The Food Plymouth partnership and network – which includes a wealth of different organisations and individuals across the city – is currently supported by a core enabling team of seven people that is soon to be expanded. Meet the current members of the core team and learn about others working with them below.
Lisa Howard
Food Plymouth core team member
Joining the core team in 2019 to coordinate the The Plymouth Food Equality Project, Lisa is involved in delivering the community engagement strand of Food Plymouth’s work, using community based workshops and events to consult on local food justice issues so this knowledge can inform solutions. Lisa also helped facilitate the Plymouth Food Aid Network along with Food Plymouth colleagues and currently supports a team of community researchers, as Community Research Coordinator for FoodSEqual (Food Systems Equality), a five year research project to transform the food system and create better access to affordable healthy food in Plymouth.
Clare Pettinger
Food Plymouth core team member
Dr Clare Pettinger is an award-winning Registered Dietitian, Public Health Nutritionist and experienced educator actively engaged in community-focussed research around food systems, poverty and social justice and passionate about radical creative approaches to tackle local (and global) health, (in)equality and social well-being challenges. Since getting involved in the early years of the Food Plymouth partnership and network, Clare has led on The Plymouth Food Equality Project, Sugar Smart in the city and served as a Food Power Peer Mentor in the South West, as well as working with FotoNow CIC to create the Food: On the Margins in Plymouth film documenting the stark realities of the lived experience of food insecurity. She now leads the University of Plymouth strand of the UKRI FoodSEqual research. Clare also combines her love for music and food education together as The Singing Dietitian.
Sophie Paterson
Sustainable Food Places Coordinator
A former Project Manager at Routes into Languages North East and Learning Facilitator for the Dartington School for Social Entrepreneurs, Sophie joined the Food Plymouth core team as their Sustainable Food Places Coordinator in November 2020. Serving as the key point of contact for the team, her work spans the six key issues of the Sustainable Food Places network in the push towards Plymouth achieving the Sustainable Food Places Silver Award and beyond, whilst also leading on specific campaigns including Good Food Economy. She can be contacted via email at sfp@foodplymouth.org. Outside of her work with Food Plymouth, Sophie coordinates the Food Data Collaboration, a project building data interoperability infrastructure for sustainable food systems hosted by the Open Food Network UK.
Tami Skelton
Food Plymouth CIC Director
As one of the Founder-Directors of the Food Plymouth CIC infrastructure organisation, Tami is a long-standing and much valued member of the Food Plymouth team. With a background working to improve relationships with food for all ages in a fun way at Food Plymouth partner Food is Fun CIC, Tami was part of delivering the original Plymouth Sugar Smart campaign, worked to establish the first Food Plymouth Awards and organised major events including the Big Food Festival and more. With the Sugar Smart campaign now undergoing a revival, Tami’s work at Food Plymouth currently includes the Veg Cities campaign and ongoing facilitation and support of the Plymouth Food Aid Network, amongst much else.
Ian Smith
Food Plymouth CIC Director
Also a Founder-Director of Food Plymouth CIC, Ian Smith brings a wealth of skills and experience to the team across diverse fields, including community regeneration and youth work, leadership and organisational management and project design, delivery and fundraising, to name but a few. Also contributing to the FoodSEqual project as Community Research Manager with the University of Plymouth team, he is actively delivering Food Plymouth’s Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strand of work in collaboration with the Diversity Business Incubator team. Ian’s ongoing focus is facilitating the transition from a food aid approach towards a food alliance approach in the city, including work on the developing Plymouth Food Buying Collective, and much more besides.
Dave Styles
Food Plymouth CIC Secretary
Working diligently behind the scenes to support Food Plymouth CIC as Company Secretary is Dave Styles, another long-standing member of the Food Plymouth team whose role is vital to the day-to-day functioning of the core team and beyond. Fellow core team members are immensely grateful for his keen eye for detail, clear strategic focus and willingness to wrangle with spreadsheets, all alongside his day job. Dave is also involved in the food education space as a Co-Director of Food is Fun CIC alongside Tami Skelton.
Tess Wilmot
Food Plymouth core team member
A highly experienced Permaculture practitioner and teacher, Tess is the driving force behind the All Ways Apples Festival, a much-loved annual fixture since 2010. With clear passion and skill for equipping individuals and communities with the skills to grow both food and networks, Tess’s work with Food Plymouth has included a wide range of successful initiatives, including Growing Community Abundance, Generous Earth and most recently the Growing Resilience workshop series. She has been instrumental to the Growing with Nature collaboration in Plymouth and a champion of all things Good to Grow. In her spare time is also a member of JarSquad, an innovative collective linking social art and solidarity economy practices with food.
The Food Plymouth core team are also delighted to be working alongside colleagues including Jabo Butera and Ela Roszkowska at Diversity Business Incubator as part of the REDI for Change strand of work to increase the diversity of representation and participation across the Food Plymouth CIC, partnership and network, funded by a Sustainable Food Places grant in 2022.
The current team are grateful to colleagues present and past, with former team members in recent years having included Coordinators Traci Lewis and Zoe Nile and Food Aid Coordinator Ayshea Cross, as well as former Food Plymouth CIC Directors Jenny Coles, Dr Samantha Davies, Ian Gribben and Barbara Hampson.