This week, This is Haslemere had the absolute pleasure of spending an hour in the company of Ren Baird. Ren had come to our attention as she was recently the youngest ever recipient of a Haslemere Volunteer award. Just 15 years old and a student at Bohunt School, Ren was nominated for her long-standing volunteering contribution to various COPSE events including the Wassail evening and the River Wey Trust water testing.  More recently, Ren has also signed up to a scheme at Bohunt School, volunteering her time to help younger children with their reading.

Ren has been volunteering since a young age - she has been performing music at the Wassail for four years now and has no intention of stopping anytime soon! She is certainly a talented teen. Ren writes her own songs and performs these for others to enjoy. She describes her style as a mix of Indie, Country and Folk. Growing up, R.E.M. were a huge influence on her but now her music tastes are incredibly broad. She loves listening to a host of different sounds.

Ren’s passion for music oozes out of her when she talks. Her parents joke that ‘Ren could sing before she could talk!’ 

This love of music definitely has roots within her family. It almost feels like it’s part of her DNA. Both her grandfathers loved music and her father plays the banjo and piano. Ren describes regular family jam sessions in her household with her dad on banjo or keyboards, her cousin on drums and bass, her sister on the ukulele and herself on guitar and vocals… whilst her mum gets to listen in the audience.

Second to Ren’s passion for music is her passion for nature and the outdoor world. Ren’s song-writing is heavily influenced by the rural scenery that surrounds the town. Her family have always had an allotment locally and she loves the opportunity that this gives them to grow produce and to have that quiet, peaceful time in nature.

We weren’t surprised when she told us she was a keen scout and she loves the opportunity that gives her to enjoy wild camping. It’s this love for nature that led her to volunteer for the River Wey Trust. This monthly commitment sees Ren down in Liphook taking water samples, primarily to measure the amount of E.coli in the rivers. The data she and others collect, feeds into a bigger picture to monitor the health of our water systems. 

It’s clear that her volunteering work supporting environmental groups will continue long into the future. She is already planning to be an advocate for the natural world in adulthood. And she sees a way that music can engage society in a shared appreciation of the beauty around us. ‘Music resonates with everyone,’ she told us.

Asked why she gives so freely of her time to help others, she said, ‘There is a thrill you get when you give back to the community. It’s better than sitting in and spending time on your phone. And you get to meet so many new people.’ She does acknowledge that many of those she volunteers with are quite a bit older. But she spoke wonderfully about how that allowed people to ‘hand over their volunteering legacy to you’, creating a ‘timeline of people who have volunteered to help others.’ She also sees it, in part, as a ‘duty’ to give back to the community in which she lives.

She encourages people to find the thing that they can be passionate about. She certainly has a very wise head on her young shoulders. ‘You only need to do 1 or 2 things but, if you are passionate about them, you will do them with a lot of heart. Small things can make a big difference.’ We couldn’t agree more.

Ren clearly has a bigger passion for society and ‘how people work.’ Born and raised in Haslemere, she has plenty of affection for the town and the community here, hence her desire to already give back at such a young age.

Ren is a remarkable young lady and a credit to her family, her school and the wider Haslemere community. Her parents are certainly very proud of her. Her father, Colin, told us, 'A lot of the kids in town have known each other from nursery days and it's great that we have a new generation coming through that are so talented and kind.' Interestingly, he credits the older generation for leading the way and setting the example. 'Credit to all the wonderful local people who have shown them the way just by doing things and making things - a tiny example: Ren writes out her lyrics on her grandfather's old typewriter that was restored with the assistance of the folk at the Repair Cafe in the Swan. Countless little things like that really make this a great place for them to grow up.'

We were so inspired just by our hour-long chat and will certainly be keeping an eye on what Ren does next - we are sure she will go on to achieve great things in life.

If you would like to listen to Ren’s musical work, head to her Instagram page. Or watch out for her at ASK on Sunday 26 April when she and other young performers will be competing as part of Debut for a chance to perform at the Haslemere Fringe this Summer. Whether she is successful or not, Ren plans to be performing in the Music Works tent again at the Fringe so we will definitely have the opportunity to enjoy her music then.

Thank you Ren for your time! We loved meeting you!