Here are some of the mentors and facilitators on the Lifestream Programme who will be there to support and teach participants. There will be others added to this list, and some who will turn up and contribute along the way through the programme journey.
Rick Cross: Rick Cross, who designed and developed Danaway, is a 21st Century Homesteader and Shepherd, with a career as a Landscape Designer, Artist, Relationship Counsellor and Life Coach. His lifetime dedication to environmental and cultural repair has lead him into Social Enterprise, Permaculture and the emerging Nature Culture movement. Rick lives at Danaway with his life partner Angie and together they have two children and five grandchildren.
Hannah Field: Born and raised in the historic city of Rochester, located in the Southeast of England, a stone’s throw from the Medway Estuary and Marshes. And so began Hannah’s path to becoming a Social and Spiritual Ecologist, Conservationist, Permaculturalist, Earth Education and Land School Teacher, 8 Shields Enabler, Writer, Speaker and Storyteller and Artist. Woven through and braided into her experience are her travels and studies abroad, and over the last 6 years her work with Danaway. Hannah can share wool crafting skills, permaculture and multiple ways of knowing through story, science and connection to land. Hannah has lived, worked and studied in Cumbria for 10 years. Being bonded to and in relationship with place imbues and informs her life through walking, mountaineering, swimming in the lakes and gardening. There is always Nova, her beloved four legged companion always by her side. Currently Hannah is at the University of Cumbria studying as a PhD researcher in Social Ecology of the commons. becomingincommon.com
Graham Wigginton: I have spent the last 30 years as a Mathematics teacher and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, 28 of those years in Cumbria secondary schools, mostly in the west of the county. We live on a 5 acre smallholding close to Danaway, where I grow willow, vegetables and donkeys, among other things. I completed my Permaculture Design Certificate in 2018 and realised how Permaculture can bring all the aspects of my life; work, home and play, together and I plan to look at all of these through my Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design. Given my background I am particularly interested in how Permaculture design, ethics and principles can be applied to mainstream education and meeting the needs of young people.
Roisin Lyle-Collins: My roots are of the west coast of Scotland. I am an educator with the intention to empower and support people to reconnect respectfully with the land. With a background in Ecology, I embarked on my Postgraduate Diploma in Outdoor Environmental Sustainability Education with The University of Edinburgh part time in 2017. I have 8 years experience facilitating sessions in the Outdoors for people with diverse needs; urban community gardens in Glasgow to week long wilderness experiences in Ireland. I have been developing my self employed livelihood since 2014. For three years I have facilitated mental health wellbeing programs as a Branching Out Leader with Forestry Land Scotland. My skill set is rooted in wilderness living skills, nature connection, herbal remedies and organic food growing including animal husbandry. I believe these to be tools for connection to self, community and nature as well as insight towards living a more sustainable life. I am currently training as a Postpartum Doula to be able to support families in rural areas.
Mark Shipperlee: Mark has a small-holding literally on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. Having studied Countryside Management at college, he has spent a lot of his life around trees, with unusual career changes like establishing and running an overseas charity for ten years, and supporting entrepreneurs through coaching and mentoring. His current smallholding is a registered LAND Centre for permaculture practices and he teaches permaculture at different levels. He aims to grow as much of his vegetable food needs as possible (mushrooms and tomatoes all year round still defeat him!!). He has been an instructor in various woodland based skills and a chainsaw instructor and assessor across five counties. He currently manages a 7Ha hazel coppice, a 1 acre willow plot and is in the process of establishing a 1 acre orchard with colleagues. As a director of two non-profits, he is involved with tree planting and woodland management in one and with apples, apple growing and orchards in the second one. He is passionate about using any land people have access to, in tune with nature, and is taking a keen interest in alternative agriculture and forestry systems. He qualified as a coach through Coactive Training Institute and uses those tools to mainly assist people to move from vision to reality, in lifestyle or enterprise.
John McCurrie: John is currently employed as a Systems Engineer. He helps Danaway apply systems thinking to projects.
He has worked for 30 years as a Construction Manager in various Industries. His current role is to care for the life cycle of built assets.
John is interest in relationships between communities, their built environment and nature. He applies systems thinking, Permaculture design and 8 Shield principles to observe and take stock of his career and life path. John is forging a regenerative way of living for his family. He enjoys being immersed in nature, living in reciprocal relationship with the planet.
Alice Bishop: Best known at Danaway for her yummy chocolate cake, Alice is a hayfever suffering, slug hating, nature lover. She is continually seeking to reduce the impact she and her family have on the planet whilst still enjoying a life full of fun. Alice is trained as a teaching assistant and loves sharing skills and ideas, supporting learning and enabling others to explore new concepts. She has supported many different groups for both adults and children, as leader and in the background, using her craft and organisation skills to involve and enthuse participants and to build team motivation.
Lynne Quincey: Lynne is passionate about communication, empowering women, and nature. Growing up on a hill farm in the Lake District is where her love of nature was first born. With a degree in Human Communication she has worked in organisational communication, with a particular strength in driving the successful rebrand of companies through the transition of new ownership. Lynne has combined her skills in communication, stress management, and enabling transformational transitions with her love of nature and women’s empowerment to become a qualified One of Many™ Women’s coach. Her nurturing approach allows women to step into their true feminine strength; giving them the space and tools they need to let go of whatever is limiting them from stepping into the life, role, relationship or future they desire.
