Our Team
Together with the leadership team below, our volunteers, allotmenteers and customers all form a vital part of the wider, ever growing team at Bosavern. We try to find the right niche for every person as we get to know their strengths and interests, and we encourage everybody involved to become a Member.
As a charitable organisation we are ultimately responsible to our Members who elect people to the Board at the Annual General Meeting each Autumn and delegate the day to day management to the Board Directors.
Hugh Taylor, Head Grower
Hugh, along with his partner Alice, moved to the Farm when Bosavern Community Enterprises was first established and together they began the huge undertaking of setting up the vegetable growing production, while also renovating the Farmhouse and outbuildings. Hugh has been tending the vegetable crops, supervising volunteers, overseeing the distribution of produce and caring for the hen flock ever since. Passionate about organic farming, wildlife and education in sustainable agriculture, Hugh is a highly experienced, award-winning Head Grower, much treasured and highly respected by all at Bosavern and by sustainable growers elsewhere in Cornwall. He has recorded numerous farm activities over the years in an expansive photo library and blog.
Dilys Down, Finance Officer
For many years, Dilys has worked for not-for-profit organisations and community-based projects. She provides the financial backbone for the farm operations, managing day to day accounting, invoicing, year-end reports, tax returns and pay roll. Dilys has been instrumental in securing funding for our projects and continues to keep our funders happy by managing claims and reports with occasional support from Julie Daybell.
Ross Packer, Assistant Grower
Ross brings a wealth of gardening and horticultural experience to Bosavern having worked at St Michael’s Mount; at Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Scillies; as private gardener to Lord St Leven and in recent years he managed Kernow Inferno, producing a range of chili products. Ross has a calm and kindly manner which is perfect for supporting and teaching growing skills on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Jeremy Cole
Jeremy is an experienced learning support worker and art therapist who has an irrepressible passion for community catering and sustainable produce. His lunches are mindfully and cheerfully prepared, using up the farm left over seasonal produce and working alongside volunteers from the community, to develop people’s kitchen-confidence and to raise awareness of nutrition. Jeremy was involved in the early days of the farm years ago and we are delighted to have him back again in this new role. His vegetarian lunches always taste absolutely delicious and have brought ‘forkloads’ of feelgood factor to our volunteer days on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Jeremy is on leave for a few months. We look forward to welcoming Jeremy back in due course.
Frances Rippon
Frances has worked in mental health for 35 years and taught mindfulness courses in the NHS. Originally from Hull, she settled in St Just in 1999 to raise a family and to live in closer community with people and nature. She has volunteered at the farm since its transition to community ownership – helping to organise seasonal events, growing crops, staffing the shop and St Just farmer’s markets. She will be part of the team tasked with developing the farm shop. Frances is a trustee of Bosavern Community Farm Charity and her other activities include St Just Care and Repair Cafe, Shindig Cloggers, Tai Chi, singing and enjoying our wonderful environment.
Terry Sutcliffe, Tree Care Lead
Terry (third from the left) leads a group of volunteers who meet every first and third Sunday of the month to plant hundreds of trees each Winter and to provide after-care. As well as weeding, mulching and removing guards from the trees in the woodland, they have helped plant windbreaks around the farm and they are raising oak saplings from acorns. Extra volunteers are always welcomed. See our Tree page for details.
Nick Hall
The little we know about Nick for certain is that he won a prize at Pershore horticultural college in 1987 for his wildflower garden, and qualified as a school science teacher in 1997. In his youth he worked on several arable farms in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, mostly picking apples. He used to kayak in rivers and sea, but now he just does a bit of taichi. His favourite pastime is making up tall tales like the time he spent tracking wolves in Slovakia, or the month in a kungfu school in Southern China, or hitchhiking to Marrakech…. most of which turn out to true.
Hannah Smith
Hannah studied Land Management at university and is a qualified Chartered Surveyor with many years of property experience drawn from the diverse backgrounds of private, public, voluntary and community sectors. Today she is interested in sustainable, environmentally responsible construction and has recently been involved in a straw bale barn build. She has a Masters in Executive Coaching and has completed a Practical Residency in Sustainable Horticulture at Schumacher College. Here she learned the benefits of growing annual and perennial crops in an agroforestry system using organic principles, no dig/minimal tillage and with a focus on healthy soil care. She is passionate about the role local food and regenerative farming can play in building resilient communities, improving health and well-being and mitigating the effects of climate change. Hannah works for Devon Council supporting their County Farms. First elected to the Board in 2023 and having supported the Board in an Advisory capacity since 2021, Hannah is one of our longest serving Board members and as well as being a sound voice of reason in meetings, Hannah also offer a keen eye on contractual matters.
Holly Whitelaw
Holly has enjoyed a varied career alongside her environment and academic pursuits, including teaching in India and Tanzania, as a photographer and spending over a decade as a picture editor on national papers & magazines. She has had shops, sold solar and biodigestores and has worked as a cook, gardener, cleaner and in marketing and telesales. She is a founding director of Regenerative Food and Farming and Cornwall Climate Action Network and set up and manages Gleaning Cornwall. She is also on the steering group of Sustainable Food Cornwall and lectures on the multiple benefits of regenerative agriculture and the links between soil, human and planetary health. She enjoys gardening and volunteers for St Just in Bloom. Holly is supporting Hugh with our 2025 application to the Rural Payment Agency (Sustainable Farming Incentive) and she also supports the Board’s legal duties by working with staff and volunteers to ensure our site is safe.
Rob Pickering
Rob has over 35 years’ experience of working in, and managing not-for-profit organisations, giving advice and guidance to community organisations and to individuals in a range of areas (state benefits, Carers’ support, and domestic energy). He has been central to the formation of a number of community organisations and is one of the Founders of Bosavern Community Farm. Rob is a seasoned Fundraiser and Project Manager, and having held most of the Bosavern management roles at one time or another, is now a Trustee of Bosavern Community Farm Charity and has a delegated non-voting Society Secretary role for BCE supporting the Shareholder Members.
Ian Willsden
Born in Macclesfield, Ian studied at Sussex University where he first became involved in environmental action. He worked as a YHA Warden in the Lakes and then founded an eco group which set up a food co-op, a garden sharing scheme, a community allotment and more. During his career, Ian has worked as a Detached Youth Worker, Teacher, Home Tutor and has been active on many committees (Cheshire Schools Table Tennis Association, Cheshire Schools Cricket Association, West Bridgford Horticultural Society). He moved to Cornwall in 2013 and became a Director at Bosavern Community Farm, helping to run an allotment club at Cape School, joining the St Just Town Council climate action group and playing an active part in St Just in Bloom. During his time at the farm, Ian gave popular talks and taught courses on wildlife and organic gardening. Ian returned to Nottingham in 2021 to be near grandchildren where he is now a committee member of Stoke Lane Allotments, setting up a demonstration wildlife allotment with Notts Wildlife Trust as well as fulfilling the role of Charity Trustee for Bosavern, remotely.
Kate Beckly
Kate has been a part of Bosavern Community Farm since its early days and was a member of the board of directors from 2014-2018, seeing it through the transition to community ownership. Over the years Kate has helped to organise community events at the farm, run workshops and various seasonal craft activities, and initiated the planting of the community woodland at the farm in 2015 and 2016. Kate has been involved in a number of community projects in fundraising, events and catering roles such as Summer forest school residencies, Lafrowda, Friends of St Just Library and the new skate park. Kate is a set designer, a keen grower and cook of veg, a crafter and environmental activist, who is passionate about the power of communities to work together to create a harmonious and resilient future.