Meet our Green Spaces Fund Advisors
Our dedicated Green Spaces Fund Advisors are on hand to support any residents or groups looking to apply, offering expert advice on how to shape a strong application and guiding applicants through the process step by step.
Find out more about our team of advisors below - and do reach out to your local advisor if you want to talk about potential projects in your area!
Agnes Allison is a Green Spaces Fund Advisor covering Stockport & Tameside. She joined the City of Trees team in August 2022 after previously working for The Conservation Volunteers at Sale Water Park.
Agnes is a Project Officer who delivers tree planting, woodland management, and community engagement projects all over Greater Manchester. Agnes' work focuses on improving accessibility and inclusivity within local greenspaces. This passion has brought her to provide opportunities for marginalised groups, which in turn have helped participants to gain vocational skills, familiarise themselves with local greenspaces and improve their health and wellbeing through exposure to nature.
Contact Agnes: agnes@cityoftrees.org.uk
Kieron McGlasson is the Green Spaces Fund Advisor covering Manchester and Trafford. Having grown up in the Lake District, Kieron has always been inspired by the natural world and its multiple benefits. After moving to Manchester for university, Kieron spent just short of a decade in the regeneration sector delivering high profile city centre and neighbourhood wide projects. Kieron then discovered the social enterprise sector in a bid to help both people and planet, and began working to build happier and healthier communities in Salford. Joining Sow the City in early 2014 has allowed Kieron to combine his roots, experience and personal interests in across numerous health and environmental projects. His work combines his passions for food growing, environmental conscience and commitment to assets-based community development to help create greener and healthier places.
Contact Kieron: kieron@sowthecity.org
Abbie Williams is the Green Spaces Fund Advisor covering Rochdale. She is a Community Project Lead at Groundwork and works on several funding schemes and community-led projects across Greater Manchester. With a background in volunteer management and green social prescribing, Abbie’s work focuses on fostering community wellbeing through connecting people with nature as well as with one another. She holds a passion for gardening and food growing, having worked and volunteered as a Market Gardener in the past, and has facilitated green projects for students struggling with mental health and finding a sense of belonging in the city.
Contact Abbie: abigail.williams@groundwork.org.uk
Nina Agnew is the Green Spaces Fund Advisor covering Oldham & Salford. She is part of the Community Outreach Team at the Royal Horticultural Society, the UK’s leading gardening charity. She joined the RHS team in August 2022 and is a qualified Horticulturist, having worked as a Gardener for the National Trust and at a 2 Michelin starred restaurant previously. She brings experience of volunteer management, organic food growing, orchard management and gardening for biodiversity amongst other things. Her work focuses on inspiring everyone to create, grow and improve their green spaces in deprived urban areas.
Contact Nina: ninaagnew@rhs.org.uk
Stephen Hodges is the Green Spaces Fund Advisor covering Wigan. He works for Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside as a community project manager and leads a team of conservation project officers across Lancashire responsible for managing natural green spaces from Blackpool to Wigan. With 17 years’ experience of working with communities to develop and improve green open spaces, Stephen specialises in the preparation of project plans and funding applications. Successfully developing projects of various scale and theme including municipal parks and gardens, local nature reserves, regional parks, sports pitches, play facilities, community food growing projects and allotments.
He is experienced in working with multi stakeholder teams to develop projects including the award-winning North Blackpool Pond Trail alongside Blackpool Council and the Freshwater Habitats Trust and “Love My River” alongside the Douglas Catchment Partnership, Environment Agency and United Utilities.
Stephen led the development of the activity plan for the successful Rivington Terraced Gardens HLF Parks for People application, supporting the Rivington Heritage Trust Community Forum to have a significant input into the final proposals.
Stephen also has significant experience of project financial and outcome monitoring and reporting, supporting Groundworks Communities and Heritage programmes.
Contact Stephen: stephen.hodges@groundwork.org.uk