Kate Ashbrook

The woman who heads Britain’s oldest national conservation body has clocked up a quarter century’s service.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, celebrated the milestone last week. Ms Ashbrook was also, until today’s annual meeting, chair of the Ramblers, chair of the Campaign for National Parks, president of the Dartmoor Preservation Association, patron of the Walkers Are Welcome Towns network and a member of the Institute of Public Rights of Way and Access Management.

The OSS may be run from a diminutive attic office in Henley-on-Thames, but its achievements are far from small. Ms Ashbrook has been involved in numerous campaigns, including the recent successful bid to have a national park established in the South Downs.

She also campaigned for the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, which introduced a right to roam on England and Wales’s mountains, fells and moors, and was involved in the notorious access case in Sussex involving Nicholas van Hoogstraten.

Kate, 54, of Turville in Buckinghamshire, said: “Our most important work has been our constant help and encouragement to people fighting to save their commons, greens and paths which are under threat. 

“It has been a joy to give this assistance and to make a real difference to communities. It has been a joy too to work with the society’s small but committed, hardworking and loyal staff to achieve these victories.

“The society has always had to run on a shoestring, dependent upon the generosity of its members and on legacies. Times are tight for everyone, but with us a little goes a long way.  And so I start my next quarter century by calling on people to support our vital work.”

The Open Spaces Society was formed in 1865 as the Commons, Open Spaces and Footpaths Preservation Society and is Britain’s oldest national conservation body.  It campaigns to protect common land, village greens, open spaces and public paths, and people’s right to enjoy them.