AONB team

Sally Marsh MSc FLI
Co-Director (Job Share)
Sally has been Co-Director of the High Weald AONB Partnership for over 20 years and leads on the AONB Management Plan and strategic vision. She has a degree in Environmental Biology from Liverpool University, an MSc in Landscape Ecology from London University and studied for a post graduate diploma in Landscape Architecture. Her wide ranging policy and research experience includes integrated rural policy, sustainable communities and low carbon buildings, landscape characterisation and ancient woodlands. Sally's background includes restoration ecology and urban ecology having previously worked for Operation Groundwork in the North West, London Ecology Unit and rural conservation charities. She lives in the High Weald and away from work can be found canoeing or walking locally.
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01424 723004

Jason Lavender MSc
Co-Director (Job Share)
Jason Lavender grew up at Blackboys on the edge of the High Weald. Jason's work in the rural and environmental sectors had spanned both southern Africa and the UK before he joined the High Weald AONB Partnership in 2005 where, as Director (job share), he leads on national and regional partnerships and regenerative agriculture. Aside from his work for the High Weald Partnership and for more than 20 years, he has been a trustee for a private Trust that owns and manages 1,300 acres in Sussex and Kent. This includes an organic farm that Jason manages in collaboration with beef farmer Sam Newington and together they have moved from a conventional set stocking system to a regenerative holistic planned grazing system.

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01424 723008

Gerry Sherwin MSc FLI
AONB Business Manager
Gerry is the High Weald AONB Partnership's Business Manager and focuses on fundraising for, as well as managing multi-disciplinary projects that engage with communities across the area. Gerry is an Environmental Science graduate from the University of East Anglia and holds a Masters in Landscape Ecology, Design and Management from the University of London. She has 15 years' experience working as a Landscape Specialist for organisations that include the National Trust. This has given Gerry a wide range of skills in managing countryside sites and developing heritage interpretation strategies and projects. Gerry has walked from East to West across the High Weald in creating the High Weald Landscape Trail, and from North to South in undertaking river corridor surveys.

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01424 723014

Samantha Nicholas BA
Team Support Officer
After completing a Business Studies degree, Samantha spent 15 years working with Ford Motor Company. She then joined the High Weald AONB Partnership almost a decade ago as Team Support Officer. Specialising in event management as well as community project support Samantha enjoys working directly with the public. She is motivated by projects that successfully integrate societies with their landscape and work towards changing public perceptions of their environment. Samantha has been involved in the community her whole life and as well as enjoying dancing and gardening in her spare time, is an active member of Lamberhurst Pantomime Society.
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01424 723005

Emma White
Communications Officer
Emma has worked in PR and Marketing for 12 years and has extensive experience in media relations, copywriting, event management and social media. Previous roles include the Corporate Communications team at national tourist board VisitEngland during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Emma now works with stakeholders across the AONB to promote both the High Weald itself and the inspiring projects that enhance and raise awareness of our nationally-important landscape. She is also the main contact for the High Weald Walking Festival. In her spare time, she enjoys walking through the Kent and Sussex countryside and exploring other spectacular landscapes around the world (Yosemite is a favourite).
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01424 723017

Rachel Bennington MSc
Education Officer for High Weald Heroes
Rachel has years of experience in educating children about the countryside they live in, whether this is in her work taking school groups around the Ashdown Forest or on her own company with projects that engage the whole community. With an MA in Drama Therapy which included looking at nature as a therapeutic space, Rachel is also a Forest School Practitioner and is excited about working with schools to tie the High Weald countryside into the curriculum and create a relationship between the children and their surroundings. Away from work Rachel can be found climbing and cycling throughout the High Weald countryside.
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01424 723013

Christine Meadows
Land Management Project Officer
Christine combines farming, science, business and woodland management experience to provide practical and focused advice that helps land managers to look after their land in ways that are sustainable ecologically, financially and socially. She is a life-long resident of the Weald and Downs landscape, which forms the background to her interest in the cultural history of the High Weald and provides the outlet for her keen interest in walking.
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01424 723009

Tobias Jackson
Land Management Project Officer

Tobias comes to the High Weald AONB team from his last role working with Kent Wildlife Trust, advising landowners on the Romney Marsh about ways to restore and improve ditches, ponds and other aquatic habitats which were key features of the local landscape.

