Nina Lovelace is based in Hackney, Stoke Newington. She has been a Ranger since spring 2024. Nina’s focus is running Urban Forest School in primary schools across London, but mainly in Hackney. She is also a student medical herbalist, and also runs Adult Forest School and herbal sessions for groups and corporates.
Q1
what inspired you to become a ranger?
A fellow Forest School Leader, Paula, is a ranger and suggested that it was a fabulous network to join. I work in several schools across London, which I actively re-nature to make them more suitable for Urban Forest School as part of my CIC’s social purpose. Urban Forest School is an adapted type of Forest School suited for areas with limited ‘natural’ space such as woodland, to help urban kids with limited access to nature to develop a lifelong nature connection. I have found this work is a lot easier if you have some great experts available for advice, for example people who can help create ponds, planters, sensory pathways and more.
Q2
How are you making London greener, healthier, and wilder?
Every year I usually focus on one of two schools to re-nature, for example replacing astroturf with biodiversity gardens, adding habitats and adding in outdoor play facilities to help kids explore nature-related play. In 2024 I’ve working mainly with William Patten School in Stoke Newington, through my CIC Hackney Outdoors.
Q3
What do you think has the single most positive impact of the environmental initiatives you’ve been part of?
So far I think it’s been helping kids who don’t get to visit their local parks that often, to experience more nature and nature-based play on their doorstep, in their school playground. Kids get super excited about the smallest things, and I take a great deal of pleasure in introducing hundreds of kids every year to the wonder of worms, the joy of playing ‘sticky willy’ tag, or the wonderful fragrance of Lemon Balm. I am now working with 430 kids at William Patten this year, thanks to my school renaturing project there.
Q4
What have you gained from being part of the LNPC Community?
I have been able to link up with more people keen to renature playgrounds like me. If we renatured every playground in London we’d make a huge difference to London’s biodiversity, air quality and climate resilience – as well as kids’ mental and physical health.
Q5
Describe your proudest moment as a ranger
I would say helping to reinvigorate the debate within the Ranger community on how Rangers can support schools to renature, as I am part of an early working group looking at how some of us can work together to renature sites and support outdoor education. I am proud however to be already ‘lending’ some of my corporate volunteers to other rangers and friends if they need extra hands to do heavy lifting in schools or outdoor education sites. I have a few companies who work with me to help me deliver my social purpose and who also fund my CIC to do the work I do for schools at no-to-low cost.
Q6
Describe your most challenging moment as a Ranger and how you overcame it
I’d say it’s always tricky to find funding when you are a social purpose led company, and also find skilled people to do work such as woodwork. At William Patten I had a major project to do with limited parents able to help, and also jobs such as building a mud kitchen and dig pit without the skills to do it myself. I managed to sign up two companies to help provide corporate volunteers to solve the first problem who also funded my time to project manage the renaturing, and via the ranger programme found Harry and the gang at the lovely Woodshop of Recycled Delights who have helped me fit a dig pit and a mud kitchen in the school. We’re now exploring how we can bring this to more schools as child-led, nature-based play is a critical part of Urban Forest School.
Q7
What’s next for you as a ranger?
Working with even more rangers others focused on the same purpose as my CIC. It’s not always easy to balance nature and ‘play’ in a playground, as hundreds of small feet don’t always play well with sensitive habitats, but we can make it work even in small spaces, with smart thinking, management and design. I also think there is a growing opportunity and need for this kind of work. At the moment, by 2025, all education settings need to nominate a sustainability lead and develop a Climate Action Plan – many schools need help to plan, create and maintain changes to their sites; specialists like myself can really provide a leg up.
Q8
What continues to motivate you on your Ranger journey?
Bringing some of the wildlife experience I had as a child growing up in the countryside to more urban kids and their families. I love the fact that most of my kids know how to play ‘sticky willy’ with Cleaver ‘weeds’, and can play conker games.
Q9
What has been your most memorable encounter with nature in London?
I am outside most days of the week and have many memorable moments every month, usually when I am with the kids and they discover something. The other day we found a grasshopper for example, which segued into the kids also pretending to be grasshoppers, and soon we were all leaping about the space!
Q10
How can we encourage more people to ‘Do London Differently’?
I think we start with the kids, as if the kids show an interest, they can often influence their parents. Sadly some of us have become detached from nature by the time we’re adults; kids can open our eyes back up to it, for our own mental and physical health as well as theirs. My son often asks to go for a walk in our local Abney Park so we can use the “Merlin” app to listen out for birds.
Q11
It’s 2029…as a community, what do you hope LNPC would have achieved by our 10th anniversary? And what might London look like as a result?
I would hope that as a mission we’d have converted thousands of square metres of astroturf or tarmac school playgrounds into improved spaces for biodiversity and nature-based play.
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