Westmill Woodland Burial Ground CIC

Westmill is a CIC or community interest company. This requires us to offer a service to our local community and be a not for profit business.

The money in the company is asset locked and can only be transferred to a charity or another CIC never to an individual. We report each year to the CIC regulator. To view the latest set of accounts, please click here.

To learn more about CICs, visit www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-regulator-of-community-interest-companies.

The team

Find out more about the team here at Westmill.

Liz Rothschild

Liz is a performer, celebrant and director of Westmill Woodland burial ground which was her idea originally. Adam has generously allowed her to use one of his fields and got on board with it all. She is passionate about people knowing what is possible around death and dying and feeling free to create the funeral they want. She is currently touring her one woman show Outside the Box – A Live Show about Death when not doing the day job. For more information about her visit www.fullcircleproductions.org.uk Her interest in death began when a very close friend died totally unexpectedly and she found herself organising the funeral. Nothing has ever been the same since. She was joint recipient of the Most Significant Contribution to the Understanding of Death award in 2017. In 2020 PCCS published her book Outside the Box - Everyday Stories of Death, Bereavement and Life. This is an invaluable resource of stories, expert commentaries and resource lists to help with a wide range of themes.

https://www.pccs-books.co.uk/products/outside-the-box-everyday-stories-of-death-bereavement-and-life

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outside-Box-Everyday-stories-bereavement/dp/1910919632

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/outside-the-box-everyday-stories-of-death-bereavement-and-life/9781910919637

Also available at Waterstones and all good Bookshops.

Her next book of stories about living in Covid Times is due to be published in Autumn 2022.

Adam Twine

Adam owns Westmill with his sister Jane Twine. He began farming at Westmill in 1983 and soon after converted most of the farm to organic. He has been deeply concerned about environmental issues all his adult life and amongst projects listed later also set up a not for profit business Farmers Carbon Cutting Toolkit to encourage farmers to review the impact of their farming methods on soil health and carbon emissions. www.farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk. He is profoundly aware of the privilege of owning land and wants to share the benefits as widely as he can. He has improved public access since taking over and regularly hosts events for the general public. He was recipient of the Schumacher Award in 2007.

Joe Heapy

Joe is a Director and also on the Friends and Family Group, having members of his family interred here at Westmill. He grew up in Oxford, moved to London to study, and lives in Hertfordshire. Joe owned and ran a small business for 24 years and works as a consultant, helping large companies and government departments improve the services they provide to their customers.

With both Joe’s parents now buried at Westmill, the burial ground will remain very special to Joe and his family. Westmill is a remarkable place and a unique community interest company, firmly guided by its values. Joe wants to support the business as it, like any business, looks ahead, makes plans and responds as the world changes. Joe was first taken to Westmill by his parents in 2014 to visit the burial plots they had booked for themselves. When Joe’s dad died in 2017, he discovered why they had chosen Westmill. To the shock and pain of loss, Liz and Adam brought calm, clear thinking, solutions and genuine care. The land and sky provided the space to grieve together or alone, with perspective, hope, and much-needed signals that life continues. Joe continued to visit Westmill with his mum, and they attended meetings of the Family and Friends group because she wanted to remain part of this supportive community. She did so until she died in 2023.

Becky Norman

Becky first found out about the Burial Ground after the birth of her first child several years ago. She wanted to plan everything to be sure that if something happened, her family would know what her wishes were. After working in several industries in previous years with Administration, Sales, Business Development and Marketing experience as well as managing production of products, she came to us with a passion to help people. She joined us in late 2021 as our office Administrator and the day to day running of the burial ground.

Tony Hinkes

Tony lives at Westmill Farm where he has a fruit tree nursery called Tony's Trees. He also grows vegetables on some of the land next to Blacklands Organics also on the farm. He is responsible for mowing and general maintenance and can often be seen out and about tending to the trees and the burial ground.

Chris Park

Chris lives below the burial ground and so acts as our informal caretaker and sometimes helps with our events. He is a local beekeeper making delicious honey with the bees visiting our wildflowers from their handmade skeps located just below the burial ground. He is a Druid and pipe player.

Funeral Team

Karen Lane

Margaret Robbins

Vera Hoenan

Jacqui Collins

Dan Gill

Chris Park

David Birley

Sue Rees

Westmill Farm

Westmill Farm was used as an airfield during the 1939-45 war hence the concrete pill box at the entrance to the airfield where we now keep our cart. It was bought by Adam’s grandfather after the war when it was no longer needed for military purposes. It is home to a wide variety of projects and businesses:

Westmill community owned windfarm and solar park providing clean renewable energy to 4,000 homes and profits to the 4,000 shareholders. A 17 year long struggle to create a groundbreaking visionary project demonstrating that we can create a sustainable future for our children.

Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust which Liz helped to set up has hosted hundreds of visits for thousands of school and college students, council officers and planner and supported a wide range of local sustainable projects as well as insulating the local village hall amongst other things. www.weset.org

Root & Branch which Adam and Liz co-founded with the original Trustees, now an independent charity providing activities for people with mental health issues. It has a flourishing garden, polytunnel, forge, woodwork shop and art workshop and kitchen. Watch out for their very popular open days. www.rootandbranch.info

Blackland Organics, a local organic vegetable growing project check out the shop with the large orange carrot at the bottom of the hill. https://www.facebook.com/BlacklandsOrganics

Hyland Memorials Mark is located in our farm yard, creating beautiful memorial tablets for us among other types of memorials for other sites. https://hylandmemorials.co.uk/

Westmill Forestry Guy Newton and team, large scale tree planting and surgery 07855465515

Tony’s Trees Tony Hinks - fruit trees and other horticultural services 07979618196 tonystrees@live.co.uk

Acorn Education Chris Park works with children and adults on sustainable arts projects, building roundhouses and beekeeping. He lives off-grid just below the burial ground. www.acorneducation.com

Westmill farm

“On the coldest day of the year the staff gave us a warm welcome, adapted the ceremony to suit the extreme temperature and were helpful and sensitive throughout”