FHT Chair Jonathan Caddy with Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Energy, Gillian Martin
Findhorn Hinterland Trust chair Jonathan Caddy shares news on an extremely busy Summer, as well as some impressive legacies as he steps down as FHT chair in September 2025:
It feels strange knowing that this will be the last Chair’s report that I will be writing as I step down at the FHT AGM on the 18th of September, when the long-planned restructuring of the charity will come into effect. Colin Shreenan will become the new Chair and his wife Laura will hold the paid position of Whole Team Coordinator. A new Education and Community Team is in the process of being formed to ensure the education and community purposes of the charity are more fully developed, and I will be staying on as a trustee and will be the Team Lead for that aspect of the charity’s work.
All these changes are to ensure that the charity is structured to remain sustainable and resilient well into the future. For those interested I will write another article in the next edition explaining the charity’s new form more fully. I am also sharing this in a ‘Sunday Slot’ session on the 7th September. It is a big change for me as I have been Chair since the charity’s inception in 2015 and was instrumental in forming and developing its precursor, the Findhorn Hinterland Group, over the previous 10 years. It has been a rich and fulfilling journey, worth an article in its own right in the next edition.
As I step down there are two significant events that are part of my legacy to the land and charity: the Nature30 award presented to FHT on the 20th August at the launch of this national conservation initiative, and the final signing of the land transfer documents with Duneland Ltd and the Findhorn Foundation Trust, meaning the charity will own the land it has been managing for the past 20 years. These are great and long-lasting achievements with which I am proud to have been involved.
The last three months have been exceptional in terms of the many things that have happened on the land and also in terms of the weather. It has been so warm and dry most of the time, which is unlike how Scotland usually is. We have had to be so careful because of the wild fire potential. Then, I have not known a summer storm of such intensity as storm Floris that swept through on the 4th of August and blew down a number of trees in the Wilkies Wood, Woodland Garden and also in the Park Ecovillage Findhorn settlement. Luckily it came just after the Woodland Shelter was the venue for night time fun during the Ecovillage Findhorn CBS Lunasa festival.
We have still not fully cleared up after the storm as it coincided with Kajedo, our Land Manager, slipping and breaking a couple of ribs – ouch! This gave me the opportunity to refresh giving Hinterland tours of the land with guests and also to hold more of the volunteers that Kajedo usually works with. Thankfully he was still able to coordinate the German Vision Quest group that was with us for two weeks at the end of August (see News from the Land). It made me appreciate once again how much he does and holds as a guardian of the land – thank you Kajedo!
The warm weather has meant that some of our bee hives have been very busy and we are expecting a bumper honey harvest this year. We presented three one-day bee workshops – one in June and another two in August – which introduced 18 new potential beekeepers to the fascinating world of bees.
Raising awareness of bees and beekeeping was also one of four activities we focussed on when over 100 pupils from Forres Academy visited in June as part of their transition from S2 to S3 days to the Hinterland. They learnt a little more about bees and beekeeping as well as learning the practical task of how to construct bee frames from our now four-strong bee team, Martin Harker, John Willoner, Mathijs Mulder-Barge and I.
Other activities included nature awareness games with Roy Simpson and helpers, conservation work with Neil Meikleham and George Paul, pulling up tree seedlings on rare dune heath areas of Findhorn Dunes Trust land, helped by FDT Chair Steve Worth, and Andy Goldsworthy inspired art projects on the beach from found materials with two of the school Art teachers.
This was part of our partnership work with Forres Academy funded by the Newbold Legacy Trust, which – for the fourth year running – also included about 40 Biology pupils coming out for their field study day to learn about sampling vegetation, investigating minibeasts on the land using pitfall traps, and the world of lichens from Heather Paul, our local expert. Amongst other things!
The other partnership we have been developing this year has been with the Guest Services wing of the Findhorn Bay Holiday Park. It has taken considerable time for their Manager, John MacPherson, to set up a new tent booking system for our camp pads and for us to set up a monthly calendar with a series of activities connected to the land for guests to enjoy, but they are now there for next season. Hopefully more people will get a chance to enjoy connecting with the land in these ways and in the long run it will also help bring in funds to help pay for the good work that we do.
We have recently been successful with funding through other grants. A Neighbourhood Ecosystem Fund grant from Inspiring Scotland brought in £13,500, which is being used to fund a new 10-year Local Biodiversity Action Plan being written up by ecologist Sean Reed as well as a major study by the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen of beetles and other invertebrates on the land. The latter involves about 40 pitfall traps being placed in different areas but particularly on the new Dune Restoration Project (DRP) site from July to October. These will record what inhabits our land and if rare dune species are starting to colonise the areas of bare sand created through this project.
Other funding has been £2000 granted through the Moray Climate Action Network Seed Fund, which will be used for the Dune Restoration Project work to be carried out this coming November – creating new bare sand in the fire pit area within the settlement, mulching gorse next to the previously created sand areas to allow the natural process of wind to blow sand into these areas, and the clearing of gorse from an area close to the wind turbines that we are earmarking for an extension of the green burial ground.
There were more events worth mentioning back in June. For the second year in a row 13 pupils and two staff from an innovative school just outside New York visited to explore our land and Ecovillage for the day, followed on the 15th June by a special birthday party for Ariane Burgess’ mum, held in the Outdoor Learning Space in the Woodland Garden Ariane helped create. On the 17th June I led our first tour of the land as part of the Moray Walking Festival with a small and very interested group of local people. We will be looking to get more involved with the latter next year.
