We continue our series of interviews by Lucy Johnson, in which she interviews some of the key players in the development past, present and future, of The Aire Rivers Trust. We thank her for her commitment and expertise in putting these pieces together.

This month she interviews Roger Parkinson in preparation for National Tree week (22-30 November 2025)

At the beginning of August I sat down with Roger Parkinson, who has a wealth of experience volunteering with nature-related charities, in particular focusing on trees. Roger currently leads local education sessions for the Woodland Trust and has previously worked with the RSPB locally, in addition to undertaking many projects in his local area.

We spoke about how trees can form part of shaping different landscapes across the country, and Roger commented that although sycamore may not be the right tree for every situation, when millions of trees can be lost to a single storm, it has a part to play in recovering tree numbers. The Wakefield district in the 1980s had under 4% of tree cover, which is now a healthier 14%. Sycamore is playing its part in that and in taking carbon from the atmosphere, although it wouldn’t be selected for planting.

Aside from his interest in nature, Roger also enjoys motorbikes, having been a motorcyclist for over half a century. However it is trees which have formed the spine of his volunteering commitments. “I’m still fascinated by it,” he commented. He hopes to pass this on to local children, “How does a tree know to wrap its seed in a fruit, that a creature which it can’t see is going to come and collect it, then eat the fruit and then drop the seed somewhere else?”

Roger began planting acorns and growing whips 37 years ago, to show to his son how they grew. Combined with living near many former industrial sites near Wakefield, which had been used as landfills and capped off, with the support of the council, the family began efforts to improve the regeneration of these areas. Over a period of years, Roger built up relationships with Wakefield Council’s tree officers, who were tasked with managing the countryside sites as well as forestry tasks.

This led over time to the creation of the arboretum at Newmillerdam, a beautiful site which is free to visit year round. The group was initially refused National Lottery funding, which Roger sees as potentially a blessing, as it led to them exploring alternate angles to fund their diverse collection of trees. Some are planted as memorial trees, whilst others are funded by members of the public who enjoy the area and want to make a donation towards the paths or bird boxes, for example. The trees within the arboretum all have individual signs detailing their species, meaning that people can visit and choose species for their own gardens, causing an increase in visitor numbers. 

In planting on disused industrials sites, trees planted in Roger’s son’s boyhood now tower over the landscape. Roger also used his industry expertise to suggest using trees to reduce the effects of rain that was soaking through household waste and emerging as polluted water. Roger terms this as, “using trees as a piece of civil engineering,” and also evidences his belief in improving areas that others might be quick to write off. Around 13,000 trees were planted there, some by local primary school children, to slow the run-off. The trees are unlikely to grow to their full potential, but they will adapt to the site and do the best they can. Tolerant native species such as oaks and hawthorn were specially selected for this site. Kestrels and kingfishers have also returned to some sites.

Each small success buoys Roger on: “that’s what motivates me because I can see that we can make a difference, you know, we can change things in a positive way.” Part of that is making himself available to advise on hedgerows or orchards, for example, in addition to providing support on where to buy trees and how to get permissions. Roger firmly believes in selecting the right tree for the right places, and that all trees bring benefits for people and wildlife whether native or non-native. One of Roger’s projects is to give away thousands of trees each winter, funded through various sources. This is usually timed for the Tree Council’s National Tree Week in November.

In his family life, recycling and care of the environment has always been a priority for Roger, from the early eighties onwards. He encouraged his young son when he showed an interest in acorns, making makeshift planting containers to show his son the process of growing. The result of this early exposure was that his son studied for a degree in ecology and now manages woodland restoration for the Scottish Forestry.

After winding up his career in civil engineering, Roger travelled around the world with his family, then began working with the RSPB on nature reserves, primarily with education. He was enthusiastic about the return of the St Aiden’s site to nature, praising its transformation into the home of bitterns, amongst other wildlife.

Roger commented that Fairburn Ings, having once been the largest spoil heap in Europe, used to be “a grey scar on the landscape.” Having seen its transformation over the course of his lifetime, he said, “that gives me hope that we can change things.” He identifies networking as a key source of change, “working with lots of different bodies, government bodies, groups, organisations, whether they be charities or community groups.”

Sixteen years ago, Roger saw an advertisement for volunteering for the Woodland Trust as a volunteer speaker, which he was already doing at Fairburn Ings. He quickly adapted the provided off-the-peg talk to his audiences, to better convey what was happening at locations relevant to them. He wanted also to make audiences aware of the positive initiatives in their local area and ways that people could get involved. This often also led to groups organising walks at the locations mentioned.

For Roger, volunteering is a force for good, allowing people to contribute in positive ways. “I’m a great believer that we all must have a purpose in what we do in our lives.” In Roger’s opinion, lack of purpose can exacerbate depression and other issues. He credits the Rivers Trust movement and other charities with giving many people the opportunity to improve their own circumstances.

Threaded through Roger’s tree projects has been a commitment to the use of trees not only as enhancing natural spaces but to achieve civil engineering goals. He sees trees as being of vital importance in creating corridors to connect nature, whether by rivers, canals or even highways. Even as areas are regenerated and rebuilt, trees can be included to help with infrastructure and increasing the area covered by trees. Alongside that it is vital to ensure that people are aware of the benefits of trees, such as keeping temperatures cool, and not merely the minor inconveniences of maintaining them.

