Our latest acquisition. It is continuing to open up the wildlife corridor along the top of the Downs, joining up with Heyshott Down, which is managed by the Murray Downland Trust. From this reserve you can see the cross-dyke archaeological feature. It is shown below resplendant in Crosswort. This reserve is named after Paul Dimmer, a long standing and integral member of Graffham Down Trust.
Paul Dimmer, the Honorary President of the Graffham Down Trust sadly passed away on 15 September 2022 following a brave battle with cancer. We pay tribute to Paul’s long standing and enormously important contribution to the Trust. Paul had been a Trustee of the GDT since 1989 and was the Reserves Manager for many years. That role involved an enormous amount of work to develop and maintain the reserves and included funding and other negotiations with DEFRA, MAFF and Natural England, the Forestry Commission and the South Downs National Park.
He contributed a huge amount of knowledge, undertook additional roles such as Chairman and Treasurer and at times had virtually ensured the subsistence of the Trust on his own. His contribution should never be underestimated and will be sadly missed. Paul was honoured for his dedication to the Trust by the naming of one of the reserves after him.