Sinead is the Site Manager at Sizergh, with over 30 years’ experience of working in the voluntary and public sectors in Cumbria, London & New Zealand. She has managed a number of projects and run an accessible outdoor activity centre in London. Sinead supports the staff team and is responsible for the day to day running of activities at Sizergh.
Rebecca joined Growing Well in 2023 and supports with our fundraising. She works closely with our site teams to build relationships with local businesses and other supporting partners. She has over 28 years experience of working in the health sector initially as a pharmacist and more recently in service development, change management and customer service roles in the private sector.
Having joined Growing Well as a core volunteer, Sarah supports volunteers with their wellbeing, setting goals and monitoring their progress. Sarah has a military background and significant management experience.
Sharon manages all of the office requirements of the charity and is one of the first faces people will see at Growing Well. She supports volunteers throughout their journey here, on a practical and administrative level.
Simon has worked at Growing Well for almost five years, having previously worked as a Grower for a local two Michelin-starred restaurant. He began his work here on a commercial salad project and his role has developed into a wider commercial growing one. He also runs the volunteer field activity one day per week.
Mark is a Therapeutic Grower based at Sizergh. He has worked at sustainable agriculture projects around the world and was previously growing high end, organic vegetables for London restaurants and veg box schemes down in Sussex. Mark also photographs and documents our work on social media.
Meilyn started at Growing Well in 2021 as a part-time seasonal grower, before becoming our Therapeutic Caterer. Meilyn has now returned to the field as a Therapeutic Grower. She has a background in compliance of disability services and holds the RHS Level 2 in Principles of Horticulture.
The team at Growing Well Tebay Services
Lorri is the Manager at Tebay and is passionate about helping people. She has significant charity management experience. Lorri supports the staff team and is responsible for the day to day running of our mental health intervention and our commercial activities at Tebay.
Kate oversees the office and administration needs of our Tebay site and is the first point of contact for those wanting to volunteer with us. Kate has worked in the arts and cultural sector in Cumbria for over 20 years, managing both adult learning programmes and creative projects with young people and their communities.
We have recently recruited Fiona to this position and are delighted that she will be joining the team at Growing Well at Tebay Services - further information will follow soon.
Fiona has recently joined the team as a Therapeutic Grower and will be working alongside volunteers both at Sizergh and the new Tebay site. She previously worked as a youth and community worker in East London for over 10 years before taking the decision to retrain in horticulture and comes to us from an organic farm in Northumberland where she grew veg for a box scheme and farm shop.
Dan started volunteering at Growing Well in 2021 and has since gone on to establish two organic kitchen gardens growing for Michelin Starred restaurants in Cumbria. His previous background in community projects and inclusive groups along with environmental charity roles.
The Growing Well West Cumbria team
Emanuel is from the Netherlands and is a Chartered Horticulturist with experience in Arboriculture, Landscaping, Green Spaces, Cemeteries and Contract Management in the public and private sector. He is an expert project manager and will leading the development phase of our West Cumbria project at Beck Green, Egremont.
Hannah has recently joined the team at Growing Well in West Cumbria - further profile information to follow shortly.
Rachel is a qualified teacher and has hands-on experience of developing market gardens for community access and use. She is experienced in group dynamics and coordinating volunteers in horticultural learning activity.
Rachel has recently joined the team at Growing Well in West Cumbria - further profile information to follow shortly.
Mike is an experienced retail manager with excellent interpersonal skills. He is a skilled photographer and is motivated by supporting others and helping them grow.
Angela has recently joined the team at Growing Well in West Cumbria - further profile information to follow shortly.
Central team at Growing Well
Mary leads Growing Well and works to strengthen the organisation and make it more sustainable, with the support of the in-house staff team and the guidance of our Board of Trustees. Her background is in rural and food development and 2018 she won a Churchill Fellowship to study international best practice in therapeutic farming.
Paul joined us in 2020 in a new role to maximise sustainable income from our organic growing enterprise. Paul is from New Orleans and has worked and studied in the US, Canada and China. He has a Masters in sustainable agriculture and was previously Head Grower for a local two Michelin-starred restaurant.
Cat is a qualified accountant with many years of experience of working in charity finance and resource management. She works alongside the senior leadership team members and our Board of Trustees to create Growing Well’s financial strategy and develop and maintain our internal control policies and procedures. Cat oversees all our day to day accounting operations and provides financial reporting, forecasting and advice to enable the charity to visualise and achieve its aims and objectives.
Board of Trustees
Jim joined Growing Well as Chair in 2022. Jim started his career in corporate finance with Schroders from 1992-2002 in London and Paris. Latterly he has supported a number of businesses in retail and e-commerce as Chair including Feelunique, Seraphine and In The Style. He currently chairs The Cotswold Company and In The Style and is a board member of two other public companies.
Stewart retired in June 2021 after a 40+ year career where he led major business transformation and change management initiatives for Central and Local Government, Finance, Pensions, Rail and Nuclear. Stewart led Capita plc’s (FTSE 100) engagement with the Cumbrian nuclear industry, forming senior relationships with leading organisations and local political stakeholders whilst advising Capita plc on their partnership approach in the sector.
Simon joined our board in 2018 and has supported Growing Well through a significant period of change and development. Simon has a food and retail background, having worked for Riverford, John Lewis and Booths. He is now a private chef and lives locally, supporting our sites and staff with practical, operational and commercial expertise.
Helen is an experienced Development Manager at an established Cumbrian charity, with decades of experience in charity income generation and meaningful, positive engagement with all stakeholder groups. Helen heads up our Fundraising working group.
Tessa joined the board of trustees in 2022. She has significant experience in delivering support for those struggling with their mental health. She works locally as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the NHS.
Our Community Volunteers
Our staff are supported by a dedicated team of people who volunteer their time, skills and life experience to support our work.
It’s important to our beneficiaries or participants who join our mental health support programmes, and to us, that they are termed ‘Volunteers’ at Growing Well. We never call our beneficiaries ‘clients’ or ‘service users’.
Our ‘Support Volunteers’ work within our field and catering activities, alongside our Volunteer beneficiaries. They either support individuals, or the group as a whole, to carry out tasks and activities. All have Mental Heath First Aid training and safeguarding training.
Our ‘Community Volunteers’ donate their time and skills on the farm, on our unsupported community days (currently Fridays).