KINDLING - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• John Lewis Partnership As a Democracy Coach

Abi has worked with the John Lewis Partnership as a Democracy Coach for 9 years, working on membership engagement and democratic governance. She has extensive HR experience particularly in management training and employee rights, as well as employee wellbeing. Abi is also a member of the Employee Ownership Association, who are currently working in partnership with Coops UK on #1millionowners. Abi spent 6 months on secondment with us at Kindling, helping with the development of our Kindling Farm project, particularly looking at our Community Shares Campaign. As a result, Abi has an in-depth knowledge of the Kindling Farm rules, business plan, membership offer and shares campaign plan, which makes her a perfect fit as one of our Directors! Bio: Abi is also familiar with Kindling's fundraising process and procedure having worked on funding bids and communication materials as part of her work on the Kindling Farm. Abi has had an interest in Organic Farming for a number of years, having researched what can be learned from Iron Age Farming practices today as part of her Anthropology & Archaeology Dissertation. She might be a bit rusty on the detail of her research now, but she hasn't lost her enthusiasm for organic farming and is excited to be part of making Kindling's vision a reality.

Job Titles:

• Manchester Veg People & Veg Box People Co - Op Worker
• Team Member

Job Titles:

• Office Manager

Amy is super friendly, ultra organised and passionate about social justice.

Job Titles:

• Team Member
• Veg Box People and Manchester Veg People Co - Op Member

Job Titles:

• Co - Founder
• Co - Ordinator

Chris is an accomplished social entrepreneur and has helped establish two of Manchester's biggest and best-loved social enterprises; Bridge 5 Mill eco-centre (along with co-founder Helen) and Fairfield Environment Services. He then went on to co-found Kindling in 2007, when "a group of like-minded people came together to explore solutions to our increasingly industrialised food system and the health and economic inequities it produces." Chris also sits on the working groups for the Enlightened Agriculture Fund and Sustain's Waste Management Social Enterprise group, and was a Trustee of the Real Farming Trust. He is a director of Bridge 5 Mill and is a Trustee of the Fairfield Environment Trust, which supports organisations making Greater Manchester greener, healthier and more equitable. Bio: Day to day, Chris works closely with Helen to co-ordinate Kindling's many projects, as well as preparing for the purchase of the Kindling Farm. He puts his practical skills to use at the ever-evolving Woodbank Community Food Hub, whether planting crops or designing and crafting new pieces of infrastructure. Having been instrumental in its establishment as a Kindling enterprise, Chris is also an active worker-member of Veg Box People. Pre-Kindling, Chris co-founded Kindling's current home - Bridge 5 Mill eco-centre, as well as Fairfield Environment Services, which annually diverts around 6,000 tonnes of food waste away from landfill. He continues to serve The Mill as a director and is also a trustee of the Fairfield Environment Trust, which supports organisations making Greater Manchester greener, healthier and more equitable. Chris comes from a long line of farm labourers and was the first member of his family to attend University. He studied Physics, which has equipped him with a scientific rigour that helps distinguish between fact and fiction! His biggest frustration is watching our city's leaders move from one excuse to another when it comes to their inaction on climate change and food inequality. "Their dogmatic belief that economic growth and global inward investment will solve these two ingrained problems is a challenge to organisations like ours". Chris shares his many capabilities with others in the sector, sitting on working groups for the Enlightened Agriculture Fund and Sustain's Waste Management Social Enterprise group. In 2013 Kindling generously loaned him to Australia's Open Food Network, where he spent five hot weeks sharing his knowledge of some of Greater Manchester's pioneering co-operative food solutions.

Debs divides her time between Kindling and Manchester's Unicorn Grocery, the worker co-operative where she has been a member and director since 2004. There she oversees the organisation's communications, community engagement & marketing output, as well as working daily on the shop floor. Debs brings to Kindling "a passion and belief in the power of co-operation, particularly when it comes to our food supply", and has gained an international perspective on the subject, spending three months with food co-ops in North America as part of her Winston Churchill Fellowship. debs@kindling.org.uk More on Debbie

Emily brings vast experience from a different sector to Kindling, having worked for nearly twenty years in the NHS, fifteen of those as a GP in East London. She has extensive experience of working within disadvantaged and deprived communities, has taught refugee doctors preparing them for exams to enable them to work in the UK and has worked with torture survivors at Freedom from Torture. She has completed an MSc in Global Public Health and Policy with a focus on health and climate change, worked for The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare as the clinical programme's deputy director, and is currently a practicing GP.

