The Council of Trustees is the governing body of the Friends of the South Downs. It is ultimately responsible for the management of the Friends, setting its strategy and ensuring it meets its statutory purposes and charitable objectives.
Council normally comprises up to 12 Trustees with widely varying backgrounds; from conservation, the legal profession, banking, advertising and business.
All Trustees are appointed to the Council for an initial term of three years and are eligible for re-election for a further term.
David Green
Chair, District OfficerDavid has lived in Sussex for over 40 years. He has been a parish councillor for over 20 of those years and chairs his parish’s planning committee. He retired as a solicitor in 2018 and now walks twice a week with the Friends, including as a walks leader. He is also a District Officer for the Friends.
He says, “The South Downs are now in my blood.” He believes though that conservation is very different from preservation. He accepts that some change is inevitable, indeed desirable, and sees the role of the Friends as helping to manage and shape that change, remembering at all times that the overriding mission is the conservation and enhancement for the public benefit of the beauty and amenities of the South Downs.
Andrew Lovett
TreasurerAndrew cares passionately about the landscapes of England and is committed to protecting the beauty of the South Downs.
He is currently the Friends’s lead for projects encouraging children to appreciate and value the Downs. He previously led cultural projects about the songs and folklore of the Downs. Andrew helped coordinate activities celebrating our Centenary year.
Andrew is a qualified accountant and applies his experience to help the Friends get the best from its resources.
Tony Whitbread
TrusteeTony retired from the Sussex Wildlife Trust in 2018 after working there for 27 years, being chief executive for 12. He is now President of the Trust. During his career he represented the Wildlife Trusts nationally, regionally, and locally on Forestry Commission, National Ecosystem Assessment, Environment Agency, and National Park forums, and currently chairs the South Downs Network. He was an early advocate of rewilding and currently runs rewilding workshops at the Knepp Rewilding project. He has written articles and reports on natural processes, for example after the storm in 1987, for British Wildlife in 1997 and in numerous publications for the SWT.
Henrietta Lacey-Gutsell
TrusteeHenrietta spent her career in the world of corporate marketing before shifting to re-train in sustainability marketing, studying with the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership. She now works as a freelance consultant helping companies to talk about sustainability without greenwashing. She has previous Board experience in the charity world working with Daybreak Family Group Conferences.
Henrietta joined the Friends in 2025 and is a regular walker, enjoying the outdoors with her family and walking her two dogs.
Having grown up in and around the South Downs, Henrietta believes passionately about the importance of protecting this very special landscape so that others may enjoy it, as she has, in future years.
Paul Wilkinson
Vice Chair, Membership & Marketing Committee ChairPaul spent his career working in Human Resources and is a Chartered FCIPD. Since retiring, he became involved in the charity sector through working for Citizens Advice.
“I grew up in NE England, but became enthusiastic about the countryside during the 18 years that I lived in Scotland. So, when I moved to West Sussex, I was delighted to find myself living so near to the beautiful South Downs.”
“In 2014 I joined the Friends, and became a regular walker, which I still am – rain or shine! In 2020 I became a Trustee and Chair of the Membership and Marketing Committee, and then in 2024 I was appointed Vice Chair of the Trustees. The Friends of the South Downs is dedicated to protecting this unique landscape, and I’m proud of contributing to that work.”
Patrick Haworth
Legislation Audit Lead, District OfficerPatrick has a background in farming, having trained in agriculture and economics before joining a major bank; first in branch banking but later in corporate finance.
Previously a member of the Access & Rights of Way Committee, he remains an Area Access Officer and Walks/Strolls Leader.
Patrick is also a District Officer for the Mid Sussex Area covering planning and conservation matters.
David Sawyer
TrusteeAfter a career on the railways, David retired from his role as Engineering Director (Rail) with GoAhead (thameslink, southern etc.) in 2007.
He joined the FSD Council the same year and subsequently served as Treasurer, Vice Chair and Chair. He and his wife are keen strollers and regularly join and lead strolls.
Making a difference on the Downs is David’s key priority, shared by Trustees. Providing seats and benches, replacing stiles with gates and rebuilding part of the South Downs Way are just some of the Friend’s projects which, together with the work of District Officers and Area Access Officers, really do make a difference.
Paul Gilchrist
TrusteeDr Paul Gilchrist is a human geographer based at the University of Brighton with over twenty years of experience researching the geographies of leisure, particularly contested claims to outdoor space. He is an experienced field trip leader, regularly seen walking students to Cuckmere Haven to discuss the making of the South Downs cultural landscape, and down the Ouse Valley to highlight heritage assets, planning controversies and environmental futures. His research expertise is understanding how people encounter their environments and the regulatory practices that emerge to establish claims of access, belonging and ownership.
Paul has been engaged in several funded projects that have revealed the hidden histories of public engagement with green and blue space. In 2012 he published an essay on the history of Beachy Head as a climbing landscape and is currently collaborating on research into new leisure practices and demands for outdoor space by young people, both sanctioned and transgressive.
Janet Goody
Access & Rights of Way Committee Chair, District OfficerJanet grew up in London and started her working life in London before moving south and now lives on the Hampshire /West Sussex border.
She joined the Friends when she retired as a solicitor having walked on the South Downs since 1990. Walking is her main hobby and is a regular participant in the Society’s Walks Programme, also leading walks on each programme.
Janet supports policies which do not oppose all change and which encourage more people to be aware of and benefit from the South Downs in some way while at the same time conserving the Downs for now and the future. She was co-opted to the Council of Trustees in July 2022.
Martin Small
Planning & Conservation Committee Chair, District OfficerBeing born and raised in the shadow of the Quantock and Blackdown Hills and Exmoor in Somerset, Martin has long been interested in protected landscapes During a lengthy career in land use planning, he has worked for local authorities in north Somerset, South Wales and Hampshire, followed by 13 years with the forerunners of the South Downs NPA, for Historic England, and most recently, as a Planning Inspector before retiring in 2022.
Martin lives in South East Hampshire with his wife and son and is again enjoying helping to look after the Downs as a Trustee and District Officer. He is particularly interested in landscape character and the historic environment, and is a strong supporter of the planning system as a means of managing development to protect and conserve the landscape, wildlife and historic heritage of the Downs whilst meeting the needs of the communities in the National Park.
