Our history
2011
Founded
A focus on Nature concept founded at BirdFair
2012
Initial Stages
In order to help Lucy’s career in nature conservation to progress, Opticron donated a pair of Discovery 8×32 Binoculars, retailing at £160. As a younger voice in the conservation world, Opticron felt that her passion and commitment should be encouraged, and as a student, it was clear that a good pair of binoculars were out of her price range. Along with Lucy and Pete, Dr Rob Lambert and Stephen Moss recognised the need to promote conservation to the next generation of naturalists and were instrumental in getting the project off the ground. AFON was created off the back of that successful Opticron initiative to encourage the next generation of naturalists, and has been doing so ever since.
2012
Set Up
AFON was founded by a group of very passionate individuals, dedicated to promoting nature conservation to the younger generations. The four founders were environmental historian and nature writer Lucy McRobert; multi-disciplinary academic, birder and broadcaster Dr Rob Lambert; television producer, broadcaster, author and naturalist Stephen Moss; and Pete Gamby, representative of the British optical company Opticron
From L to R: Pete Gamby; Rob Lambert; Stephen Moss; Lucy McRobert
2017
The introduction of our regional rep scheme has allowed our message to spread, alongside the development of national and international partnerships.