Remembering Tony Hawkins, a dedicated Wildlife Supporter

Written by Jenny Still

Tony Hawkins, who recently passed away at the age of 84 following a long illness, gave many years to LRWT as a volunteer at Rutland Water Nature Reserve Whilst all volunteers are important, this quiet, modest man dedicated his spare time to nature and conservation long before that, even when pursuing a career elsewhere and raising a family.

Tony never advertised his achievements, of which I suspect even the LRWT was previously unaware As a young man Tony and his wife Shirley, also subsequently a LRWT volunteer, were involved in the inception of the first Wildlife Trust at Slimbridge where they attended meetings led by Sir Peter Scott and which were attended also by a young David Attenborough and a very young Chris Packham, who Tony described as ”always asking questions and still asking questions when the others had all gone home”

With his wife Shirley, Tony also ran a Young Ornithologists group. As a Life Fellow of the RSPB he chaired his local groups wherever he lived but later on his main love was for LRWT, and particularly Rutland Water Nature Reserve, because of the importance in what it was achieving for nature and conservation He and his wife attended almost every Birdfair held at Rutland Water since its inception, travelling from wherever they were living in the UK at the time

The move to Uppingham on retirement was aimed specifically at enabling them tovolunteer here. They then volunteered at Birdfair every year for 12 years. Tony joined Shirley on her Visitor Centres shifts although his primary involvement and main love was with the Osprey Project. He did regular osprey monitoring shifts in Waderscrape hide during the summer months and worked on the osprey habitat maintenance team in the winter

I was privileged to be his partner in Waderscrape for 6 years of Wednesday evening shifts, which Tony did through the extreme heats of mid-summer and the freezing cold evenings of March and April despite his advancing years. As a beginner, when in my ignorance I thought every large bird was an osprey, he tolerated all of my inaccurate shouts of ”osprey!” with the same good humour, patience and tolerance that I suspect he showed to his young proteges many years earlier, quietly sharing knowledge and never dampening enthusiasm: better to shout and risk being wrong than to be afraid to shout and miss an osprey, or any other wildlife on this amazing place for nature He taught that when you see one thing in nature, you start to see and understand many other things too It is an approach I have aspired to emulate, especially with visitors for whom it is a new experience

Tony continued to give his time and knowledge until age and poor health intervened. LRWT remained important to them both, with Rutland Water Nature Reserve providing support through its community outreach Dementia Support Group.

Jenny Still

On behalf of Shirley Hawkins

Membership and Support message to volunteers

We extend a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated volunteers at The Old Mill Leicester support/membership office. Jean, Betty, and Stephen, your commitment and countless hours of assistance are deeply appreciated.

Your cheerful presence and helpfulness contribute significantly to our various volunteering tasks, such as data input, renewals, door drop survey species information, post handling, new members events, surveys, data cleansing, and compiling membership packs. Without your invaluable contributions, managing these tasks would be challenging. We are immensely grateful for your exceptional work.

Sincere thanks from Jo, Jo, Jordan, Julie, and Helen

Remembering John Shone

We have some very sad news with the recent passing of John Shone, our drystone wall, hedge-laying and stick-dressing contractor

Many of our volunteers had the pleasure of meeting John over the years as he was a familiar face at our events and really enjoyed visiting the reserve and our Volunteer Training Centre outside of the work he was delivering for us.

The feedback we received from the courses that John led on our behalf was incredible He was a brilliant storyteller and always went into great detail about the history of these heritage-based crafts and the importance of keeping them going for future generations.

We will really miss John, he was a very likable character and particularly enjoyed telling people about his encounters with King Charles III over the years and how he told ‘Charlie Boy’ how to lay a hedge properly and how King Charles respected his k l d d t h i

Introduction from new Head of Fundraising

Hi, my name is Jo and I’ve recently started at LRWT as the Head of Fundraising. I’ve worked previously for education and medical charities, and love being able to inspire people to get involved and really feel that they can make a difference LRWT is doing some incredible work with the help of its amazing volunteers and members, and I’m really looking forward to helping us make the most of every