work, principally on the management of Crown Estate Scotland’s marine portfolio, he now divides his time between Aberdeen and Speyside. He has been a trustee for Anagach Woods Trust since March 2022. He is also involved in a wide variety of conservation projects in the Cairngorms.
Alyson Price
Alyson lives beside Anagach Woods and walks there daily with her dog, as well as running and birdwatching amongst the trees. Originally from Wales, she has worked for the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and the National Trust, with experience in rights of way, volunteer and contractor management and practical conservation (including holding a chainsaw ticket!).
She now specialises in project managing peatland restoration in the Cairngorms and enjoys exploring the area by hiking, paddleboarding on the lochs, and cycling with the Cairngorm Cycling Club. Alyson is passionate about community and stewardship and is keen to support the Trust’s work.
Nick Baker
Nick is a lifelong biophile, having been obsessed with wildlife of all shapes and sizes since an early age. His fascination for the living world has led to a multi-faceted career that has included working as a field naturalist and ecologist, environmental teacher, author (12 books), wildlife guide, and broadcaster. As a field ecologist, he’s an all-rounder, working with everything from badgers to butterflies, ring ouzel to pearl mussel. He is currently working with wood ants, including the rare Narrow-headed ant for the Cairngorm National Park.
He is vice president of Butterfly Conservation at the Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB, and Buglife and also a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, the British Naturalists Association, and the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. He lives with his family in Grantown and can often be found lost in the woods.
Steve Blow
Having moved to Grantown in 2018 and regularly enjoying walking and cycling through Anagach Woods, Steve joined the AWT Board in November 2023 to help out with the volunteer sessions and woodland management. He has been involved in nature conservation for over 30 years, currently as part of the Cairngorms Connect Partnership and previously with the Scottish Wildlife Trust in the South of Scotland. He loves being in the woods and helping lead tasks to improve the habitats for plants and animals, and paths for the visitors.
Stef Lauer
Stef works freelance as a nature guide across Scotland and also part-time for rewilding charity SCOTLAND: The Big Picture (SBP). She looks after SBP’s education programme where she enjoys exploring innovative approaches to learning, and connecting people with the land, sea and environment. You can also find her guiding for SBP’s Rewilding Journeys which showcase a range of different rewilding spaces, places and stories, including Northwoods Rewilding Network partner Anagach Woods.
Stef moved to Grantown a few years ago with her wife Kathryn and their Vizsla dog Mara. Since then, exploring the many paths around Anagach Woods has been a sheer joy and tonic and she’s looking forward to getting involved in the work of the Trust.
Matthew Hawkins
Matthew has lived in Grantown with his family for 19 years. Working in conservation gives him an appreciation of the wonderful habitats within the woods and the potential for enhancing them further. He is also a keen woodworker and loves bringing these skills to our volunteer days where we can craft things like new benches, signs, and way markers.
Andrew Melton
Andrew is a Local GP who has lived and worked in Grantown for 25 years. He is passionate about nature and making green space open to all. A keen green woodworker, he enjoys all the practical jobs needed in the woods. His main responsibility with AWT is in Volunteering and Maintenance.
Jane Candlish
Administrative SupportThe Trust’s Administrative Support is provided by Jane Candlish
Jane owns and runs the Spey Bank Studio in Grantown High Street, with her partner, Angus Grant. She is a shorthand writer and honed those skills as a reporter for the Strathy and Press and Journal, covering news across the Highlands and Islands for more than 13 years.
Jane and her family love walking in Anagach Woods, looking for beasties. Their best find is a tail-less lizard.
If you need to contact the Trust then Jane is the best first point of contact – you can reach her at anagachwoods@hotmail.co.uk
Anagach Woods Trust is a Scottish Charity (No. SC032822) and a limited company registered in Scotland (No. SC227929). The registered office is: The Court House, The Square, Grantown-on-Spey, PH26 3HF.
The Trust is governed according to its Memorandum and Articles of Association – you can read a copy here
The latest published accounts of the Trust are here
Partners, sponsors & funders
Our Partners:
- The Trust is a member of the Community Woodlands Association, which supports new, aspiring, and established community woodland groups to achieve their aspirations and represents community woodland groups within the political arena and to the wider world.
- The Trust is a Northwoods Rewilding Network (Northwoods) Member. Northwoods is a Scotland-wide chain of landholdings convened and coordinated by SCOTLAND: The Big Picture. As a Partner we have made a commitment to nature recovery and an ecologically restored landscape. The actions that the Trust has committed to are set out in the Memorandum of Understanding that the Trust has signed with the Northwoods Rewilding Network.
Our sponsors:
The Trust would love local businesses to show their support: contact us for more information
Our Funders:
The Trust gratefully relies on grants and donations to carry out its work. There are a variety of ways that you can provide financial support to the Trust. You can find out more here.
The Trust has recently received grants from the following organisations:
- The Cairngorms Trust provided a grant to cover the costs of tools and equipment used by our volunteers to look after the woods.
- Scottish Forestry, through the Forestry Grant Scheme. A grant to cover the costs of the preparation of the Urban Woodland Management Plan.
- Highlands and Islands Climate Hub Made a grant to cover the costs of tools.
- Bidwells generously gave a us a grant for general purposes.
- We received a grant from Berry Burn Community Fund to support the creation, implementation and management of the project plan to deliver our 2033 vision
- Inspiring Scotland have made a grant that will support the development and ongoing upskilling of community volunteers to support participation in restorative management of the Woods.
