Mission statement

Veronica Carter is Chair of ERA, and currently also holds the post of Secretary (until someone else volunteers to take this on!). She also leads the Environment Sub-Group which includes biodiversity, water, litter, and tree planting.

Veronica worked as a primary school teacher for 25 years, having previously worked in playgroups (as pre-schools were called back then) and as a childminder. She has had a lifelong interest in nature and is also on the committee of Haslemere Natural History Society. Veronica thoroughly enjoys being retired and being a granny!

Barry Cooper is ERA’s Treasurer, he also leads the Travel and Transport Sub-Group.

Barry worked in the Motor Sport Industry for 30 years, 25 of which he ran his own business; from 2002 until he retired in 2017, he was a Lecturer and Head of Automotive Studies in a Further Education College.

Since retiring he has volunteered as driver for a local community bus charity and as a teacher for a charity teaching Engineering Skills to Year 10 and 11 Children. He is also Church Bell Ringer and teaches bellringing.

Becca Grey has been a Green Party member for nine years. Australian by birth, she moved to Rogate in 1990 with her husband, two children and a couple of dogs. A cat, hens and more children soon joined them and eventually some grandchildren (who don't live in Rogate). The family as a whole think a great deal about the climate crisis, extinctions and our responsibility to the planet. Becca sees hope in grassroots groups like ERA.

Sue Hoar moved to Milland seven years ago. Now retired, she had a career in the voluntary sector and journalism. A parish councillor, she worked with Milland Parish Council and ERA to produce the Milland Green Fair as part of this September’s Great Big Green Week. Sue is grateful to have found a group locally who are so committed to working to safeguard the planet for future generations like her grandchildren. She is fascinated by the hundreds of new technologies that are springing up which give hope that we can mitigate what is happening. But Sue is most encouraged to see the groundswell of awareness and concern in both the old and the young here in the UK and around the world. She hopes that ERA can play its part in creating the “25%” George Monbiot says are required to flip the world into the changes needed.

Andrea Linell lives on Chithurst Lane close to the River Rother. She was a founder member of Eco Rother Action at a point when she realised the severity of the climate crisis. She would like parish councils to declare climate emergencies but is aware that there needs to be a plan of action in place in order for this to be meaningful. She believes we are working towards this. Her particular interests are issues around Food and Agriculture.

I’m a UN-accredited Climate Change Teacher with ten years’ experience teaching about climate change both as a primary class teacher and as a visiting speaker to local schools (both primary and secondary).

My awareness of climate change dates back to the time before becoming a teacher when, alongside working as a Chartered Accountant, I took an Environmental Studies degree from the Open University. I’ve been working to educate others around climate issues since I graduated, as well as trying to reduce my own carbon emissions. In fact my first encounter with ERA was when I was invited by them to give a talk on the Climate Emergency during Big Green Week 2021. Since then I’ve talked to Parish Councils, students at Winchester University and other interested groups. I’m also an active member of PeCAN and set up the Eco café in Petersfield, and I also work with Energise South Downs on the energy advice side.

I live in a village near Petersfield, where I garden, look after my granddaughter and relish long walks in our unbeatable countryside.

I look after the ERA website and other IT matters as well as assisting with the Fluidion project.

I and my wife, (and Staffordshire bull terrier Cookie), live in Midhurst having moved here in 2013. I love the countryside around Midhurst, and still get a kick out of living in a National Park.

My whole working life has been in the computer industry, and most recently I worked as a web developer with several digital agencies.

Having recently retired I wanted to do something to help with the existential crisis which is climate change. ERA with its mix of environmental action and informative talks, seemed ideal. I drive an electric car and have switched to a zero carbon electricity supplier, and am now pondering the next steps.

I grew up in South Africa and moved to London in the 1980s, and then to Hampshire almost 20 years ago. My career has been in software development and latterly IT Procurement, with a focus on sustainability.

Volunteering with community groups like ERA enables me to better understand and reduce my own environmental impact, and where possible encourage others to do the same.