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.

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 with his adopted dog Lucky

Funeral Helpers

Margaret Robbins

Jacqui Collins

Brian Layt-Williams

David Birley

Sue Rees

Jennie MacDonald

Martin Wilson

Dan Gill

Jane Faulkes

Lucy Till

Rose-Anne O'Hare

Karen Lane

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

Bartletts Memorial masons who cut our machine cut memorial tablets are based in the farmyard. www.bartlettmemorials.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”