Our Current Team
Jaime Jackson
New Leaf Director
Jaime is an artist, consultant and Artist Director of Salt Road (www.saltroad.org.uk, www.jaimejackson.org) . His practice is as a biomimcry-ist exploring our distance to nature where human activity is understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. A moving image and digital artist, interested in site specific projections, recent moving image installations Latitude, Green Man & Kingdom Project work based on the embodiment of nature with dance and movement. “My relational community engagement art practice is based on and inspired by, human relations and their social context, working as a facilitator seeing art as information exchanged between the artist, the co-creational participants and the art audiences. Through artwork my aim is to develop resilience and adaption challenging the separation between humans & nature, to release thinking & artworks that re-glue the separation together or explore the falling apart.”
More of Jaime’s work can be found in current and previous projects, and here
Sarah Read
New Leaf Director
Sarah is a Chartered Accountant with a biology degree and certifications in nutrition. She is dedicated to blending science with practicality to inspire positive change in diet and lifestyle. Sarah founded the not-for-profit Eat Think Explore with a mission to empower individuals- to adopt healthier eating habits that benefit both their own health AND the planet. She also delivers talks on health and climate action, including Climate Fresks and advocating for regenerative agriculture and soil health.
Sarah serves as Treasurer for New Leaf and ACE Monmouth, as well as working part time as Director of Finance and Sustainability for an IT Consultancy.
Sarah’s approach is rooted in optimism and a belief in collective action. By breaking down complexity into manageable steps, she strives to contribute to a future for her children where climate stability is a reality.
Rebecca Tully
Rebecca works with community groups, charities and social enterprises – building projects and social enterprises that have impact.
Rebecca is Director of Kids Kitchen Collective CIC which works with under 5s and their families using food as an activity for community and social change. She is currently coordinator of the New Leaf umbrella project the Herefordshire Food Alliance.
Previous
Rob Garner
New Leaf Director
Rob’s career has been mostly in business, including 14 years as Group HR Director for HP Bulmer plc. Rob was instrumental in forming New Leaf in 2010 after over ten years’ association with the Bulmer Foundation in various capacities including trustee, Chief Executive and Strategic Associate.
Rob has been Chair of Herefordshire Local Nature Partnership since 2009 and was designated as a “Green Leader” by Sustainability West Midlands in 2011. Rob has a key role with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust in the management of Queenswood & Bodenham Lake sites.
Kate Gathercole
Kate is a community organiser with a wide range of experience in workshop and group facilitation. Professional roles have focused on developing community and personal resilience in response to the climate crisis, with an emphasis on restoring relationship – with ourselves, each other and the earth.
Kate is experienced in permaculture design and Cultural Emergence facilitation. She is also a registered homeopath, and practiced in gestalt based and Balint group work. Kate is a folk singer, songwriter and community choir leader, with experience in designing and coordinating arts events.
Over the years Kate has worked with many communities around Herefordshire in the development and delivery of projects to raise awareness of environmental sustainability issues. In 2017 Kate was recognised by Sustainability West Midlands as a local ‘Green Leader’.
Stan Gyford
Stan has many years’ experience as a civil engineer and has worked in senior roles in large public and private sector organisations, including time as a Director, with responsibility for budgets in the 10’s of millions of pounds.
Stan
worked with Rob Garner for nearly three years to secure the future of
Queenswood and Bodenham Lake under a Partnership between of New Leaf and
Herefordshire Wildlife Trust. He is committed to working in a way that will
lead to real improvements in sustainability in Herefordshire and sees
Queenswood as an ideal site to demonstrate practical examples of how
retrofitting old buildings can lead to improvements in sustainability by
reducing the use of energy and other resources such as water. Stan is keen to
help transfer this knowledge to individuals and organisations who may not have
specialist skills or the staffing resources needed to design these
improvements.
Wendy Ogden
Wendy holds an MSc in Environmental Management, and is currently Programme Manager for Farm and Natural Capital with the Wye & Use Foundation.
In 2016, having worked in public finance and school business management for nearly 30 years, Wendy left her role as Business Director of an Academy Trust running six schools in Bristol to pursue her interest in environmental management.
For 5 years Wendy was Sustainable Development Lead for the New Leaf partnership with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust at Queenswood Country Park in Herefordshire.
“I have had a long term interest in the environment which was nurtured by being involved with the community at the Steiner School where my children studied and, particularly, by my involvement in the major ‘eco-build’ project that started at the school in 2008. Over the years as a parent, and employee, at the school I was fortunate to see the benefits of living in natural, simple ways in close harmony with the environment and to experience the pleasure that this brings”
“The potential for the challenges brought by climate change and other environmental challenges to be tackled in ways which increase our connectedness with nature and the communities around us excites and inspires me”
Tim Kaye
The natural world is my passion and for the majority of my life I have tried to inspire others young and old. Since gaining a degree in Applied Biology I have pursued my lifelong love of botany and found myself teaching children at outdoor centres and ended up running the field studies department at a site in Weymouth. I have also worked with older children whilst at the Field Studies Council. I still work for them as an online tutor for the Identiplant course. I gained experience in practical land management whilst working as Countryside Ranger in Swindon and then ran a Wellbeing project for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. It was there that I discovered the joys of green woodworking. I have a wide knowledge of wildlife and conservation knowledge and also know how to connect people in community settings.
Pete Norton
Pete is the founder and Co-ordinator of the Herefordshire Food Alliance. He has been a member of the New Leaf team on and off for many years and helped to establish the Sustainable Future Centre at Queenswood as well as co-ordinating h.Energy and co-producing Re-Energising Herefordshire.
Pete previously managed the Bulmer Foundation’s Sustainable Food Programme which included setting up Herefordshire Foodlinks and the Herefordshire Food Partnership and writing a county Sustainable Food Strategy. As a freelance adviser and project manager he has also worked for the Orchard Project; Sustain; f3 ; the Local Food Programme; and supported Malvern Hills Food Alliance; Worcestershire Food Links, County Durham and Staffordshire Moorlands with their food partnership work.
Pete is also an Iyengar Yoga teacher and director of Wye Valley Yoga, based in Hay-on-Wye.
Other members of New Leaf over the years have included Dave Prescott, Ali Straker, Amy Nicholass, Mary Burton, Rebecca Semple, Averil Clother, Sarah Blenkinsop, Temi Odurinde, Bym Welthy, Gillian Menzies, Pete Linnell, Richard Priestley, Nick Sherwood, Shirley Garner, Perry Walker and Di Kamp. We have also been privileged to work with some superb interns including Celia Kibblewhite, Kathy Hopkin, Jaime Gordon, Arthur Waters, Eleanor Penny, Richard Coppock, Ella Waters and Kika Patrick.
All of those who have worked with New Leaf have been paid via funding for the specific projects they have been involved with. All members of New Leaf share the management and day-to-day running of the organisation.