Where do we start with Lou?? Well she has ADHD for one, which means this section could take up a thousand websites with all the stuff she’s done. But in a nutshell and what’s important for you to know is that she’s got a wealth of knowledge in lots of areas, here’s a few highlights:

- She can build, tile, floor, plumb and design you a flip up swing round fold down table and bring it to life usually all from stuff she’s dragged out the dump (and then slap a beautiful buttercream flower cake she’s made on the top for good measure).

- She built a business from her kitchen table to a half million pound turn over with a large commercial studio and staff in less than a year (and stuck at it for nearly a decade!).

- She can paint, knit, sew, screenprint, linocut, canotype, draw, write and design (probably all at the same time).

- She built a tiktok following of over 92k in six months (and then got bored).

- She dragged a half buried four ton horse lorry out of a farmers field and turned it into a micro home without even a mitre saw.

- She lives in the farmhouse at North End Farm with her long suffering partner Dom and their twin daughters.

- She is the brainchild behind the North End Farm community interest company and has promised us all faithfully that there is a 75% chance this will be the very last big project she will do (except maybe dragging an old submerged boat from the bottom of Poole Harbour and turning it into a stilted stargazing deck).

- She is confused about why her photo on here makes her look like she’s sporty because she hates all sports and would rather her bum fell off than go on a twenty mile hike.

- You can view Lou’s creative portfolio here

Lou will be the lead tutor on our DIY & creative workshops.

Barbara is one of life’s all round good eggs. She’s spent much of her professional life as an oak framed carpenter and has carpentry skills that blow all of our minds. Here’s some cool things to know about Barbs:

- She is hugely passionate about our environment and has recently stood as The Green Party candidate for Bransgore, Burley, Sopley & Ringwood East, and came, err, well, second…

- She is also a director of Touchwood Southwest Ltd (a very cool business in Devon that also offers DIY courses).

- Despite being completely the wrong shape, She seems to be particularly good at pit sawing (which is a traditional way of sawing logs into planks,) and not too bad at hewing either (that’s converting trees into beams with an axe).  

- She has recently returned from a 3 month intensive residential course in furniture making (which means she can now do beautiful dovetail joints which Lou is very jealous about, but fear not Lou: we’ll soon have a course about that too!! ).

- She lives with her husband Jerry, her pug Beanz and a very lovely cat called Venus.  Oh, plus half a dozen chickens, some fruit trees, some flowers, some deliciously aromatic herbs, some vegetables, and rather a lot of ‘wild plants’ that definitely aren’t weeds no definitely not.

Barbara will be the lead tutor on all our carpentry and woodwork workshops and lead on our youth inclusion.

There is very little that Heidi can’t do; she’s been a professional painter and decorator on commercial sites, is currently studying for her Level 4 integral counselling qualification, and on top of all that can build, plumb, wire and inspire. What else can we tell you about Heidi?

- She is a survivor of triple brain surgery after an unexpected aneurysm in her 30's which has resulted in controlled epilepsy.

- Lou and Heidi share a very special bond, they are both far too experienced with living in and out of hospitals and support each other through living with chronic illness with authentic understanding.

- She’s a mum to two and stepmum to one. Despite being dyslexic, Heidi never ceases to amaze all the directors with her abilities to be able to do nearly every practical skill on the the planet!

- She has amazing spacial awareness skills and can tell you if something will fit into any space within seconds.

- She is the only one of the directors with a van which everyone is jealous about but on the plus side therefore the nominated without agreement lugger of stuff from the dump.

Heidi will be leading our car maintenance, bike servicing, essential home skills and basic plumbing workshops, as well as leading on our mental health offerings and ensuring inclusivity on all our workshops.

Sharon went to school with Lou. Sharon was in the cool trendy popular gang, whilst Lou was in the oddball gang. It amazes them both that thirty years later they are founding a company together.

Cool stuff about Sharon;

- She has been a mental health support worker for the last 12 years in a residential setting.

- She was a vetinary nurse for over a decade and now drives part time for the Thames ambulance services.

- She is brilliant at interior design and out of all the directors is the only one that can look entirely immaculate even when she’s knee deep in mud.

- She is sooooooo tidy! Sharon keeps every space she enters entirely immaculate.

- She can’t bear the mess that surrounds Lou everywhere she goes and is constantly tidying up behind her.

- She is currently excitedly awaiting the arrival of her second grandchild to join her lovely grandson Roman.

- She is super organised and wonderfully neurotypical.

Sharon will be the only paid director due to the fact that she will be the anchor of North End Farm and will be in charge of day to day operations. Sharon will lead on our health and wellbeing workshops but most importantly one of her roles will be making sure there is always tea, coffee and cake.