Leave a legacy

Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley (c) Philip Precey

Leave a legacy

Year in, year out, Trust supporters are helping to safeguard natural havens through gifts in their wills, ensuring future generations can enjoy the natural world just as they did.

Making a will is the only way to be sure that your wishes are carried out and the most important things in your life – your family, friends, cherished possessions and beloved charitable causes – are remembered.

Once you have taken care of your loved ones, please consider leaving a gift to Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust in your will.  No matter how big or small, it is one of the most valuable ways that you can directly help protect your local wildlife and wild spaces.

Together we can ensure a better future for people and wildlife, long after our own. Perhaps, the best legacy anyone could hope to leave. 

Gifts in wills allow us to plan for the future and have already helped provide protection for endangered species through the acquisition and management of nature reserves across the two counties.

Every gift in every will makes a real difference to our conservation work protecting your local wildlife for the future.

Contact us

For more information about making or updating your will, we would always advise you to contact a solicitor in the first instance. If you would like to talk to someone and find out more about remembering the Trust in your will or to let us know about a gift you have already pledged to us, please contact Sarah Croft, Fundraising Officer, on 01727 858901 ext. 263, email sarah.croft@hmwt.org or write to us at our main St Albans office. 

To ensure that a charity ultimately benefits from your gift, your solicitor or will writer will need the following information:

  • Registered Charity Name: Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust
  • Registered Office: Grebe House, St Michael's Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 4SN
  • Registered Charity No: 239863
The future is much too important to leave to chance… that is why making a will is one of the most important jobs any of us has to do.
David Attenborough

Remember a Charity Week

The annual legacy awareness week ‘Remember A Charity Week’ takes place in the second week of September each year. Take a moment to do something amazing, and consider leaving a gift to Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust in your will.

A lasting legacy

Gifts in wills have made an invaluable contribution to the work of the Trust for more than 50 years. We would like to thank those that have helped us in this special way. Leaving a gift to charity is all about life: a lasting legacy commemorated through the diverse wildlife and wild spaces of our natural world.

Joan Pearcy

Local nature lover Joan really cared about Hawkins Wood: 10 hectares of beautiful woodland near Therfield, Royston. Joan was concerned that it needed to be properly looked after so that future generations could access and enjoy it.

She was not only kind enough to leave the wood to HMWT in her will, but her additional bequest also ensured we could continue to manage the habitat and safeguard the wildlife that Hawkins Wood is home to.

“Joan was a truly country person, loving all aspects of rural life, especially animals, birds, flowers and trees. She was very happy to ensure that the Trust would take care of Hawkins Wood”.
Dennis Stevens, cousin.

Herbert Charles Inward

Herbert Charles Inward

Herbert Charles Inward

Mr Inward, known to his friends and family as Bert, was originally from North London.  His varied career took him all over the country, and - in the early days as a WW2 RAF radio operator - the world too.  He eventually found his way to Hertfordshire, settling in Hemel Hempstead.

He became heavily involved in local community and charity work, including organising flag days for the Wildlife Trust and even winning ‘Best Decorated Stall’ for the Trust at the Christmas Charity Market in 1992.

His support over the past 25 years ranged from being a member and fundraising for the Trust, to conservation volunteering and  surveying.  He would have been pleased that the Trust’s restoration work has transformed Hertfordshire’s wetlands and improved habitats for our aquatic wildlife. His kind gift to our work will enable this important local conservation to continue.

“Bert had a long term interest in the environment and was extremely generous with his time and money. He was very active in the Hemel Hempstead Conservation Volunteers: often found deep in mud clearing out many local ponds.”
David Inward, nephew

Frederick John Young

Frederick John Young

Frederick John Young

Fred was born and brought up in Watford, and with his two younger brothers, his early years were spent exploring the local woods and fields. In his adult and married life he moved to Harrow, making him a true Herts and Middlesex man, enjoying gardening, walking and good food. 

As a keen bird watcher, he was often seen with a pair of binoculars and a camera around his neck trawling his favourite HMWT reserves, including Stocker’s Lake, Wilstone Reservoir and Amwell. 

Fred’s kindness and generosity as a member of the Trust over the past 18 years has made a real difference to local wildlife, now and for the future.

"His love of the outdoors saw Fred travelling the length and breadth of the country with plenty of opportunities to pursue his passion for discovering nature, and pubs selling real ale! Whilst he wasn’t a compulsive twitcher, he would still get quite upset when dipping a mega!”
Geoff Young, brother

Margaret Jean Bell

Hertfordshire 

resident and life member of the Wildlife Trust, Jean was passionate about local wildlife.  She also enjoyed many ‘wildlife’ holidays and with them she visited countries as diverse as Costa Rica, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Jordon, as well as most of Southern Europe.

She was an ardent and knowledgeable botanist, but also enjoyed the archaeological treasures and the culture of all the countries that she visited. Her ‘wildlife’ holidays always provided her with such a wide spectrum of interest. Although keen on experiencing wildlife on her travels, local wildlife was always close to Jean’s heart. 

The legacy bequest Jean kindly left the Trust has helped us continue protecting local wildlife and their habitats for the future.

Jean cultivated the most lovely garden at her home in Welwyn Garden City and derived enormous pleasure from it. She encouraged the bird life and knew all the species that arrived at her bird table!
Audrey Pearson, friend

Elizabeth Mary Hyde

Hertfordshire resident Mary loved the countryside, a passion instilled in her from a young age, growing up in the beautiful surroundings of the Black Mountains in Abergavenny.

She and her husband were members of the Trust from the 1980s, with their interest in wildlife continuing right though their lives. They were avid birdwatchers, often visiting Tring Reservoirs. Norfolk was another popular destination for them, to spot waders and seabirds.

Although they loved travelling to see wildlife, the nature on their doorstep – garden birds in particular – was always very important to them.

The legacy bequest Mary kindly left the Trust has helped us protect native wildlife and habitats, giving people continued access to nature.

Thinking back to my childhood in the early 60s, I recall that Mum always fed the garden birds and my Dad built bird tables and nest boxes which were put to good use.
Mum’s favourites were robins and blackbirds, which received a special diet in the form of grated cheese!
Carol Ketchley, daughter

Legacy Charter

Our legacy charter is our promise to you.

  • We will always respect your privacy. We understand that your will is completely personal to you.
  • We understand your family and loved ones will always come first.
  • The Trust is committed to protecting wildlife for the future and so we always encourage people to remember us in their will. However, we recognise that it is your decision and that you need to make it in your own time.
  • We’d love to hear from you if you would like to let us know you have left us a legacy gift, but equally we respect your decision if you prefer not to.
  • If you choose to let us know about your gift, and would like us to, we can stay in touch and keep you informed of our plans, events and our local conservation work —work made possible by gifts like yours.
  • We will never ask you to disclose the value or type of gift you have chosen to leave to the Trust.
  • We assure you that your gift will be used carefully and cost-effectively so that it has the greatest possible impact on our local wildlife.
  • If you would like your gift to be used in a particular way we are happy to discuss your wishes, otherwise we will use it where the need is greatest when the time comes.
  • We will treat any information you provide to us as confidential.
  • We will acknowledge the names of those who leave a gift in their will in our remembrance book, which can be viewed at our office, Grebe House. However, we will not include a name if you would prefer the gift to remain private and anonymous.
  • After receiving your gift we may publicise what it has helped to achieve, in order to thank you and to encourage future legacies. This will only be with the express permission of your family or the executor of your will.
  • We respect your right, at any time in the future, to change your mind about a gift in your will to Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.