Amberley Society
This is the Amberley Society page, providing general information about Amberley's history and activities in addition to Amberley Society news and campaigns.
​​Surrounded by so much history and precious countryside, an important part of what we do is to increase and share our understanding and appreciation of Amberley through regular meetings, talks and walks. We are also the custodians of a local history archive, which is currently being systematised and digitised for posterity.
We have at least three meetings each year with interesting, relevant topics which regularly fill the Church Hall to capacity. The meetings are enjoyable, relaxed and sociable.
​The Society is respected by and regularly works with other agencies including Amberley Parish Council, Horsham District Council, West Sussex County Council, the South Downs National Park Authority, the Environment Agency and Natural England.
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Our membership of the South Downs Network has enabled a wide range of partnerships with organisations such as CPRE, the South Downs Society, Sussex Wildlife Trust, RSPB, National Trust and the Ramblers Association. For details of the community issues that the Society have worked on see Campaigns and Projects.
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Recently Greener Amberley has become part of Amberley Society, which will be mutually beneficial for both groups.
The new Amberley Society constitution can be found on the Amberley Society pages - we have applied for charitable status
The Amberley Society has digitised the film produced in 1977 in support of its successful campaign of that year to conserve the Amberley Wildbrooks - to see the film , press here
Amberley Society Campaigns
The Society has represented the community’s interests in a number of campaigns to maintain the character and sustainability of the local environment. The most significant campaign was to save the Amberley Wildbrooks from a proposal to institute a drainage scheme that would have significantly affected the wetlands. This proposal was originally put forward in 1977 and led to the Society formation.
AMBERLEY WILDBROOKS
In response to Southern Water's intention to unsitute a drainage scheme on Amberley Wildbrooks in 1977, local residents formed the Amberley Society to save this special environment as wetlands. The Society worked alongside a team of nature conservation organisations to identify the endangered plants, invertebrates and birds in this unique habitat. Funding for the pump drainage scheme was refused as a result of the campaign, and this landmark decision also halted other wetlands drainage plans throughout the UK.
THE GURKHA BRIDGE
The original bridge had been damaged when an old oak tree fell on to it. The 70 Gurkha Field Support Squadron of 36 Regiment stepped in after consultation with West Sussex County Council and the Amberley Society.
SAVING THE VILLAGE PUB
FOOTPATH RAILWAY CROSSING SAFETY CAMPAIGN
Amberley Society enlisted intervention of the Office of Rail and Road for improvements to achieve a safer surface to the Amberley footpath railway crossing. Following a 20 month campaign by the Society, Network Rail carried out these improvements in June 2022.
Our Committee
Jeff Feakins - co-chair
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Ian Galbraith - co-chair
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Catherine Cunningham
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Grahame Joseph
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Pam Keble
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Tim Simpson
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Joe Thompson
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Mike Toynbee
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​Fraser Wheeler
The Amberley Society Committee, 2026
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Jeff has lived in Amberley for 30 years. He retired in 2012, following a career in IT and programme management, latterly with roles as IT Director with Aviva and as IT Programme Director and Head of IT Strategy with Zurich Financial Services.
Jeff has been involved in a number of activities in the village since his retirement:
- He chaired the Black Horse Action Group for nearly 3 years
- He was a school governor for 6 years
- He was on the ACTnow church tower fund committee
- He is a trustee of The Malawi Schools Project
- He was a member of the Amberley Covid Hub team
- He is a trustee of the Amberley Parish Trust
- He is a Director of Amberley Shop Properties Ltd
- He established and jointly maintains the Amberley Society Website with Catherine Cunningham
Jeff Feakins, Co-Chair
Ian Galbraith, Co-Chair
Born and brought up in the Scottish Borders, Ian studied Physics at Edinburgh University and did his PhD research at the University of Glasgow. He worked in IT for most of his career, becoming heavily involved in document digitisation, he founded and ran Europe's first specialised document scanning bureau. Latterly, he set up and ran a genealogy website, initially to provide online access to Scotland's official birth, marriage and death records, and subsequently specialising in English and Irish records, working with major archives and record societies.
Having lived in Greater London for forty years, he and Valerie moved to Amberley with some trepidation in 2010, but this was the best move they ever made and Amberley has become home.
Ian was a member of The Black Horse Action Group, which fought for six years, successfully, to get The Black Horse pub re-opened. He and Valerie led the ACTnow campaign, which raised nearly a quarter of a million pounds for repairs to the church tower. Ian wrote the guide to St Michael's Church, which is available on the church website. He is a trustee of the Frank Montague Pepper Bequest Trust.
Tim Simpson
Tim and his wife, Rosalind, First settled in Amberley in 1982, and after a short spell in West Chiltington, returned to Amberely in 2008. From his family base in the village, Tim has worked in a succession of technology businesses, most recently as head of a Cambridge startup developing graphics software for mobile phones. Outside work, Tim has enjoyed ski mountaineering, the occasional triathlon and several long-distance walks, including The South Downs Way.
Joe Thompson
Joe has lived nearly all his life within sight of the South Downs and has been an Amberley resident since 2004. His work over the last four decades has been concerned with the conservation of historic buildings, either as a practitioner, teacher or consultant. He is keen to promote the understanding of Amberley's built heritage and its history, both for the present and for the future.
Michael Toynbee
A career journalist, Mike has gone full circle, having started work on the smallest of local newspapers, the Esher News, and now editing the Wildbrooks Parish Magazine. In between, he has edited TTG, a weekly travel trade publication, Executive Travel, a monthly magazine for frequent travellers, and BBT, a monthly for business travel buyers and managers, making him one of the industry's most experienced and longest serving editors.
He has lived in Amberley since 1985, first as a weekender, and on a permanent basis from 1997.
He served as chairman of The Amberley Society from 1999 until 2007.
Catherine Cunningham
Catherine did a degree in Modern Languages at University College, Oxford. She then worked in merchandising for Jaeger in London, before moving to Australia (Melbourne and Brisbane) with her husband, Peter, and having two children. They returned to the UK in 2001 and lived in Surrey, where Catherine worked in special needs education. She volunteered for the East Surrey British Heart Foundation for 11 years, chairing the committee for 5 years. Catherine and Peter bought their Amberley home in 2014. Catherine jointly maintains the Amberley Society website with Jeff Feakins. She was a member of the Amberley Covid Hub team and is a trustee of The Malawi Schools Project. She is part of the Greener Amberley Management Team and is also one of the Hallraisers team raising funds to refurbish the church hall.
Fraser Wheeler
As a career diplomat, Fraser spent much of his time working overseas. Highlights included helping manage British interests in Russia, following the demise of the Soviet Union; running the civilian operation in southern Iraq in 2006/7, in close cooperation with the British Army, following the fall of Saddam Hussein; developing an innovative, low carbon development strategy for Guyana, based on the retention of its forest; and a challenging kidnapping by armed assailants in West Africa.
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Following early retirement as High Commissioner and Ambassador in 2010, Fraser continued a long held interest in environmental issues, with a number of international consultancies, including in low carbon technology. He retains a temporary role with the Foreign Office. On the voluntary side, he created and leads Greener Amberley, is a trustee for Amberley Welfare Trust, and has been a Parish Councillor. Wider interests include extensive travel and hiking.
