Meet the team

Chiefly Heather assists farmers with Countryside Stewardship applications, Sustainable Farming Incentive applications, and tries to source funding to support landowners delivering infrastructure to help reduce agricultural pollution and provide public goods through natural flood management opportunities.

Additionally she co-leads several of the trusts farm groups. Each of these groups provides training opportunities and exchanges information on current UK agriculture policy and grants. Competent to provide agricultural consultancy, she aims to support farmers with business planning, budgets, applying for grants, and using farmland economically for environmental outcomes.

Heather is also FACTs qualified advisor for nutrient and soil management advice and planning. Heathers passion for British agriculture stems from her own experience. Alongside her full-time position at the trust, she runs her own beef and sheep farm, as well as a self-service farm shop with her partner. Heather also has a background in environmental science. With a degree in zoology, she worked as a field ecologist prior to working for the trust. She is competent at botanical id, habitat surveying and environmental land management.
 
Outside the office Heather doesn’t stray too far from farming. Whenever she has free time, she likes to spend gardening, dancing, reading, and travelling.

Before starting work with the Trust, Neil worked as a firefighter for with Lancashire Fire and Rescue. Throughout his career with the fire service, Neil delivered fire safety talks to thousands of school children, which is where he developed his passion for education. Thanks to Neil’s hard work, the fire service eventually saw a dramatic reduction in incidents as Neil’s hard work paid off.

In his spare time, you’re likely to find Neil fishing the waters of the Ribble, or passing his excellent angling knowledge onto others.

In addition, engaging with the wider public through information boards, digital events, and social media.

Cody previously worked in IT and has an academic background in Chemistry and Physics but has a picked up many skills whilst volunteering with the trust, completing tree planting, river cleanups, balsam removal and riverfly monitoring. So, when an opportunity arose to work with the trust, he went for it.

Outside of the Ribble Rivers Trust Cody spends his free time exploring, hiking, and camping across the UK, and the Ribble catchment, with his springer spaniels. But if the weather turns for the worst, you’ll find him inside baking or reading a good book.

Info Required

With a background in community engagement in the environment sector, Helen joined the team in 2018 to help deliver the engagement aspects of the Ribble Life Together programme. At first this role saw Helen leading guided walks throughout the Ribble catchment, organising access improvements to help people enjoy rivers, commissioning art installations and creating interpretation panels. Following this Helen now leads health walks and community activities through our HEAL project. She is also linking up with communities along the River Darwen in our Darwen Evidence and Engagement Priorities project (DEEP).

Having grown up in the Ribble Valley, Helen is proud to be delivering environmental improvements so close to home. When she’s not exploring the Lancashire countryside with her dog Eric, Helen loves to bake.

Emily grew up in Clitheroe, paddling in the Ribble and Hodder, swimming in a pool of the local stream, investigating the life under stones in the brook and exploring the hills and mountains at the rivers’ sources. In fact, Emily’s love of the natural world led to a Masters in Ecology and work in freshwater scientific research.

In her spare time Emily enjoys art, and spending time with her young family enjoying the wonders of the natural world. Along with a few friends, she also runs a local playgroup – the perfect outlet for her love of craft and sharing children’s books.

Naomi recently finished a degree in Wildlife Conservation at NTU and whilst studying was president of the university’s conservation society. This experience allowed her to explore her interest in community engagement, and she enjoyed inspiring students to get involved in nature conservation activities. These activities included mushroom forays, bird and plant ID walks, volunteer days/work parties, habitat management work, guest speakers (such as Ajay Tegala), and wildflower + tree planting.

After her studies, she felt impassioned to continue working with communities for the betterment of nature, and she is committed to the implementation of nature-based solutions to national issues. Only 15% of the riverine habitats in the UK are in good ecological health, and 1 in 6 UK homes are susceptible to flooding. It is therefore imperative that local communities can work together with charitable organisations like RRT to identify, prioritize, and manage threats in their local catchments. Naomi hopes that through her work she can bring local people out into nature and help educate them on the importance of healthy rivers and the ecosystem services they provide.

In her free time, Naomi likes hiking, swimming, camping, and climbing in the Lakes. She is also partial to spending her evenings curled up with a good book or crocheting, usually with the company of her pet hamster Huckleberry.

Catherine prides herself on being the backbone of the Trust, doing the ‘behind the scenes’ work that allows her colleagues to deliver their projects efficiently and effectively.

Catherine has always had a passion for the natural world. She obtained a BSc in Physical Geography from Aberystwyth University, studying topics such as conservation and land management, fluvial geomorphology, soil systems and climate change.  Having lived in the Ribble Catchment all her life, she knows the area well, and is eager to preserve and improve its natural assets for generations to come.

Heading up the core operations team, Catherine now takes care of the bulk of the HR admin and is heavily involved in the day to day finances of the Trust, including working closely with funders to ensure grant monies are claimed and spent appropriately.  Producing the Trust’s Annual Newsletter is one of Catherine’s favourite jobs of the year, writing articles about all of the wonderful projects her colleagues have delivered and sharing it far and wide.
 
Now with two youngsters in tow, Catherine’s hobbies have mellowed somewhat from her days of climbing mountains, overseas travel adventures and wild weekends at music festivals!  For now, she loves nothing more than a family walk, inspiring her children to learn and care about wildlife, and more often than not, finishing up in a pub for a pint and chips..

Info Required