Member Talk: Making Nature Accessible for Everyone

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.

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.