John Shaw

Nominated by: Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

I grew up in Tylers Green and have lived in Wycombe more or less all my life. I love my hometown and our community and of course our local environment. Having founded Chiltern Rangers in 2013, I have often wanted to play a small part in improving the bigger picture in the Chilterns.

I have nearly 20 years hands on experience managing the habitats of the Chilterns – chalk grasslands, chalk streams & woodlands in both urban and rural settings.

My passion is derived from connecting, inspiring and engaging people with place and removing any barriers to doing so.

I hope to help the board and indeed our sector, be more inclusive: engaging everyone of all ages, abilities and backgrounds through ensuring we think carefully about everyone and make it as easy as possible to take part in our work.

I look forward to helping Paul, Elaine and the team (board, staff and volunteers) as we work with our many partners to address the range of local, National and even existential challenges such as biodiversity and climate crises.

The time to act is now and we need to empower as many people, especially younger people, to our cause as we can.

Away from work I enjoy watching sport and spending time with my family. My daughter Holly (12) has Angelman Syndrome a neurological disorder and so my lived experience as a parent of a child with a disability helps keep me focussed on ensuring the natural world is well looked after and accessible for all.

It has proved more than ever in the past 16 months or so what an invaluable refuge it is and has offered us all respite in the pandemic – – we really need to give back.