Stewart Perkes: A Trailblazer for Holly Lodge

If you have been fortunate enough to visit The Holly Lodge Centre in person, you have likely strolled around our crown jewel – the nature trail. The Holly Lodge Centre’s nature trail is fully accessible with, amongst many things: a raised dipping pond, a raised flower meadow and many other features that provide a truly special outdoor experience for all visitors to Holly Lodge, regardless of need or access requirement. The trail is in use for our programming year-round as there is always something to enjoy: from peeking at the birds behind our bird hid; to rolling rotting logs in the meadow to count invertebrates, to enjoying fun sensory-based Christmas activities in Camp Caterpillar. None of this would have been possible without our long-time volunteer and former Trustee, Stewart Perkes, who conceived, designed, and led the building of the trail as it is today.  

Stewart joined The Holly Lodge Centre as a volunteer on the maintenance team in Autumn 2004.  In 2011, he joined the Board of Trustees and served as Trustee until 2020, but that did not end his commitment to our little charity. After stepping down as a Trustee, he re-joined the maintenance team and continued to serve our community until the end of January this year when he and his wife decided to leave the Big Smoke for a quieter town life. 

 While a love of teaching drew him to a much different career in education, Stewart originally trained as a cabinetmaker. He generously shared his wood working and all-round handyman skills with Holly Lodge. There is not an area of our Centre that does not have Stewart’s fingerprints on it – from the refurbishment of the Victorian Pharmacy to the conception and building of the nature trail.  

Many of our education programmes also have Stewart’s touch. He brought his years of experience in education to bear on the development of some of our key programs such as the Victorian Pharmacy and Living Things in Winter and arranged for training for volunteers to better enable them to work with visitors with special needs.  

Stewart has also left a mark on our hearts. A member of our community was heard to say, ‘He is the nicest person I have ever known.’  Staff and volunteers have appreciated his gentle mentorship, and it won’t be the same around here without his warm smile and friendly presence on Tuesday mornings.  

Thank you, Stewart, for your 21 years of dedicated service to making nature accessible in the heart of Richmond Park. All of us here at The Holly Lodge Centre wish you and Sue a well-deserved rest. And please don’t forget, Stewart, the kettle is always on if you fancy a visit!