Highland Perthshire Communities Land Trust (HPLCT) is managed by a board of Trustees who encompass a wide range of skill sets and interests, and provide insights, guidance and oversight.
We meet four times a year, and operate with a minimum of five and a maximum of fifteen Trustees at any time. Each Trustee can serve for up to two three-year terms .
Full details of responsibilities, election procedures and terms can be found in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.
If you are interested in becoming a Trustee or have any questions, do get in touch!
Keith Myers
I am a Trustee and Treasurer of HPCLT and the Geological Society of London and I am also a Trustee of the Scottish Geology Trust. After a geology degree at Edinburgh University and a PhD at Imperial College, London I had a 37-year career in the international energy industry. A lifelong love of the Scottish Highlands drew me to Dùn Coillich and its mission to restore nature and landscapes shaped by geology to their natural grandeur. As well as my role at Dùn Coillich, I am a keen musician and local historian.
Richard Paul
(Chairman)
After studying zoology, specialising in entomology, at Portsmouth and Glasgow Universities, my research at the Natural History Museum in London led to a PhD with Imperial College. I embarked on a teaching career in Scotland as I’d fallen in love with the wildlife, mountains, lochs and varied geology when I’d first visited aged fifteen. I taught at Rannoch School, Wrekin College and Pitlochry High School before retiring and serving with the British Trust for Ornithology as Regional Officer for Perthshire. I’d make connections with HPCLT and Dùn Coillich through outdoor learning with my pupils, and first joined as a Trustee in 2007. I’m now a Life Member and volunteer and have served twice as Chairman of HPCLT.
Donald Riddell
Having been brought up locally I am passionate about connecting people to local nature, wildlife, history and culture. I worked in agriculture for 10 years, after which my wife Julie and I started nature-based activity business Highland Safaris, building it up over 30 years and employing over 35 local staff. My skillset includes farm management, marketing, retail, hospitality, event management and nature-based tours on land and water. I am contracted part time to help enhance Scottish Agritourism. Nature is my passion. I love helping businesses or persons that connect people with nature so that together we can enhance our rural economy.
Andrew Walker
My background is in plant and crop physiology. On retiring in 2011, I moved to Highland Perthshire, becoming a Trustee of HPCLT in 2016. Before that, while living in Aberdeenshire, I was a Trustee of Birse Community Trust, which manages land (4,000 ha), historic buildings and monuments to promote the local natural and cultural heritage. This gave a focus to my interest in ecological restoration, land reform, and rural land management in Scotland, which now continues with HPCLT.
Fiona Danks
After an Ecology degree at Edinburgh, I worked in environmental education for two local wildlife trusts. For most of my career I was Director of a charity providing grants to environmental projects in Oxfordshire. I am co-author of a series of illustrated books inspiring children to explore the natural world. I am a Trustee of Wild Oxfordshire, a charity supporting local nature recovery. My late father Robin Hull, a founder Trustee of HPCLT, introduced me to Dùn Coillich in 2002. It is inspiring to witness the site’s transformation into an ever-richer ecological haven and precious asset for the local community.
Izzy Filor
Graduating from HPCLT’s rural skills course in 2017, I’ve been lucky to have worked in the conservation sector since 2018. I worked for the John Muir Trust at Schiehallion for five years and I’m currently working as a land manager for the Woodland Trust across a range of upland and lowland woodlands (and bogs!). I’ve also studied an MSc in Environmental Management, where I spent a happy summer surveying montane scrub in the Breadalbane hills.
Colin Stanfield
With a degree in Agriculture, soil and environmental science and wide experience in practical farming on large arable estates, I have long had an interest in the relationship between the natural and ‘managed’ environments. A career teaching soil science at degree and post graduate level evolved into educational management of higher education programmes. Moving from Lancashire to live in the shadows of Schiehallion, I was delighted to be able to volunteer regularly at Dùn Coillich. I enjoy discussing the natural history of the site and the wider Scottish environment with an amazing set of fellow volunteers.
Ian Selmes
I am a retired geography and geology teacher, education leader, teacher trainer, university education lecturer, team inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate, expedition leader and education author. I have a background in conservation work and leadership that can now be used as an HPCLT trustee. I was a Trustee of Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust (2013-2022), a habitat maintenance volunteer (2014-20), and I have a PgDip in Sustainable Mountain Development (UHI Perth, 2018-20). I have been volunteering at Dùn Coillich since 2020 and also for Scottish Wildlife Trust, gaining further experience of habitat management in a Perthshire context.
Jez Robinson
I commissioned from Sandhurst in 1991 and served across the globe. My penultimate job was as Commanding Officer of a 1500 strong unit based in the Brecon Beacons. I moved home to Rannoch in 2016, where I run a small estate and farm 80 pedigree Highland Cattle, with my wife Ali and three children. I am Chairman of Webster & Horsfall Group, a 304-year-old Midlands-based manufacturing & green energy company. I became a Trustee of HPCLT in 2022 after maintaining a close relationship with Dùn Coillich since the establishment of the Heart of Scotland Forest Partnership in 2017.
Kirsten Parrish
I have three decades of communications experience, including international PR consultancy and thirteen years directing my own PR and communications/media training business. I retrained to embark on a horticultural career and ran a garden design and maintenance business for seven years before returning to freelance PR when I moved to Highland Perthshire in 2023. My involvement with Dùn Coillich and HPCLT has enabled me to forge links with the local community and combine my passions for the outdoors, nature and the environment.
Ian Harper
I am an academic based in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. While my academic interests lie in health and wellbeing, I am particularly fascinated by human nature interactions and conservation. As a keen amateur ornithologist I was drawn to Dùn Coillich because of the bird life, but have stayed volunteering because of the welcoming community involvement. I love the vibrant ‘citizen science’ undertaken here, and the joint learning about, and commitment to, the site and its regeneration.
Douglas Woodrow
I have been teaching Geography and Modern Studies at Breadalbane Academy for 20 years. I first became aware of Dùn Coillich as a field study site for our geographers and when I inherited the school’s rural skills course it became a key feature in my teaching year. As a trustee I promote the project within the school and wider community and support the great work that is being undertaken each and every week. I have been lucky enough to experience Dùn Coillich in all weathers and in all seasons; it’s a great spot and it’s a privilege to be involved in something my grandchildren will be able to enjoy in the future.