Prior to that he was working with Catchment Sensitive Farming in the Cuckmere and Wallers Haven catchments so he already has useful experience in the High Weald. His background is in forestry and tropical ecology – having worked in both Cambodia and Myanmar for ten years with international development agencies on community forestry and land rights.

Tobias has a passion for trying to reverse the decline in biodiversity across our landscapes where the common is now becoming rare through adapting land management practices. When he is not working he is a very keen on hiking in wild mountains and walked the 800km length of the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. He is also a keen organic gardener with 2 allotments.

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07736 604013

Sandy Williamson
High Weald Deer Management Coordinator 
Sandy has worked in the conservation and land management sector for over 30 years, much of her time spent in the High Weald. Previous roles include being Estate and Deer Manager for a private estate, managing sites for the Woodland Trust in East and West Sussex and working for East Sussex County Council's Rights of Way and Countryside Management team.

Sandy is passionate about deer and the High Weald Landscape so working for the AONB team is a dream job. She is looking forward to championing the importance of having and managing deer and the benefits that management can bring to the environment, people and the welfare of the deer. In her spare time Sandy enjoys walking her dogs, watching wildlife and helping manage deer on local farmland which she turns into delicious venison products in her home butchery!

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Dean Morrison
Project Officer: Sussex Flow (Cuckmere & Combe)
Dean grew up in North Devon and has spent his entire career in nature conservation and sustainability. As a teenager he volunteered on a woodland nature reserve in Exmoor, and this inspired him to study Ecological Science at the University of Edinburgh.

He came to Sussex in 1988 to manage the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, which is how he came to develop a love for the High Weald landscape. He’s worked for several environmental organisations such as the Environment Agency, Kent Wildlife Trust, the RHS and the South East Rivers Trust, as well as for local authorities in sustainable development.

His special interest is in Natural Flood Management. After running a successful pilot in the Medway catchment, he is now bringing this approach to the Cuckmere and Combe Haven catchments. He hopes that a Natural Flood Management approach will not only help reduce the risk of people’s homes being flooded, but can also bring benefits for wildlife, farm businesses and the landscape.

Outside work he’s a keen guitarist and gardener.
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Sarah Brotherton PhD
Landscape Officer (research, evidence, guidance)
Sarah grew up in Forest Row close to the iconic Ashdown Forest, and although she no longer lives within the High Weald, this distinct landscape will always be ‘home’. After spending several years travelling and working in New Zealand, Sarah came back to the UK and returned to education as a mature student, accomplishing a FdSc in Countryside Management and BSc in Ecology at University of Brighton. She then went on to complete a PhD researching the effects of extreme climate events on the survival and growth of wet grassland plant species. This research has led to a passion for wetland ecosystems.

Sarah has had various roles within ecology, including lecturing, where she loved getting her students out of the classroom and teaching plant identification, consultancy work and more recently post-doctoral research at University of Sussex on inland wetlands and sustainable offtake.

Outside of work Sarah can be found working with her town’s EcoAction Network, helping to deliver a carbon neutral town by 2030.

Stephanie Mason
Senior Project Administrator

Steph grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Dorset. She has worked in the countryside management and related sectors for a number of years. Previous roles include working as a ranger for East Sussex County Council and for Oxfordshire County Council. After this she worked for the Earth Trust as an engagement tutor and more recently she has lead the Forest School provision for Ardingly College. 

In her spare time Steph enjoys walking her dogs and cycling with her young daughter.

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01424 725435