» Who are we?

Canalside Community Food is run by a small but very committed group of people, the original core of whom have been meeting since the Summer 2005.  We are a diverse group, ranging from farmers to organic researchers to teachers, but what we do all share are strong beliefs in local food and community empowerment, and in particular what we are doing in starting up this specific project.  For your interest, below is a brief profile of all the people on the Canalside workforce, just so you know who we are and how to recognise us when we come to meet each other!

Tom and Caz Ingall live and work on the farm with their 2 daughters, Tallis and Kerewin.  Before moving here in 2002, their work focussed on HIV/AIDS, particularly in Africa, and they both spent some time in Zimbabwe and Tanzania doing HIV/AIDS related work. Since living on the farm, however, they have reconnected with their roots in this country and have moved further towards a farming way of life.  They feel very strongly about all environmental issues and about organic/local food production in particular.   Having access to farmland as they do, they feel a large responsibility to use the land to the greatest environmental and social benefits as possible, hence the creation of Canalside Community Food.   Tom is the manager for the project.

Will Johnson got into growing whilst volunteering on a smallholding in Edinburgh in 2005. After a year of WWOOFing in Uppsala, Sweden, he decided to pursue growing in England. Will was one of the first year of Soil Association Apprentices, working with Pete Richardson in Oxfordshire for 3 years and landed on Canalside in September 2010, via Church Farm in Hertfordshire. Will is so keen on veg growing he put himself forward and was elected for the Organic Growers Alliance committee last year. As well as food production, Will thinks Canalside CSA is important and valuable for building a sense of real community and as a place to learn and enjoy life. Will is the main grower for the project.

Ali Jeffery returned from Pakistan (where she worked as a VSO volunteer), convinced that the supermarket culture has it all wrong in the way it divorces people from the food production process, the land where their food is grown and their local environment. She started growing a few veggies on the roof of her boat so that she could have fresh organic food and be in touch with the growing process, but then discovered something even better: she came across the newly established Canalside Community Food at the Peace Festival shortly after returning to Warwick in 2007. She was a workshare on the project from that summer for two years. A six-month break for a round-the-world trip saw her leave the project temporarily, but she’s back in Warwick again. She is involved in Canalside’s education  project and can’t wait to teach more local school children about the wonders of local, organic, seasonal veggies in the near future! Ali is the General Administrator for Canalside, and the Education Project Coordinator.

Fiona Cottrell took over the running of the CSA accounts in October 2009.   She recently qualified as a Management Accountant after many years of studying, and also works as a Finance Officer for an international human rights charity based in Moreton-in-Marsh. She has been part of the CSA since the first pig club, and lives in Cubbington with Gareth Davies  (one of Canalside’s founding members), and their three children Joe, Chrissie and Eliza.  Fiona is the Finance Administrator for Canalside.

Workshare volunteers: The growers’ work is supported by a group of regular volunteers who help out every week in exchange for their veg share. These workshare volunteers give half a day’s work each week to help with a wide variety of tasks in the fields and polytunnels – weeding, planting, harvesting, maintenance and much more.

These are our brilliant workshare volunteers (updated March 2012):

Graham Williams        John Liddamore Dave Jones      

Elaine Newman       Linda Palmer        Helen Mitchell

We operate a waiting list for workshare spaces – members of the project are welcome to request to be added to the list. The wait time is 6 to 18 months, depending on workshares leaving the project and the length of the waiting list. Non-members who wish to be added to the waiting list will need to join the project as a social member.

The work of Canalside Community Food is managed by its steering group, which consists of its employees and members.March 2012 – Current members of our Steering Group are: Tom Ingall, Gareth Davies, Judy Steele, Fiona Cottrell, Will Johnson, Ali Jeffery, Dave Jones (representing workshares), Liz Allan (representing social members), Cathy Bell (respresenting veg share members).

Members who are interested in getting more involved in the decison making process of Canalside Community Food and would like to join the Steering Group should get in touch with Ali!

Policies

To download any of Canalside Community Food’s policy statements, please click on the relevant title below:
Canalside Environmental Policy Statement (20.02.09)

Canalside Health & Safety Policy

Canalside Equal Ops Policy

Canalside Child Protection policy