Our Spring North
Trustees
Our board consists of our Chair and Vice Chair, 4 Executive Trustees, 3 Non-Executive Trustees, and a Treasurer.
Dave Edmundson
Chair | Spring North
Dave has been Chair of Spring North since its formation in 2011 and holds other non exec Board positions as Chair of AFC Fylde Foundation and is a Trustee of Queen Elizabeth’s GS Academy Trust. In other non exec roles he was Vice Chair of Active Lancs and The Yorkshire Cricket Foundation.
Sarah Swindley
Vice Chair & Chief Executive of the Lake District Foundation
Sue Cotton
Social Work & Management Consultant | Independent
Sue has 30+ years experience working in senior roles within Social Care, with a specialist knowledge of Strategic Management, Fostering and Adoption, and Emotional Health and Wellbeing.
Sue was CEO of Child Action North West for 12+ years and previously worked in senior management and consultant positions for the national charities, Action for Children and Save the Children Fund, and held senior management posts for Leeds and Wakefield Local Authorities.
Amanda Barrass
Manager | Homestart BwD
Amanda has over 25 years experience of working in the VCSFE sector in Blackburn with Darwen. Managing and securing funds and contracts, focusing on the recruitment and training of volunteers, and providing support to families with pre-school children, in all communities.
Ian Gibbs
Director | Retired Police Officer
Ian completed 30 years service with Lancashire Police as a Detective and in Undercover Operations. Since retiring, he has founded his own cycling businesses and delivered programmes for Lancashire County Council and Transport for Greater Manchester.
Claire Bennett
CEO | Positive Action in the Community
Claire has over 24 years of experience working in Lancashire within the voluntary sector with extensive experience in the areas of Youth Homelessness, Domestic Abuse and Emotional Health and Wellbeing. Claire’s experience and skills are focused on identifying local gaps in provision and services for local communities and developing collaborative, and innovative responses and sustainable provision to meet that need.
Amanda Greenwood
CEO | Lancashire Women
Amanda Greenwood has over 30 years experience in the charity sector working in local, regional and national organisations from influencing Government policy to working at the frontline with local communities - both urban and rural. She is passionate about addressing social injustice and inequality and is currently the CEO of Lancashire Women alongside her 'spare time' role as Chair of Trafford Rape Crisis.
Lewis Alexander Baxter
COO | Marketing & Communications Agency
Lewis joined Spring North's Board in 2020. He has been active in the charity sector for 8+ years, as a founder of a social enterprise, Board Trustee and volunteer. He's currently COO at a leading global marketing and communications agency.
Arif Patel
Deputy Director of Integrated Care, Partnerships & Resilience | East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
Arif has substantive NHS experience as a healthcare director, fostering and maintaining strong relationships with local government, the voluntary community and faith sector, patient groups, as well as educational and private sector organisations.
Before the NHS, Arif worked in Research and Development at Unilab Ltd., a global electronics company specialising in educational teaching aids.
Balwinder Kaur
Interim Director of Adult Community Services | LCC
Balwinder has worked in Health and Care since 1984. She worked as a Community Pharmacist in India before settling in England as a Day Centre Officer. As a registered Social Worker, Balwinder has held roles both in Local Government and NHS, before working in management across many local authorities including as Director of Adult Social Care at Surrey County Council, and as current Director of Adult Community Services with Lancashire County Council.
Martin Needham
Senior Contracts Manager | NHS
Martin worked in FMCG across Europe for 15 years, and a further 13 years working in the Construction industry. He ran a small charity helping young people who presented as LGBTQI+ or who lived with neurodivergent issues, and continues to to work with communitites to support meaningful projects.
Join Today,
Grow Your Impact
Spring North is a member-based charity consortium covering Central and West Lancashire, Pennine, Morecambe Bay, and the Fylde Coast.
Join hundreds of North West organisations in becoming a Spring North member for free. Alongside managing projects in the community, we offer a variety of business support services to our members as well as information, training, advice, and guidance.