Meet our staff - Debbie Chalmers

Emma Chaplin
, 09 November 2020
Meet our staff - Debbie Chalmers
Debbie Chalmers © Emma Chaplin

We speak to Debbie Chalmers, Membership Development Manager, about her role at Sussex Wildlife Trust

Give us a potted version of what being Membership Development Manager involves

In a nutshell I’m responsible for income generation from members and legacies, recruiting new members, retaining current ones. Putting on membership events in normal times. Encouraging members to consider giving in ways other than their membership.

I do this supported by an amazing team.

When did you begin in this post?

In July 2014. I’ve been here six and a half years.

What did you do before?

I was at the National Trust, Kew Gardens and various other charities. Getting the job at Sussex Wildlife Trust was going back to my conservation roots. It was lovely to find a Sussex-based role so close to home.

What do you love about your job?

I love how it combines data, numbers and planning in combination with working with people, and it has some elements of creativity too.

What have the key challenges for you and your team been during the Covid crisis?

The challenges have been huge. If you’d have told me we’d run it all from home I’d have said it was impossible. Yet, thanks to the support of the trust’s IT team, we quickly changed the way we worked, so most things, including membership renewal could be done online. Most people have been fine to correspond by email. Once lockdown eased a little, the team started to go in once a week to deal with post. The new routine suited us all well, although with the new lockdown, things have changed again of course.

We do miss membership events though. We’d normally do over 50 per year for our members. Walk, talks and receptions. We’re hoping to pilot a return to the Woods Mill Wander as soon as we can. We hope to get back in a small way by next spring as well as putting on some online events.

Michael Blencowe, Tamara Jewell, James Duncan, Sam Roberts and others have been making some great videos to keep people engaged with nature.

We’ve been astounded by how supportive members have been. Some spontaneously increasing membership. 

What do you get most satisfaction from in your role?

Growth in membership over the years – and the engagement we get. People tell us they get a lot out of it.

And we have such knowledgeable colleagues, in term of wildlife. I learn something new from them every day.

What’s coming up for you now?

It's the 60th anniversary of the trust in 2021. We are thinking of ways that we can celebrate with our members. Some members have been with us since we started.

What’s your favourite species?

The Hummingbird Hawk-moth. I’ve only ever seen one.

Hummingbird hawkmoth©Barry YatesSussex Wildlife Trust

Photo © Barry Yates

How has lockdown been for your baking?

Well a bit bad really, because I mostly like cooking for other people, and lockdown has meant sometimes my husband and I end up eating rather too much of it between us!

Is there anything you’d like to say to members?

Thank you all so much for supporting us.

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1783131212.57340 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1783131212.60790.0345Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1783131212.60810.0002Server address: 216.73.217.177
1783131212.60820Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1783131212.60820Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/meet-our-staff-debbie-chalmers
    [s] => meet-our-staff-debbie-chalmers
    [1] => meet-our-staff-debbie-chalmers
)
1783131212.60850.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783131212.60980.0013 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1783131212.6120.0022 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1783131212.61280.0008INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1783131212.61520.0025 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22593830
1783131212.61590.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22593830
1783131212.61670.0007 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-04 02:13:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-04 02:13:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1783131212.61820.0015 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='meet-our-staff-debbie-chalmers')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-04 02:13:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1783131212.62090.0027 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783131212.62150.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=2366 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-04 02:13:00'
1783131212.62230.0008 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1783131212.62320.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1783131212.6240.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=195 LIMIT 1
1783131212.62480.0008Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783131212.6250.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1783131212.62590.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-04 02:13:00' AND postSlug='meet-our-staff-debbie-chalmers'
1783131212.64780.0219Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783131212.64840.0006 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1783131212.65020.0018Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1783131212.65060.0004 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1783131212.65170.0011 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1783131212.65280.0012 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783131212.65590.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783131212.65660.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783131212.65940.0028Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1783131212.65950.0001 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783131212.66040.0009 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783131212.6610.0006 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783131212.66390.0028 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783131212.6650.0011 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783131212.66570.0008 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783131212.66880.003 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783131212.66950.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1783131212.67350.004 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1783131212.67410.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783131212.67440.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1783131212.67540.001Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1783131212.67590.0005 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='meet-our-staff-debbie-chalmers')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-04 02:13:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1783131212.67810.0021 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783131212.67870.0006 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783131212.68180.0032Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1783131212.68310.0013 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=2366 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1783131212.73470.0516 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1783131212.73490.0002Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783131212.73530.0004 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='20' LIMIT 1
1783131212.73610.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1783131212.73680.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1783131212.73740.0006 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783131212.73950.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783131212.73990.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783131212.74180.0018 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783131212.74270.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783131212.74320.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783131212.74360.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783131212.7460.0024 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783131212.74670.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783131212.74860.002 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783131212.75220.0035 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1783131212.75290.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1783131212.75350.0005 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783131212.75590.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783131212.75640.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783131212.75830.0018 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783131212.76120.0029 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783131212.7620.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783131212.76250.0005 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783131212.76460.0021 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783131212.76510.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783131212.76710.002 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783131212.76850.0014Request time: 0.1979
1783131212.76850Process time: 0.1977
1783131212.76850Memory: 1.6255