We wish to thank all those who have been part of the Co-operative’s management team, as Directors and team members, since its formation in 2013. Without them we would not have achieved the success we now enjoy.
Thank you all.
This is a new page where we wish to remember all those who helped establish and grow the Co-operative. More members of the alumni will be added in due course – Ed 3rd July 2022
Tom Parker – ex Chair
Tom trained in horticulture at Kew Gardens and later became a Head Gardener in Turners Hill where he lived for 27 years. He now lives in Storrington with his family and is currently chair of REPOWERBalcombe Co-operative and a director at Springbok Sustainable Wood Heat. As part of the Springbok Co-op Tom has assisted with woodland conservation work and successfully helped bring back the Wood White butterfly to previously unmanaged woodland.
When a governor at Turners Hill School Tom was responsible for a number of environmental initiatives including solar power, wind turbines, air source heat pumps, rainwater harvesting, LED lighting and planting a woodland. He is currently refitting his house to make it as low carbon as funds will allow. With REPOWERBalcombe Tom has worked to develop a solar farm connected to the mainline railway. He is very keen to see community energy groups develop locally and benefit our area in the same way as others he has been involved with.
Tom moved from Turners Hill to Storrington where he has found new challenges for his time and energy, notably at Knepp. He was our driving force since our early days. We all owe him a deep sense of gratitude for his expertise, hard work and outstanding commitment, to the co-op. He leaves behind him a successful and financially healthy community renewable energy co-operative, “the only successful energy company in Balcombe“.
Charles Metcalfe
Charles is an internationally renowned wine critic, known to TV audiences as Richard and Judy’s drinks expert. Charles moved to Balcombe with his wife Kathryn and their three children in 2003. They have both played an enthusiastic part in village life, and look forward to the day when Balcombe can generate its own renewable energy, rather than wrenching the last drops and hisses of fossil fuels from under its green fields and ancient woodlands.
In 2020, Charles and Kathryn moved to the centre of Portugal, and are making the most of the sunnier climate.
Jackie Emery
Jackie has lived in Balcombe since 2005. Following a working career in nursing and teaching, she has a keen interest in addressing fuel poverty and the negative effects of this on health and education. As a garden volunteer she is reminded daily of the effects of climate change and feels we all need to work our socks off to reduce the threat to our home planet She is keen to promote positive ways that we can “keep the lights on” and to highlight the urgency of the debate to the wider public.
Jackie and Lawrie moved to Seaford in 2021, wishing to live closer to the sea.
Gillian Maher
Gillian’s awareness of environmental disruption developed young, when the coal fires which heated our homes were banned, after the resulting smogs paralysed London and our major cities, causing thousands of deaths – and many others to develop acute respiratory conditions. In the 1960’s Gillian noticed that the small flies which had smothered the windscreen of her electric car on summer evenings, had disappeared. In the 1980’s our butterfly and bee populations began to collapse too. Now, an increasing number of viruses are killing our trees and shrubs at the same time as we are experiencing unprecedented levels of air.
Gillian’s connections were key to several of our projects, most notably our solar installation at the Cuckfield Holy Trinity Primary School. Her passion for all things green enthused all of us in the team.
Anthony Woolhouse
Anthony Woolhouse is passionate about living a sustainable life. He lives in an eco-house, drives electric cars and invests in renewable energy projects.
He is a director of West Solent Solar Cooperative. He has joined the board of Repower Balcombe as the Traction project’s one of the few projects likely to be built without subsidy.
Sadly, Anthony resigned due to ill health. We wish him well for the future. We will remember his presence at Balcombe fetes, where he exhibited his solar powered model train-set.