Meet the Team

Helen Woodcock

Helen is a co-founder of MERCi - Manchester's first Centre for Sustainable Living, helping to raise over three million pounds and project managing the refurbishment of the five story mill. Helens expertise is in grass roots community development – helping to establish projects including a fruit & vegetable delivery service HERBIE - in East Manchester, as well as supporting a number of community projects in Ancoats - winning a Britian In Bloom Urban Regeneration award.

Helen spent 2005/06 in Guatemala working with Peace Brigades International, jointly winning the International Service Human Rights Award For Women in 2006, with Guatemalan activist Dominga Vasquez . Hear her interview on Radio 4's Women's Hour.

In July 2010 Helen was awarded Master of Science in Organic Farming at distinction level from the Scottish Agricultural College. The MSc project was titled: Finding a sustainable food system for Manchester: Exploring a successful trading model to increase access to sustainable fruit and vegetables in Greater Manchester. Helen is now putting the research to more practical use, using the lessons learnt to support the development of a new co-operative of local organic growers and buyers: Manchester Veg Peoepl, and aiming to expand the market for sustainable food in Greater Manchester. This year Helen is also working on the Sustainable Fayre soup pilot project, as well as focusing on developing Kindling and working with partner projects in Manchester.

Chris Walsh

Co-founder of MERCi and Fairfield Materials Management, Chris is an accomplished social entrepreneur, instrumental in establishing Powwow Eco Arts, Manchester Social Enterprise Forum and has worked for The Ethical Property Company to help establish the Green Fish centre in Manchester.

He is presently working with others to establish Fairfield Anaerobic Digestion Ltd - a sustainable waste company in Stockport along with Greater Manchester’s first Tree Station- processing arboricultural waste into sustainable bio-mass.

Chris also works freelance carrying out environmental audits and training, strategic planning and business plan development for charities and social enterprises and offers fund-raising advice.

Emily Farrow

Emily is a doctor presently working as a GP in East London. She has extensive experience of working with refugees and has taught refugee doctors preparing them for exams to enable them to work in the UK.

She has worked with torture survivors at The Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture.

Emily has recently taken a break from work and her part-time Fine Art degree to look after a new arrival, a bouncing baby boy.

Alan Creedon

Alan has been working in the organic food sector in Manchester since 2004 when he joined the Unicorn Grocery team. He became a veg buyer there, having weekly contact with UK growers and learning the market. He also worked on the building team during Unicorn’s expansion and was involved in the planning and contracts side of the building work and the green roof project in 2006/7.

He then left Unicorn, got married and together with Beth set up Dig Food, an organic food home delivery business, specialising in delivering locally grown produce to homes in Manchester.

Meanwhile the local growers (Glebelands City Growers, Moss Brook Growers, Dunham Massey Organics and Tom Rigby) were talking about working together more cooperatively, Dig got involved, along with the Kindling Trust and Unicorn Grocery, and Manchester Veg People came about. Dig was then passed on and Alan became coordinator of Manchester Veg People.

Alan can also be found playing drums in local bands and in local pubs drinking beer.

Beth Creedon

Beth graduated from Salford Uni in 2000 and experienced a six year huge learning curve working at Unicorn Grocery, working as European veg buyer and shop floor coordinator.

For 18 months she ran the Herbie fruit and veg van project with MERCi in North and East Manchester. Leading on to working as the Community and Voluntary sector representative on Manchester city council's Food Futures strategy steering group.

She organised Chorlton Food and Drink festival for three years, creating markets, interactive events and a public make and bake competition. Her first working years on a hill farm in Cumbria. She cooks extensively with wild food and is a guest chef at
the occasional pop up kitchen. She is also a qualified professional coach working with individuals and groups to reach their own potential.

Beth is presently on maternity leave.

Fiona Dunk

Fiona is the Forgotten Field's Project Co-ordinator and has been responsible for the delivery of this food heritage project over the last two years, having worked with the Kindling Trust to develop food heritage initiatives with communities in Whalley Range, Cheetham Hill and Norris Bank, Stockport.

Fiona has 15 years experience of community development and education work in Manchester, focused on sustainable development issues - running food, inter-generational and heritage projects.

Rob Allen

Rob has a background in communications, previously working with a wide variety of organisations and projects to draw public attention and get people talking. These have included regeneration projects, local transport and public health.

As a coordinator for FeedingManchester he contributes to the network's three annual events that bring together individuals, organisations and groups working in the sustainable food sector. He also provides expertise in managing websites and digital communication tools to help promote the good work that FeedingManchester's friends do.

Nona Ethington

Nona completed an Erasmus Mundus Master’s in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management in 2011. This course allowed her the opportunity to study in Hungary, Greece, and at the University of Manchester.

She spent a couple of summers WWOOFing in Poland and carried out her graduate research there. Her thesis was entitled Developing Agro-environmental Policies: Interactions between the Polish People and the State.

Her interests include growing, cooking and eating food and engaging others around this issue. Since settling in Manchester she has been involved in Land Army and Feeding Manchester.

She currently works for Moss Brook Growers and is covering Beth’s maternity leave for Feeding Manchester.

Kirstin Glendinning

Kirstin moved to Manchester after 8 years working on an organic farm in West Yorkshire where she set up a Community Supported Agriculture scheme for the farm’s two acre walled garden. As well as growing fruit and vegetables, she worked as a general farm hand, kept goats and sheep, and made cheese for sale through the farm shop and at farmers markets throughout Yorkshire.

She has just finished a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship which took her to Uganda, Kenya and Canada to study part-time agriculture, and a Nuffield Farming scholarship looking at farming on the urban fringe in Brazil, Sydney, China and Taiwan.

She hopes to use these experiences to help transform Manchester into the most food-secure city in the UK!

Chloe Wilson

Chloe has helped organise various green events since 1996 and has her own business called GreensCool which delivers Education for Sustainability at outdoor events. She has 3 children whom she home educates.

Chloe runs Greater Manchester Land Army and supports volunteers to help out on local organic farms.