Hayley Frances
she/her
Hayley joined the CoLab Dudley team in autumn 2025, when she was embarking on an exploration of the Nature of Community with people living in Dudley borough. Hayley was invited to bring her work into relationship with Understory, spending time with Understory partners from Watchet, Minehead and Derbyshire, as well as the CoLab Dudley team. Once entangled in this collaboration Hayley began cultivating a practice of geopoetry, an approach which explores the relationship between places, landscapes, and human experience.
In 2026 Hayley is bringing this practice into our work as a Regenerative Futures Storyteller, rooted in her inhabitance of Dudley and informed by her participation in our Bioregional Learning Network.
Role cards currently held by Hayley
- Regenerative Futures Storyteller
Hayley's CoLab Dudley role is around 2 days per month.
In relationship with place: Wrens Nest Nature Reserve
Hayley discovered the nature reserve when she moved to Dudley. She writes...
Wrens Nest. The Wrenna'. Wrosne. What surprised me about this place is how surprising it is: a small sub tropical limestone valley in the middle of suburban Dudley? It feels unbelievable and magic because it's true. I found the Ash tree's magnetic. They have a frivolous yet wise feel to them. Rooted right in the base of the rock trenches, they soar into the sky with thick trunks, up past the ripple beds and steep quarry rock faces. Their size leave me awe-stricken. This spot is what orientated me to the Black Country. Though I've lived down the road in Birmingham all my life, I had never heard of there. The ecological landscape is shifting significantly, and I'm learning how finite life is, how to pause, play and practice what brings peace and frivolity to life. I return with a clarity of mind, and an inner sense of joy whenever I go. Though the Ash decline is significant, and the place has changed dramatically in the last two years, I still feel a lot of hope for the future. I get the sense that they are not dying, but responding to changing times. I see the species as migrating, transitioning from one era of time to the next, and to witness that is a real privilege.