17/08/21

Jackie Bland, new Chair of Trustees for Nene Park Trust

I can’t think of a role that I would rather have than Chair of Nene Park Trust.

This unique and beautiful Park has been an integral part of my life since 1994, when I moved to Peterborough to take up a new role. Since then I’ve walked, cycled, camped, canoed and run charity events, using all areas of the Park and its lovely Rural Estate.

I’ve guided visually impaired people, and pushed my friends and family who are wheelchair users along its unusually accessible lakeside paths. I’ve brought my four children and then eight grandchildren to enjoy the playgrounds and open spaces; I’ve even moored my boat overnight on Nene Park Trust’s moorings, waking up in the early morning to the peace and quiet with just waterfowl and fish for company. Perhaps best of all I have enjoyed the wildlife; flocks of geese noisily arriving first thing, tiny frogs emerging from the lakes in spring, nesting swans, and seagulls sitting about on the ice on those sharp frosty and snowy days that bring a stark frozen beauty to the Park.

I know that everyone at Nene Park Trust, from our staff and dedicated volunteer teams to my fellow Trustees, take enormous pride in creating an organisation, and a community of people who make all these experiences, and many more, possible for every visitor we welcome here.

As we look to the future we already have plans to invest even more in caring for our natural environment and providing more exciting opportunities for leisure, recreation, education, culture and sport.

We are also excited about offering the Park, and the organisational skills and resources we have developed, to support individual and community health and wellbeing.

For me, it will be a tremendous honour and pleasure, (and no doubt sometimes a challenge!) to support this incredible Nene Park Trust community as we strive to further improve, develop and thrive.