About Us & Client Testimonials >> Meet The Trustees

Knutsford GROW is a charity and is run by a board of unpaid volunter Trustees elected each year at our Annual General Meeting.

We have a Chairman, Secretary,Treasurer and three general Trustees.  The board meets approxiately every two months.  Interested in becomming involved? Click here. 

  

SECRETARY and ACTING Chairman: Neil Forbes

Neil was GROW's Chairman from February 2008 until April 2014.  A locally elected Town Councillor and Knutsford resident, Neil is disabled himself.  After a lengthly career with a major bank where he ended up a Senior Project Manager, he worked in the charity sector locally from 2005 to 2019 which included (at times) helping train social workers and managing a county-wide team of care package brokers.

 

TREASURER: Ian Barlow

 

 

 

 

 

Our Treasurer Ian works at Tatton Park and provides a valued connection with this large estate along with his bookkeeping and cashflow skills.

 

 

TRUSTEE: Vacancy: 

Could our Next Trustee be YOU??????

If you are interested in learning more, please get in touch using our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.

   

TRUSTEE: Sarah Riley:

 

Sarah became a Trustee in August 2019.  

Sarah has worked in community development for over 10 years and currently manages The Welcome centre in Knutsford. Sarah joined the board of trustees having seen first hand the positive impact Grow has on both the participants and recipients of their work.

 

TRUSTEE: David Laycock

David leads on Funding Bids

 

 

 

 

 

 

David has lived in Knutsford for 20+ years with his wife and two sons. Retired in 2019, his work for Cheshire East Council as a Project Manager included initiatives within both adult social care and children’s services. Recent schemes also included the “Field to Fork” project which revamped the farm in Tatton Park to focus on the story of agricultural food production. He is a keen DIY’er and home cook.

 David became a Trustee in February 2020

 

TRUSTEE Andy Martin

Andy is our Volunteer Manager and also our Contractors Relationship Manager

 

     

Andy Joined GROW as a Trustee in May 2020

Andy Martin lives in Knutsford with his young family.
After years pedalling the streets of Manchester as a bike courier, Andy worked as a Countryside Warden, specializing in environmental education, and working with mainstream and special schools across the City. Wanting to concentrate more on special schools, Andy then joined Groundwork Cheshire as a Project Manager to deliver their Wild At Heart Project, which engaged young people with special needs with their local and wider countryside.
During this time, Andy also became Manager of Groundwork’s Grozone Project – a community and wildlife garden that offers volunteering and learning opportunities to people of all ages, abilities and disabilities in Northwich. The garden celebrated its 10th birthday in 2018, and has received ‘outstanding’ status by the RHS ‘In Your Neighbourhood’ Awards in 2018 and 2019. The garden is proud to value the contribution that everyone can make, regardless of their ability or disability, to their local community. Andy and his Grozone Team are well aware of the mental and physical benefits of gardening and being outdoors, and work hard to make these benefits accessible to everyone.
Andy also manages delivery of Groundwork’s Nature Friendly Schools Project in Cheshire, working with secondary schools in the most deprived areas of the county to increase pupils’ access to, and use of, outdoor learning opportunities.
Andy has degrees in Psychology and Conservation Biology, and is passionate about getting everyone to enjoy and benefit from being outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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