Eastbourne Open Downland

Phil Belden is a Chartered Environmentalist, with two score years of experience dedicated to Protected Areas. Until recently, he held a directorial role in the South Downs National Park Authority. He is currently advising the Sussex Wildlife Trust. After briefly flirting with a City career, Phil switched to the Environment working first for Dorset Heritage Coast. Whilst with Suffolk Coast & Heaths he co-founded the Sandlings Group, to conserve Suffolk heathland and set up innovative urban-fringe education initiatives. Following his move to Sussex he established the Seven Sisters Marine Conservation Area and developed the South Downs Volunteer Ranger Service. He orchestrated the lobby to achieve Environmentally Sensitive Area status for the South Downs, enabling chalk grassland conservation, woodland and wetland management. He has worked on National Trails, recreation and tourism initiatives, and he progressed the campaign for National Park status. He is a founder member of the Eastbourne Downland Group.

Bob is a Chartered Biologist with an MSc in Conservation Having retired from a career in nature conservation, Bob is enjoying spending more time bird watching, ringing and exploring the countryside. Butterflies, moths and dragonflies also capture his attention. He also thoroughly appreciates the time to read and follow scientific development on the web. On leaving school Bob worked in his gap year for the British Trust for Ornithology (the organisers of bird ringing in the UK). Here he qualified as an approved ringer. Now, having ringed for over 50 years, he has ringed in the Middle East and the USA as well as the UK. Bob has ringed at Beachy Head since 1975 and is the senior ringer of the Beachy Head Ringing Station situated in Whitbread Hollow. He co-authored The Birds of Sussex- their present status (1979) and contributed the section on conservation in Birds of Sussex (1996). He also co-wrote the introduction and habitats section of the latest (2014) edition of this fascinating book. Bob encourages Eastbourne’s residents and visitors to record the birds they see in their locality and to share this information with the Sussex Ornithological Society (https://www.sos.org.uk/general-bird-records-reporting-guidelines) or the British Trust for Ornithology.  (https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/birdtrack). He also suggests that Citizen Science is a fantastic way to become involved in the protection of wildlife. http://www.citizenscientist.org.uk/

Throughout Phil’s career as an artist he has returned time and time again to draw and paint landscape, a consistent source of inspiration to him. Originally from London he has made Sussex his home and is a Senior Lecturer at The School of Art at The University of Brighton.  Over the last 30 years Phil has been particularly drawn to the topography of Cornwall, Norfolk, Sussex and Yorkshire.  In 2015 he embarked on his most ambitious body of Sussex Landscapes, shortly after the death of his father, which in turn informed the writing of his second book ‘Drawing and Painting the Landscape’. (2018) An experienced painter, teacher and researcher Phil continues to explore the relationship between the materiality of painting and it’s potential to act as a cypher for grief, loss and the notion of the sublime. Currently his practice involves a combination of painting, drawing, printmaking photography, collage, digital image and writing. Phil has a track record of exhibiting work both nationally and internationally. His work is in both public and private collections in this country and overseas, including Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Peterborough Museum. Phil is represented by Zimmer Stewart Gallery in Arundel, Jane Newbery in London and The Harbour Gallery, Porthcatho.

Born and bred in Eastbourne, Derek Read’s forebears were yeoman farmers in Buckingham before moving to work the land in the village of Willingdon, outside Eastbourne in the 19^th century. After a degree in geography and post grad in Town planning Derek worked for the City of London as one of their principal urban planners, dealing with issues as diverse as locating skyscrapers to championing the introduction and take up of green roofs throughout London’s square mile. Derek has brought his expertise to Eastbourne. Derek is a guest lecturer at The University of Brighton on environmental law and is Eastbourne’s representative for The South Downs Society.  He is a founder member of the EDG and the group’s planning expert.

A keen ornithologist Tony Vass is the lead for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Eastbourne & District Local Group.  The group’s aims are to introduce new members to the RSPB, support and raise money to help “Give Nature a Home”, create a programme of nature related events, and to be involved with other community groups such as the Eastbourne Downland Group and Sussex Wildlife Trust.  For more information about the group’s activities email eastbourneRSPB@gmail.com or view the website at www.rspb.org.uk/groups/eastbourne.  Born in the West Midlands, Tony moved south in 1964 and after a career in Local Government with Croydon Council, ending in 2000, he re-located to Bexhill in 2012.   He joined the Eastbourne & District Local RSPB Group in 2015, becoming their Group Leader in 2016.

Brought up and educated in London and Sussex, Antonia has a close affinity with the South Downs having explored much of it throughout her lifetime. A background in producing large scale inclusive theatre and arts projects, Antonia has a track record of making complex ideas accessible and relevant. She has worked for amongst others: the English National Opera, Almeida and Donmar Theatres, the BBC and the National Theatre where she contributed to the revival of puppetry which led to ‘War Horse’. In 1995 Antonia established the charity Safe Ground to enable the socially excluded to use drama and visual communication as a catalyst for change. For Safe Ground she produced and directed award winning films and the ground-breaking educational programmes ‘Family Man’ and ‘Fathers Inside’ for HM Prison Service. She also produced projects in partnership with The Battersea Arts Centre, Central Saint Martins, Homerton College Cambridge and Roehampton and St Mary’s Universities London. Antonia’s methodology has been extensively evidenced and evaluated and adopted widely by agencies working in the criminal justice system. Antonia moved to Eastbourne from London in 2014.  The town’s location at the foot of the Downs was central to her decision to re-locate. The proposed sale of the town’s Downland Estate in 2017 saw her involved in the campaign to successfully keep it in public ownership. She is a founder member and Chair of the Eastbourne Downland Group. She is also the originator of Walk Eastbourne and since 2018 she has assisted Eastbourne Borough Council with their plans to develop the Walk Fest into an inclusive cultural event that celebrates the town, its people and environment.