Meet our dedicated team at Epping Forest Heritage Trust

Peter Lewis, Chief Executive

Peter Lewis

Chief Executive

Peter became the first Chief Executive of Epping Forest Heritage Trust in November 2021.

A Hackney resident who has been visiting Epping Forest for over 20 years Peter is passionate about environmental and social justice, and is privileged to lead the amazing team of staff and volunteers at the Trust.

He has previously been Chief Executive of the London Cycling Campaign, London Voluntary Service Council and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, worked for Crisis, the charity of homeless people, and held a senior role for the Mayor of London. He started his career as a solicitor for Allen & Overy.

He is a Trustee of the Centre for London, London’s think tank, Board member of Mike’s Table, is the former Chair of Streetdoctors, and was a Board member of the London Marathon and London Youth Games.

Amy Liu

Amy Muyi Liu

Marketing, Fundraising & Membership Manager

Amy joined Epping Forest Heritage Trust September 2021. She is a brand and design professional with over 15 years of experience in marketing communication and design management.

Living in Newham, she loves taking her little one to Epping Forest and getting closer to nature. She grows her own vegetables from the allotment and is an active volunteer for the London Natural History Society and RSPB’s Central London Local Group.

Coming from a commercial background including both global advertising agencies as well as in-house marketing roles for SMEs in the UK, she feels strongly that growth shouldn’t be at the cost of the environment. Climate crisis concerns her greatly, which resulted in her leaving her previous job in the personal care and vocational training sector and joining EFHT. She would like to use her skills to encourage more people to love, protect and recover nature.

Louise Garner Finance Manager

Louise Garner

Finance Manager

Louise joined Epping Forest Heritage Trust in January 2025 as the part-time Finance Manager.

Louise has 30 years’ experience of working with charities and social enterprises, providing financial and legal advice and support as well as grant management. She is qualified through CIPFA in Charity Finances and Accounts, as well as in Charity Governance with ICSA.

She knows the Forest well, having lived in High Beach for 16 years, where she was involved in local organisations, including as treasurer of High Beach Church, High Beach Primary School PTA, and the Village Hall. She feels it is an honour to help protect the Forest, an important place for environment, education, history and culture. She can debate for hours whether it is High Beach or High Beech if anyone is bored.

 

 

Nick Ely

Nick Ely

Conservation Officer

Nick joined the Trust in 2015. As an environmental scientist, he has over 30 years of parks and conservation experience. Managing canal restoration and environmental educational at Lea Rivers Trust in the 1991-2000 and Newham’s parks and allotments 2000-2015.

Nick organises and leads our volunteer Conservation Tasks managing habitats in the Forest: Our Thursdays Green Team of adult volunteers and our Happy Lopper group of adults with Learning Difficulties. Also, occasional team building days with corporate volunteers.

With earlier careers in photography, bus driving, community recycling, and gardening businesses. He is passionate about helping communities find local solutions to live more sustainably and reduce our impact on the environment.

Nick designs our conservation work to be an enjoyable experience for our volunteers whilst both protecting the ancient Forest habitats and including measures to adapt to the changing climate.

Noreen Niazi, Community Outreach Officer

Noreen Niazi

Community Outreach Officer

Noreen joined  Epping Forest Heritage Trust in January 2024.

Noreen has worked in the social impact sector for several years, she has a wealth of experience in corporate social responsibility, community engagement and programme management. She is co-founder of a mentoring and networking organisation, Muslim Women Connect. In her free time she loves hiking, exploring and searching for the best coffee shops in London.

“I’m so excited to explore all the hidden gems in Epping forest and sharing my love for the outdoors with communities around the Forest!’

Epping Forest Heritage Trust conservation officer Robyn Lammiman

Robyn Lammiman

Conservation Officer (Maternity Leave)

Robyn joined Epping Forest Heritage Trust in June 2023 as our new Conservation Officer and has a special focus on increasing the number of women and people from diverse backgrounds in our hands-on activities to conserve the Forest.*

Robyn has over 10 years of experience in community engagement projects and conservation work with particular experience supporting vulnerable adults. When she’s not here helping conserve the Forest, she’s at Hackney City Farm mucking out sheds, teaching the community about urban farming and gardening.

‘”Working alongside people in this ancient forest, birds chirping, sun shining, there’s no better place to be!’

* Thank you to City Bridge Trust for their funding support this work.

Becky Griffiths sessional conservation officer

Becky Griffiths

Sessional Conservation Officer

Becky joined EFHT as a volunteer on the Green Team in June 2023.

She feels lucky to live close to the forest in Walthamstow, and visits regularly as a self-confessed ancient tree super-fan, fungi, and insect lover. Previous careers include local authority social worker for 20 years, and more recently craft gin distiller and cocktail bar owner.

Building on environmental activism, and her hobbies as a gardener and allotmenteer, Becky has recently completed studies in ecology and conservation management – with a focus on restoring woodlands. Committed to habitat repair to help restore the Forest’s biodiversity, and to helping others connect with the natural environment Becky is delighted to be part of the EFHT team and its big mission to protect the Forest.

Robin Pettitt Sessional Conservation Officer

Robin Pettitt

Sessional Conservation Officer

Robin began volunteering with the Epping Forest Heritage Trust in September 2021 and started working as a sessional conservation officer in late 2024.

After a 14-year career as a politics lecturer, Robin took a post-pandemic break from academia to volunteer in Epping Forest. This “break” soon morphed into a new career in nature conservation. He’s an avid wildlife photographer with a number of pictures featured in a range of outlets both in print and online.

When not doing practical hands-on conservation work in Epping Forest or schlepping a huge wildlife camera/lens combo around in a desperate hope of finally finding that elusive Tawney Owls he keeps hearing, he enjoys reading about biodiversity conservation, both generally and in the specific context of Epping Forest. @Robinwildlife

 

Wendy Tudor

Wendy Tudor

Visitor Centre Manager

Wendy Joined the Trust in July 2022 as a volunteer for the Visitors Centre at High Beach and took up the position of Manager in January 2023. She still volunteers at the centre as well one day a week for administration.

Wendy has a financial background of over 40 years, and has been a School Business Manager for the last 20 years among which 3 years were in an autistic school,  Wendy has a wealth of experience in finance, facility and project management with excellent people skills.

Wendy has lived in Wanstead most of her adult life and uses Wanstead Park frequently.

“I look forward to inspiring more people to love Epping Forest as much as I do!”