Mavis Peart’s 20-year chairmanship of the Friends of Juniper Hall was celebrated as she stepped down from the role at the July 2026 AGM.
Going back to the establishment of the Friends in 1988/9, it’s not long before Mavis’s name appears (alongside Suzy Hughes as membership secretary and David Streeter as President). As a member of the FSC Executive Committee at that time, Mavis had elected to support Juniper Hall as her nearest centre. She was co-opted onto the Friends of Juniper Hall Committee in May 1992, as an ex officio member relating to her Vice Presidential role in the FSC. She became the Chairman in 2007.
Throughout her time in the chair, Mavis was instrumental in organising and running the programme of events, with talks on subjects as wide-ranging as reptiles to nightingales, gardening to ironmongery, Wartime Surrey to Florida wildlife, and Fanny Burney at Juniper Hall to Napoleon’s last days on St Helena! Mavis persuaded several members of the Friends to contribute their knowledge and talent to the programme of events over the years – from talks on exotic butterflies to humorous musical performances with Instant Sunshine.
These enjoyable and informative social events, together with membership subscriptions and generous donations, and in the past income from the Butterfly Festival and specific fundraising efforts, have funded many valuable projects at Juniper Hall that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible.
In Mavis’s time, the Friends have purchased computers, information screens, chairs for the common room, Satellite dish for residential staff, curtains and lights for the Templeton room, refurbishment of the dining room, beds and bedding for Cedars, the educational pond, dining tables and benches, live mammal traps and the stretch tent – altogether many thousands of pounds enhancing Juniper Hall as a Field Centre. The Friends currently has around £10,000 available for more projects. So Mavis leaves a huge legacy at Juniper Hall.
Mavis has had an incredible career centred around teaching geography and championing special needs education, serving on the boards of numerous bodies, and receiving several awards, culminating in her OBE in 1995 for services to education and the voluntary sector. The FSC, Juniper Hall Field Centre and the Friends of Juniper Hall have been extremely fortunate to have benefited from her support, her friendship and her wise counsel for so many years.
The members of the Friends and the staff at Juniper Hall presented Mavis with a framed photo of Juniper Hall and plants and flowers and, at Mavis’s specific request, garden centre vouchers and a new wheelbarrow for her allotments.
The AGM ratified committee member Janet Holah as the new chair of the Friends of Juniper Hall before adjourning for a celebratory cream tea.