By Colin Houston

A few words from our departing Chief Executive, who left the organisation in October 2026 to relocate to the Netherlands.

Following a busy few months, and couple of weeks of ‘post-party leave’, I’ve been better able to reflect on my time at Heath Hands.

My journey began back in 2015 as the Charity’s sole employee, but I was blessed with inheriting a very stable and well-run organisation, with a dedicated volunteer group, many of whom have remained active since our founding in 1999.

There weren’t many instructions (other than the correct tea-making process), and little direction but, in hindsight, this gave me the time (and headroom) to slowly build things, test out new ideas, and develop different programmes in an organic way.

I had a lot of support in the early days from colleagues at Hampstead Heath and at Kenwood, from the RSPB team who were running a large project on site at the time, and from many many wonderful Heath Handers. It took some time but, by building on what was already working well and evolving things slowly, the charity began to grow. Introducing volunteer roles, making things more efficient in the office, collecting data, taking lots of photos, launching our e-newsletter, linking to nature campaigns and initiatives and reporting on the charity’s impact were all important steps.

Growing fundraising was a slow process, as it hadn’t been a priority in the early years but, by launching initiatives like our Friends membership and Wildlife Adoption, retail, crowdfunders and corporate volunteering, Heath Hands grew even further. Securing grants helped me recruit our first staff members, and then, by focusing additional resources on community outreach, our Heath Friendly Schools and public walks and talks, things began to take on a momentum of their own. Opening Dairy Nature Centre and then the Heath Info Hut broadened our public engagement programmes further.

Along the way we celebrated our 20th birthday (and then our 25th – with a film!), surpassed 100,000 hours of volunteering (someone needs to check what the total is now!!), made it through lockdowns, celebrated the Heath’s 150th birthday, reached 15,000 hours of volunteering per year and much more besides.

I was pleased we published our first long term strategy in 2021, aligning our aims and objectives, and laying the foundations for the subsequent formal agreements with English Heritage and City of London. Being appointed as the charity’s first Chief Executive in 2024 was a proud personal moment.

It’s staggering to think about the phenomenal array of day-to-day activities our staff and volunteers undertake, from gardening to interpretation, walking to ecology, forest bathing to conservation and more besides. In recent years, initiatives at Savernake Bridge and Keats House, the Hampstead Heath Hedgerow Heroes and the Hive pond projects have been keeping everyone busy. 2025 also saw my dog Ollie join the team, and I know he will be missed, probably even more than I will! And now in 2026 the Hampstead Heath Eco Club and Queen’s Greens projects have been launched, further broadening our remit.

With my journey as Chief Executive coming to an end, the late summer and early Autumn became a blur of planning meetings, team catch ups, 1to1s, handovers and clear outs! A huge thank you goes to your interim CEO, Karin, who, in case you didn’t know, has been an absolutely incredible asset to Heath Hands since she joined in 2017. Karin has been especially supportive over the last year, and I wish her every success in her new role.

Thank you to everyone who came along to my leaving do – your kind words, cards and gifts were very special. With such a talented staff team supporting Karin, and with our dedicated trustees and countless amazing volunteers I feel I’m leaving Heath Hands is in very capable…hands!

I was pleased to have a last day on the Heath tidying things up (doing a final recycling run, of course!) visiting with friends and colleagues on site and then getting the men’s pond to myself for a few minutes for a special last swim.

I mentioned at my leaving do that I was relocating to Amsterdam, where I’ve quickly replaced dog walks with cycling and chocolate hobnobs with waffles. My wife Jude and I are happily settling in to Dutch life, looking forward to Christmas here (though I’ll miss the Hive parties!) and, excitingly, we await the arrival of a new addition to our family in the Spring.

Heath Hands has been a truly wonderful journey for me (27.05% of my life, in fact), and I leave with the fondest of memories. I hope the foundations I’ve helped build over the last decade stand everything in good stead, and I look forward to hearing about all the exciting projects and activities that are planned in the years ahead.

I wish everyone who’s involved in our organisation all the very best, Colin

A new chapter

Horticulture at Heath Hands