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Member Talk: Making Nature Accessible for Everyone

Join us to hear from award-winning author Bethany Handley as she calls for us to rethink how we live alongside nature.

Date
17 Nov 2026
Time
19:00
Free
Book your place here
Photograph shows a wildflower meadow with hedge borders and rolling hills in the distance.
We all want freedom to explore and enjoy the outdoors. Yet a lot of the natural world is not accessible, with footpaths being blocked or obstructed in nearly 32,000 places across England and Wales. Disability activist and award-winning author Bethany Handley explores this landscape and calls for us to think about how we can work together to dismantle barriers and connect more people with nature.
Nearly a quarter of people in the UK have a disability. Wheeling through the countryside, Bethany has explored climate justice, ableism and what nature means to her. Join us to hear from Bethany as she calls for us to rethink how we live alongside nature and one another following the launch of her book My Body is Meadow.
*If you are a member you should have already received your personal email invitation directly from our team (contact us if you haven’t!). New members will receive a link in your welcome email.

Speakers

Photograph shows a woman sat with her legs crossed in an outdoor setting. There are blurred trees in the background. The woman wears a bright blue short sleeve shirt, shorts and a sunglasses.

Camille McCawley – Senior Participation Officer

Camille McCawley is Senior Participation Officer at Plantlife and leads the Ranscombe Connect project at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve in Kent. Her work focuses on community engagement, volunteering and co-production, helping more people connect with nature and shape the future of the reserve. With a background in environmental science and over a decade of experience in community development and participation, she is passionate about making nature accessible and welcoming. Camille is also a freelance poet and creative practitioner who uses writing to help people connect with nature and place.

Photograph shows a woman standing in front of a painting on a white wall. The woman has long brown hair and is wearing a black top.

Bethany Handley – Award-winning author

Bethany Handley is an award-winning author, poet and disability activist from Monmouthshire, campaigning for better access to nature. Her non-fiction book, My Body is a Meadow (Headline Press, 2026) was longlisted for The Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2026. Bethany won an Eric Gregory Award for her poetry pamphlet Cling Film, and co-edited Beyond / Tu Hwnt, a bilingual anthology of Welsh Deaf and Disabled writers, which was shortlisted for the British Book Awards 2026. Named one of the UK’s 100 most influential disabled people by the Shaw Trust 2024, she is an ambassador for the Ramblers and sits on ParalympicsGB’s Lived Experience Advisory Board. She’s been featured by BBC One, BBC Radio 4, Country Life, Country Living, The Guardian and more.