My sincere condolences to Norman, Sarah, Peter, James, your partners and wider family.  Jennifer spoke of you all often.  She was so proud of each of your achievements and had said to me on our last walk, what lovely partners each of her children had, and how much she had enjoyed all of you being around during lock down.

I rarely remember Jennifer ever being ill, so her passing came as a huge shock and I am still struggling to take it in.  

I got to know Jennifer originally through the Grassroots Challenge.  Jennifer’s vision and ‘can do’ attitude made everything possible!  Over the 5+ years of the project my respect and admiration for Jennifer grew.  Becoming an Ulster Wildlife Board member gave me another insight into the complex organisation Jennifer led with such ease.  Her knowledge on a wide range of subjects was incredible and I was often in awe of her ability to articulate such complex detail.  She had superb networking skills and so many became friends.  If she could help you in any way she did.

I also learnt so much from Jennifer’s approach.  She believed in educating people and bringing them on the nature recovery journey, believing that people would do more when they understood the consequences of their actions.  She was never judgemental.

Over the years I have also seen how Jennifer loved and cared for her staff.  She was always quick to pay tribute to their work and to give credit where credit was due.  She was always seeking to improve every aspect of their working lives.

Jennifer will be hugely missed as a visionary force for nature and someone who could be trusted and relied on completely within the eNGO sector.  But above all, she will be missed as a lovely, gentle, kind, caring person who so many were privileged to call a friend.  I will really miss our walks and talks and her friendship and my heart goes out to Jennifer’s family and Ulster Wildlife colleagues.