Finally the FHT is becoming involved in the process of helping distribute the remaining assets of the Findhorn Foundation Trust (FFT) as it winds up. FHT is one of its legacy charities, along with the Park Ecovillage Trust, Ecovillage Findhorn CBS, the Findhorn Foundation SCIO and Ekopia as an asset-locked community benefit society. FFT has appointed a consultant firm to help the organisations work out how best to carry out this task for the Park Ecovillage Findhorn community, and it will be interesting to see what comes out of this process for all organisations, but particularly the FHT. Colin and I will be representing the FHT during this time, with the aim of having decisions made by the community birthday on the 17th of November.
I think that is all from me now as Chair. My final word is to thank all the many hundreds of people who have been involved over the past 20 years in making the lasting achievements of both the FHT and its precursor, the Findhorn Hinterland Group, possible. As a real team we have collectively made such a positive difference to both land and people over the years, helping open eyes and minds and honouring this beautiful part of the Earth we live next to. If all the World could take care and delight in getting to know and looking after their backyards as we have done, I believe it would be a far better and different place.
Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
1st September 2025
Chair’s Report – Summer/Autumn 2025
FHT Chair Jonathan Caddy with Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Energy, Gillian Martin
Findhorn Hinterland Trust chair Jonathan Caddy shares news on an extremely busy Summer, as well as some impressive legacies as he steps down as FHT chair in September 2025:
It feels strange knowing that this will be the last Chair’s report that I will be writing as I step down at the FHT AGM on the 18th of September, when the long-planned restructuring of the charity will come into effect. Colin Shreenan will become the new Chair and his wife Laura will hold the paid position of Whole Team Coordinator. A new Education and Community Team is in the process of being formed to ensure the education and community purposes of the charity are more fully developed, and I will be staying on as a trustee and will be the Team Lead for that aspect of the charity’s work.
All these changes are to ensure that the charity is structured to remain sustainable and resilient well into the future. For those interested I will write another article in the next edition explaining the charity’s new form more fully. I am also sharing this in a ‘Sunday Slot’ session on the 7th September. It is a big change for me as I have been Chair since the charity’s inception in 2015 and was instrumental in forming and developing its precursor, the Findhorn Hinterland Group, over the previous 10 years. It has been a rich and fulfilling journey, worth an article in its own right in the next edition.
We have still not fully cleared up after the storm as it coincided with Kajedo, our Land Manager, slipping and breaking a couple of ribs – ouch! This gave me the opportunity to refresh giving Hinterland tours of the land with guests and also to hold more of the volunteers that Kajedo usually works with. Thankfully he was still able to coordinate the German Vision Quest group that was with us for two weeks at the end of August (see News from the Land). It made me appreciate once again how much he does and holds as a guardian of the land – thank you Kajedo!
Other activities included nature awareness games with Roy Simpson and helpers, conservation work with Neil Meikleham and George Paul, pulling up tree seedlings on rare dune heath areas of Findhorn Dunes Trust land, helped by FDT Chair Steve Worth, and Andy Goldsworthy inspired art projects on the beach from found materials with two of the school Art teachers.
The other partnership we have been developing this year has been with the Guest Services wing of the Findhorn Bay Holiday Park. It has taken considerable time for their Manager, John MacPherson, to set up a new tent booking system for our camp pads and for us to set up a monthly calendar with a series of activities connected to the land for guests to enjoy, but they are now there for next season. Hopefully more people will get a chance to enjoy connecting with the land in these ways and in the long run it will also help bring in funds to help pay for the good work that we do.
We have recently been successful with funding through other grants. A Neighbourhood Ecosystem Fund grant from Inspiring Scotland brought in £13,500, which is being used to fund a new 10-year Local Biodiversity Action Plan being written up by ecologist Sean Reed as well as a major study by the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen of beetles and other invertebrates on the land. The latter involves about 40 pitfall traps being placed in different areas but particularly on the new Dune Restoration Project (DRP) site from July to October. These will record what inhabits our land and if rare dune species are starting to colonise the areas of bare sand created through this project.
Other funding has been £2000 granted through the Moray Climate Action Network Seed Fund, which will be used for the Dune Restoration Project work to be carried out this coming November – creating new bare sand in the fire pit area within the settlement, mulching gorse next to the previously created sand areas to allow the natural process of wind to blow sand into these areas, and the clearing of gorse from an area close to the wind turbines that we are earmarking for an extension of the green burial ground.
Finally the FHT is becoming involved in the process of helping distribute the remaining assets of the Findhorn Foundation Trust (FFT) as it winds up. FHT is one of its legacy charities, along with the Park Ecovillage Trust, Ecovillage Findhorn CBS, the Findhorn Foundation SCIO and Ekopia as an asset-locked community benefit society. FFT has appointed a consultant firm to help the organisations work out how best to carry out this task for the Park Ecovillage Findhorn community, and it will be interesting to see what comes out of this process for all organisations, but particularly the FHT. Colin and I will be representing the FHT during this time, with the aim of having decisions made by the community birthday on the 17th of November.
I think that is all from me now as Chair. My final word is to thank all the many hundreds of people who have been involved over the past 20 years in making the lasting achievements of both the FHT and its precursor, the Findhorn Hinterland Group, possible. As a real team we have collectively made such a positive difference to both land and people over the years, helping open eyes and minds and honouring this beautiful part of the Earth we live next to. If all the World could take care and delight in getting to know and looking after their backyards as we have done, I believe it would be a far better and different place.
Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
1st September 2025