Meet the GREEN GODDESSES

Three inspiring women tell us how they are helping our planet

- KIM WILLIS

‘I’M PLANTING TREES IN MEMORY OF MY BROTHER’

Vhari Russell, 47, lives in Cambridgeshire with her husband Pete, 56, and their daughters Emily, 18, Grace, 15, and Liv, 13. I was fortunate to have an Enid Blyton-style childhood - my sister Jules, brother Rory and I grew up climbing and falling out of trees near our rambling family home in Oxfordshire.

As adults, I'd call Rory my 'big little brother' - four years younger, he towered above me at 6ft 7in. He was a gifted carpenter, and a passionate surfer and windsurfer. He taught my kids to surf and we shared an entrepreneurial spirit. But in October 2018, everything changed for our family when Rory, then 37, tragically died while windsurfing, from sudden adult death syndrome. His heart simply stopped beating. Devastated, I knew I had to do something meaningful to honour his life.

At the same time, I was also witnessing the destruction of the countryside around our village due to the rerouting of the A14 and new housing developments. The peaceful walks I enjoyed with our dog vanished as woodland was torn down. At night we could hear the distressed bleats of displaced deer. It was heartbreaking. In Rory's memory, I decided to plant trees and hedgerows to restore some of the natural habitat we had once taken for granted.