Although not formally trained in civil engineering, Roger ended up working with civil engineers by happenstance doing a variety of tasks, experience he has clearly used to great effect. Part of his former company’s philosophy was to use environmental managers to improve areas when jobs were complete. As the company worked on a variety of sites for a variety of stakeholders, this gave Roger valuable insight into designing and managing sites.

Roger has seen approximately a ten-fold increase in demand for his Woodland Trust tree talks following COVID. He attributes this to an increase in people discovering firsthand the benefits of time in natural spaces. Within this he sees an opportunity to educate people and give them a tangible way to contribute to improve their local spaces, which may otherwise not be available to them.

Roger doesn’t have a favourite woodland per se, but imaginatively, he sees older woodlands as a form of time travel. He commented that further south, “You can be walking through a woodland and you’ll come across an old tree that might have been there hundreds of years. When I look at a tree like that you think, my God, if that tree could talk, the things it’s seen walking down this path. That tree’s had a life and there’s a story to tell. It’s still alive, it’s hanging on, it’s hollow now, because that’s part of its cycle. What a characterful thing, to see that.”

Roger did have an answer for my pet question about folklore. He chose the Green Man, seeing him as a representation of humans’ connection with nature. We went on to talk about my new habit of assigning trees a gender, and Roger was open in embracing all ways of relating to trees and nature, commenting, “Just enjoy the space and for whatever reason you’re there, just absorb your surroundings.”

We continue our series of interviews by Lucy Johnson, in which she interviews some of the key players in the development past, present and future, of The Aire Rivers Trust. We thank her for her committment and expertise in putting these pieces together.

Arriving early for our scheduled interview (I have a healthy mistrust of scheduled bus times), I found the Aire Rivers Trust’s new Chief Executive Rachel Forsyth tucking into her lunch in the midst of the rest of the staff, swapping stories and jokes. I had already met Rachel on her official first day, when she came across as down to earth, knowledgeable and approachable, but I wasn’t expecting such a warm, communal atmosphere. Geoff, current trustee and former chair of ART, commented that Rachel stood out from other applicants because of her “vision.” He credited her with the ability to “see where we need to go” and “not get sidetracked,” but this comes with a big helping of playfulness.

We settled in with our drinks in the communal kitchen and picked up where we left off. Rachel is a law graduate who has spent most of her career working with the National Trust in varying roles, initially in more on the ground roles, but most recently working as Countryside Manager in the Yorkshire Dales, managing a team of rangers and an ecologist and determining long-term plans for the land. Within this Rachel looked at everything from soil and water health to public access and heritage. Throughout each role, learning and developing was important to Rachel, and this knowledge will be used for everything from delivering huge projects to having the edge on pub quizzes.

Like Geoff, Rachel has had a close connection to the outdoors and nature since childhood, spending a lot of time in the garden as a child. There were no early ambitions to work in nature, in fact the opposite as she was very intrigued by the idea of racing cars, but the experience of studying law reoriented her back towards her early interest. Her childhood, initially in Kent then in Northampton, sounds idyllic, with family walks and outings as a family to watch a nearby badger family in their large sett. She also remembers seeing hedgehogs and dormice in the garden, in addition to watching birds on the North Norfolk coast and whale watching trips. Rachel added, “It wasn’t like that all the time,” but clearly it was enough of the time to spark a lifelong interest and satisfying career.

Alongside her keen interest in knowing details and facts to get just a smidgen more points than her peers in quizzes, Rachel has a knowledge of and interest in management theories across diverse sectors, citing several during the interview. These were mostly focused on helping team members achieve their best, which is something Rachel has thought about in detail and drawn upon ideas from fields such as technology to hone her own perspective. We discussed the idea of creating multiple ideas, most of which will not be acted upon, but which can lead to a greater diversity of solutions and a better utilisation of staff skills.

Rachel is still in the early stages of her role. I asked her if she had any changes she had in mind, and she clarified that initially she wants to focus on “listening,” and finding out what’s currently in place. She also commented that some things may alter, but they may well be led by what the rest of the team have identified as possible to improve. Throughout the interview Rachel was quick to praise the support she has received from the trustees, particularly Wendy the chair, and Geoff, all staff members and her predecessor Simon, who she credited with managing a very high workload very effectively.

Rachel defined the Chief Executive role as providing a key link between the trustees and the staff, alongside taking a role in high-level partnerships and overseeing the future direction of the charity. Current partnerships are with Yorkshire Water and the newly formed regional group across Yorkshire, of the Don Catchment Rivers Trust, the Calder and Colne Rivers Trust, the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, the East Yorkshire Rivers Trust and of course the Aire Rivers Trust. Rachel will be co-leading one of the group’s work-streams on community and volunteering.

Meeting with the other local rivers trusts has sparked some reflection about the structure of the charity, as each trust has their own individual set-up and set of expertise. One trust has a geomorphologist and a farm adviser, but they don’t benefit from administration support. Equally, as charities grow more specialised roles emerge such as dedicated fundraisers, but this also means more team members who are not directly engaged with the core aims of the charity.

Finally, we spoke about what wisdom might be contained in folklore relating to the natural world. Rachel pointed to people’s personal connections to woodlands as a way of connecting to the past, and said that the reaction to the felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap showed the depth of connection that people feel which they aren’t always aware of. Pragmatically, she picked the example of planting rowan trees by your front door to ward off evil as not necessarily true, but emblematic of a broader relationship between planting trees and good things resulting. Let’s hope good things result from Rachel’s new role and the Trust’s current tree planting and other projects.