Judith Adams was awarded the Freedom of the City of London today, following a nomination by by the Chairman (Ben Murphy) and Deputy Chairman (Caroline Haines) of the City of London Corporation’s Epping Forest and Commons Committee, following more than 50 years’ service as a volunteer.
Since 1975, Mrs. Adams has been an active volunteer, including chairing the Essex Wildlife Trust’s Roding Valley Meadows Natural Reserve Management Committee, being the Epping Forest District organiser of the Essex Wildlife Trust, chairing the Friends of Epping Forest, Chairing the Epping Forest Centenary Trust, becoming the Volunteer Manager at the Epping Forest Visitor Centre (2014 to date) and being a Director, Committee Member and Chair of the Epping Forest Heritage Trust (2007 to date).
Throughout her time volunteering in Epping Forest, Mrs. Adams has inspired, mentored, and empowered a generation of individuals through education, practical conservation and by restructuring the charitable governance and operational management of the Friends of Epping Forest and the Epping Forest Centenary Trust. She has diversified the Epping Forest Heritage Trust Board, recruiting 7 new members, and overseen the professionalization of a highly effective paid staff. Since stepping down as Chairman in 2024, she has become an Honour Life President of the Epping Forest Heritage Trust.
In practical terms, Mrs. Adams has led free monthly guided walks in Epping Forest for many years, engaging those hard-to-reach residents, often from disadvantaged backgrounds where religion or language barriers exist, to present to them the health and well-being benefits of the great outdoors. Many of these individuals have been persuaded to join her as volunteers. She has also supported hands-on conservation work in the Forest for individuals with learning difficulties, through a group called Happy Loppers. This group has delivered enormous ecological gains during its work over 20 years.
As the volunteer manager of the Epping Forest Visitor Centre at High Beach, Mrs. Adams led a team of over 20 volunteers at any one time, welcoming and giving guidance to more than 130,000 visitors from across the UK. She has also used her expert ecological, conservation and planning knowledge to deliver countless talks about Epping Forest to a vast array of community groups and businesses. She has represented an important stakeholder voice to the City of London Corporation, who acts as Conservator of Epping Forest and to HM Planning Inspectorate as part of numerous local planning applications.
The City of London Corporation’s Chairman of the Epping Forest and Commons Committee, Ben Murphy, said:
“Judy has been a great friend of Epping Forest over the past 50 years, leading volunteer activities and engaging a wide network of stakeholders in support of our conservation and education activities. The City of London is pleased to convey this honour upon her as a very small gesture of thanks for a life of service, which we hope continues for many years to come”.
