Supporting People in Creating a Richer Environment for Wildlife

Woolhope Dome Environmental Trust (Charity no. 1127959) was founded by Dr Humphrey Graham Smith in 2009.

Humphrey passed away after a short illness in 2012 (1945-2012). He graduated with a BSc in Ecology from The University of Edinburgh in 1967, followed by an MSc in Forestry from Aberdeen in 1968.

He then undertook a PhD on ‘Studies of the terrestrial protozoa of the maritime Antarctic’ awarded by Edinburgh in 1973; his thesis was based on work done while employed as a microbiologist by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) from 1968 to 1974.

In 1974 Humphrey joined Coventry University and ran courses in Ecology and Environmental Science until his retirement from full-time teaching in 2002.

Humphrey became involved in the Woolhope Dome after purchasing a local woodland for conservation management in 1999. The woodland was bequeathed to Mark O’Brien and Elizabeth Vice. Mark continues to manage the woodland and associated Wood Pasture to maximise conservation value.

In Memoriam Dr Mark Bateman 

Mark was one of the original trustees of the Charity. He was born in 1966 in Lancashire but moved to his adopted Yorkshire as a child.  He studied Zoology at Sheffield University in the 1980s and, following an MSc in Ecotoxicology at University of Luton, moved to Coventry University in the early 1990s to undertake a PhD in Reed Bed Technology and Pollution Monitoring.  His PhD was supervised by Professor Alan Newman, who subsequently became his head of department when Mark stayed on to lecture on the Environmental Science courses at Coventry.
During his formative years at Coventry he developed a life-long friendship with kindred spirit Dr Humphrey Smith – their shared office was an example of bachelor existence, which once experienced was never quickly forgotten!  When Humphrey founded the Woolhope Dome Environmental Trust (WDET), he immediately approached Mark to act as its first Chairman, a role he willingly embraced until 2020, stepping down but remaining a trustee until his death two years later.
Mark died very suddenly and unexpectedly in August 2022, aged just 56.  He will be remembered for his fondness for real ale and the great outdoors, his Yorkshire bluntness and, above all, for the enormous time he invested in the students he supervised.  He will be held in affection and greatly missed both by them and all at WDET.

The trustees (Dr James Bennett, Robert Hall, Ian Tanner and Dr Frank Warwick) continue to run and manage Woolhope Dome Environmental Trust (WDET) in Humphrey’s name and seek to promote environmental works with a focus on, but not exclusively within, the Woolhope Dome area with the following aims:

• For the enhancement of wildlife conservation
• For the remediation of derelict and contaminated land for wildlife conservation
• For the use of rare or traditional breed livestock to promote biodiversity in species rich meadow
• For the public appreciation and enjoyment of the countryside including disabled access
• For the education both formal and informal in ecology, conservation and sustainable farming and forestry for general charitable purposes.