Helen is passionate about food growing and creating environments that inspire and support positive learning experiences. She has over 20 years' of growing experience, gained through juggling a myriad of roles; from running courses and training, setting up community growing spaces with The Federation of City Farms and Gardens and managing an Eco Centre.

Job Titles:

• Co - Founder
• Co - Ordinator
• Team

Helen co-founded Kindling in 2007 from a background in grassroots environmental and community activism. She was instrumental in raising £4 million to develop and eco-refit Bridge 5 Mill, a 150 year-old former Silk Mill that Kindling now calls home. For Helen, Kindling is another crucial way to tackle "the unjust and damaging nature of the current system". Something she did in spades whilst accompanying human rights defenders during her year with the Peace Brigades International; for which she was jointly awarded the International Service Human Rights Award for Women.

Job Titles:

• Communications Officer

With a longstanding interest in the environment, Luke decided to combine his personal and professional interests by joining us as our Communications Officer. Passionate about playing his part to help in the face of the climate emergency, Luke aims to spread the word when it comes to the wonderful work being done by all the staff and volunteers that make up The Kindling Trust. Luke's professional background is largely in marketing and communications; having made a conscious, concerted effort to step away from the private sector back in 2018 - despite not having another job lined up at the time! - he followed up this experience by volunteering with a small youth charity in the North West. Several months later, he began working for a social care provider in Stockport before taking on a role with a charity offering a social action programme to young people in secondary schools. Bio: Luke ascribes his interest in the environment to his strong interest in politics and current affairs, which he in turn puts down to the particularly volatile political climate of the past several years. From developing a keener eye for what was happening in the world more widely, Luke started to believe that the number one priority for those in power should be taking care of our planet. As such, after working within the charity and non-profit sector, Luke found himself drawn towards The Kindling Trust where he felt he could take on a truly fulfilling role that combines his personal beliefs with his professional life

An Environmental Conservation graduate, Alexx joined the VBP team after spending most of his working life selling wine and beer to the good people of South Manchester, the place he grew up in and still calls home. After opening and then running an independent wine shop in Chorlton it was time for a change, and a lifetime spent digging on allotments and a passion for good, well-sourced food led him to us. Having followed the progress of the Kindling Trust over the last 10 years, Alexx is excited to be involved with an organisation he believes is making a valuable and positive impact on the city he loves, but also contributing to a much wider cause.

Amy gets stuck in with the various day to day tasks involved with running Veg Box People, and also writes the weekly newsletter and tries out new recipes to include in them - look out for the Middle Eastern dishes - her fave cuisine. She loves 'providing people with an opportunity to buy their veg directly from the producers in a way that is local, sustainable and fairly priced' and finds inspiration from the fact that so much of it is freshly picked and locally grown.

Job Titles:

• Community Programme Coordinator

Naomi comes from a community arts engagement background but has since steered her engagement work to being around nature and the environment and has worked for the RSPB and Cheshire Wildlife Trust in the last 3 years. She has a passion for making accessible opportunities to connect with nature, the environment, and sustainable food. Naomi is a self proclaimed nature nerd and you will often find her staring up at a tree or building trying to identify the tiny bird, or down on the floor at a funny angle trying to get a good picture of yet another mushroom. She lives in Stockport and in her spare time enjoys hiking and wild swimming in the peaks with her family dog, spending time with her 3 year old niece, cooking and baking delicious, elaborate meals, and tending to her Edgeley ‘Yarden'!

Job Titles:

• Veg Box People Worker

Solvi started off as a Land Army volunteer back in 2018, and became a regular during the pandemic. Coming from a trade union and cooperative background, she's always been motivated by finding collective solutions to big problems. Recognising the scale of the ecological crisis, and the work needed to confront it, she turned her attention to the food system. She's been part of the Green New Deal and National Food Service campaigns, and believes strongly that fostering community resilience is vital for building a more just and ecologically viable society. Solvi is also a co-founder of Myco: Manchester Mushroom Cooperative, which is seeking to make organic oyster and shiitake mushrooms accessible to people in the same way that the Veg Bag scheme has done for fruit and veg.

Stu has worked in the organic food and farming sector for over 14 years and is currently a grocer at Unicorn Workers Co-op. He has been a grocer for 12 years and spent 8 years in organic horticulture, getting his hands dirty and growing delicious veg! He also spent 2 years developing and working on an organic mixed farm as part of Unicorn Grocery, Moss Brook Growers and Marton Villa Farm respectively. Stu has a HNC in Organic Horticulture from the Welsh College of Horticulture. He has lots of experience with producing, growing and selling organic veg that he will be putting to good use as Kindling Farm Director and helping with Kindling's future farm plans. stuart@unicorn-grocery.co.uk More on Stuart