Paul Burt was a man who loved wildlife and woodlands, and actively enjoyed the great outdoors. When he died, aged 99, in 2022, his family really wanted to be able to mark his life by supporting a local wildlife project in his memory. Having seen that the Trust had successfully managed different large-scale projects, they considered the financial aspects and sought legal support in directing a significant legacy donation to the Trust. Paul’s daughter, Sue Pike tells us about her father and why she’s thrilled to be helping wildlife conservation in his memory.

My Dad was a scientist and pragmatist, he always focused on what could be done. This was forged by World War II, his time at Trinity College Cambridge where he read Zoology, his connection with nature and his many climbing, caving and walking experiences, which lasted a lifetime. A very independent man, in his 90s he was still organising annual walking, exploring and industrial history trips all over the country for his large circle of pals, affectionately known as the ‘Codgers’!

As a girl, I visited the River Windrush in Oxfordshire with Dad and seeing the Water Voles there sparked in me a great love of chalk streams. Another more adventurous trip was to the frozen Kinda Downfall in Derbyshire, where we were fascinated by the tiny Shrew dashing across the frozen plateau. These trips and others like them inspired a great love and interest in nature.

When Dad died, we decided we really wanted to support a project that would benefit wildlife, so we looked to the Trust. We have been members for a number of years and had seen their success in managing local projects, for example, Panshanger Park, the Wilder St Albans community project and the Archers Green fundraising campaign. In particular, Archers Green enchanted us and we had previously visited Purwell Ninesprings Nature Reserve, near Hitchin, before we knew the Trust managed it – both of those locations resonated with us, and so we identified the projects we wanted to support. We decided to apportion part of Dad’s legacy to help the Trust meet their fundraising target to buy and protect Archers Green, near Tewin, and the rest to carry out habitat enhancements and visitor access improvements at Purwell Ninesprings Nature Reserve.

As Dad had not planned in his Will to make a charitable donation, and we wished to make a donation to the Trust, legal advice was required. Our solicitor drew up a Deed of Variation, which allowed the substantial donation we already planned to give from his estate to be further increased by partly offsetting it against our inheritance tax liability. As a result we were thrilled to transfer £175,000 to our chosen Trust projects. Dad would have been delighted.

Dad would be thrilled that his legacy is supporting projects at Archers Green and Purwell Ninesprings, actively encouraging appreciation of nature. His legacy will live on enabling other people to enjoy the countryside he loved.

The Trust is enormously grateful to Sue and her family for working with us to direct this amazing and lasting support to our work. Paul’s legacy donation enabled the Trust to reach our fundraising target for the Archers Green campaign last year, and will also see vital work start at Purwell Ninesprings over the next few months for the benefit of wildlife and our local communities.

Could you remember wildlife in your Will?

No matter how big or small, leaving a gift in your Will is one of the most valuable ways that you can help protect your local wildlife. A gift of just 1% of your estate can do amazing things for wildlife. Find out more about leaving a legacy here or, you can start a conversation about the many ways you can leave a gift or, honour the memory of a loved one by emailing Lise Ashton at legacies@hmwt.org