Trustees of Histon & Impington Green Spaces

Jon has been part of the team managing Abbey Fields from the outset, having previously helped complete the villages’ Neighbourhood Plan.

He developed his interest in nature at school, becoming a licensed bird ringer in his teens. Since then he has participated in local wildlife surveys as well as managing professional £ multi-million ecological studies meeting the requirements of Natural England amongst others. As both a Chartered Environmentalist and Chartered Engineer, his experience includes land management and agricultural infrastructure development.

I have lived in Histon for 12 years, now with my wife and two young boys. We have grown to love the green spaces the villages have to offer. I have always loved woods and the countryside, growing up in the Cotswolds and going for long walks with family.

My first campaign on the environment was in my junior school raising £25 to secure an acre of tropical rainforest. I am a keen gardener interested in making my space as biodiverse as possible to maximise the wildlife I can support. My technical skills are in engineering and my work life is a data scientist where I particularly enjoy collecting and maintaining data to demonstrate patterns through time.

Katharine has lived in the villages for 15 years and is currently a stay at home mum to two young sons after practising as a lawyer for 10 years. Katharine became a HIGS trustee in August 2022.

She has always loved nature and wildlife and is working on her own wildlife garden at home. She has managed the Histon & Impington No Mow Verges scheme since 2016 and has enjoyed seeing these spaces providing homes and food for a wide variety of wildlife.

Daphne studied Forestry, volunteered for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and worked for a district council for 12 years as Countryside Officer and Community Parks Officer. She loves trees and flowers and is very excited about the self-sown wild plants and ancient trees on the Abbey Fields sites. Daphne lives in Histon with her husband and two children. She wants to share her enjoyment of the wildlife and open spaces of the Abbey Fields with people across our community.

In 2019, over 46 years in Essex, Dave and Sue relocated to be near their daughter and her family in Histon. As an active botanist, Dave started a survey of this new locality and became enthused by the Abbey Fields complex. His botanical records and knowledge have been made freely available to support the HIGS project.

After studying Maths at university Dave spent 30 years in the finance industry as an IT specialist in various roles. Before finally retiring, he took an opportunity to teach Maths for seven years in a sixth-form college. Throughout his adult life he has maintained a keen interest in wildlife, especially plants, and full retirement allowed him to become involved in two botanical projects: an ongoing Essex survey for a new County Flora; and, in the Brecks, recording of the special plants to direct conservation.

I am a consultant ecologist with passions in and outside of work in ornithology and entomology. I am a keen advocate of establishing protocols for gathering comprehensive data on biodiversity. I have two young sons who are budding naturalists and I enjoy encouraging the development of young people’s interest in wildlife.

I lead a team of ecologists in Cambridge and have valued bringing them to Abbey Fields to volunteer on habitat management work.

David lives in Histon having moved to the village 18 months ago. He has lived and worked in the Cambridge area for the last 40 years. He has worked in Human Resource Management (HRM) for a variety of public and private organisations in management and consultancy roles.

He supports the need for the community to have access to green spaces for future generations.