‘I promised I would protect Farnham’s wildlife’: How a woman from South Korea became a conservation champion

When her beloved three-legged rescue cat Socks was dying, Myung-Hye Chun made him a promise to devote herself to protecting Farnham’s wildlife.

It was a promise born out of grief, but one that would eventually see a woman who arrived from South Korea barely able to speak English become one of Farnham’s most dedicated conservationists.

Today, Myung-Hye helps care for the natural world around Wrecclesham, from restoring a historic churchyard and recording local species to rescuing toads on dark country roads.

But her unlikely journey began when she arrived in Farnham from Seoul in March 2000 to study, with ambitions of eventually pursuing a career in academia.

Her first interaction was with a woman from an English language course who collected her from the airport. Myung-Hye knew how to answer just one question: “How are you?”

“Fine, thank you,” was her rehearsed response – and luckily it was all the woman asked.

Within weeks, however, an encounter with an elderly couple and their ten cats began to change the course of her life.

“I met an elderly couple who I lived together and they had 10 cats. And that changed my life,” she recalls. “I think they sealed my fate.”

Jill and Gordon Hartman welcomed Myung-Hye into their home after she struggled with a difficult landlady.

Gordon, a biochemistry lecturer, became what she describes as her “father figure”, while the couple affectionately called her their “Korean daughter”.

Farnham offered her something else, too: a sense of peace and belonging.

“I always wanted to live in peace, which Farnham gave me,” she says.

After Gordon died suddenly, Myung-Hye cared for Socks, a three-legged rescue cat, and Edmund Mee, Gordon’s friend and former housemate, who had Asperger’s and had also experienced profound loneliness.

Despite their different species, ages and nationalities, the unlikely trio became, in her words, “an alternative family”.

The deaths of Socks and Edmund devastated Myung-Hye.

But before Socks died, she made him a promise to look after the wildlife of the place that had become their home.

“The point of starting volunteer work, devoted volunteer work, was my grief. Overwhelming grief,” she says.

She began volunteering with animal rescues before becoming increasingly involved in conservation.

Among the projects closest to her heart is the Boundary Road Toad Patrol, where volunteers help toads, frogs and newts safely cross the road on their journey to breeding ponds.

For Myung-Hye, it became as much about helping people as protecting wildlife.

“The toad watch has become very well known but it started with Lisa, myself and Noel at a time when we were all going through hard times. Noel had just lost his wife, and together late at night we used to walk up and down Boundary Road rescuing toads.”

Her passion for nature eventually led her to help establish Wrecclesham Conservation Group, which works to restore local green spaces, record wildlife and encourage people of all ages to become involved with nature.

One of its focuses has been St Peter’s Churchyard in Wrecclesham, where volunteers have worked to restore habitat and create a haven for wildlife.

Myung-Hye’s relationship with Farnham has not always been easy.

She has spoken publicly about suffering racial abuse over a number of years and a violent attack, experiences she says have left lasting memories.

But she has also stressed the kindness she has received from people in the town and her belief that most people are good and decent.

She does not want those experiences to define her. Instead, she wants to be remembered for her love of animals and nature and for the work she has done for her community.

“As an immigrant, I have been very lucky not to experience a lot of discrimination, but over the last few years I have faced a lot. For me, in my personal experience when I have gone through this abuse, nothing helps me as much as nature did,” she says.

Rather than driving her away from the place she has made her home, those experiences have strengthened her determination to continue her work.

Churchyards have become particularly important to her. Among the gravestones, she sees reminders of generations of people who experienced their own grief and hardship.

“There were always people who suffered,” she says. “But the thing is that life continued, nevertheless, and nature is always there.”

That belief now shapes what she wants Wrecclesham Conservation Group to offer.

As well as protecting wildlife, she hopes its activities can provide companionship and purpose for people who are lonely, vulnerable or going through difficult periods in their own lives.

Much of what she does, she says, is also a continuation of the work of Dr Martin Angel, whom she credits with helping to shape and nurture her vision for wildlife conservation in Wrecclesham.

“Everything I do is his legacy he supported me when I had the idea of making a Wrecclesham Conservation Group.”

And Myung-Hye has no intention of stopping.

Her plans include producing a calendar to raise money for St Peter’s Church, publishing a journal about the conservation group and creating a children’s nature book.

More than 26 years after arriving in Farnham knowing little more English than how to answer “How are you?”, Myung-Hye has made the town her home.

And from rescuing toads to restoring habitats and encouraging a new generation to appreciate the natural world, she is continuing to fulfil the promise she made to Socks.