Team and Trustees

We have a great team supporting us here are SAGE! Take a look at who they are…

Meet our team...

At SAGE we have a small but perfectly formed staff team. Their role is to deliver our projects to our beneficiaries and keep SAGE moving forward.

Sheila Manclark

Director sheila@sagesheffield.org.uk

I joined SAGE in January 2022 after many years working with a small dementia charity. I am passionate about the benefits of small voluntary organisations for communities and people in need.

Helen Walsh

Project Worker helenw@sagesheffield.org.uk

I started Volunteering for Sage 7 years ago with Greenfingers and Singing through the Seasons. I love the allotment – it is a special place where people and nature can flourish and be themselves. My favourite thing to grow is squash – they’re amazing plants and produce fantastic vegetables. My favourite is called Turk’s Turban.

Carley Bull

Project Worker

After her degree in Multimedia Textiles and MA in Integrative Arts in Health Education and Community Settings, Carley went on to train in Yoga, Person Cantered Counselling and Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (STH). Carley has worked in and around many community projects as an artist and gardener. Carley established and currently works in an STH and counselling CIC called Growing Forward that works with NHS and other referrals with people living with anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Participants join a program aimed at increasing social inclusion, improving health and wellbeing, and developing volunteering readiness. Some participants go on to take up important roles in the project and many become long-term volunteers at local community gardens. Recently Carley also worked for Age UK Sheffield as a Independent Living Coordinator. In her role at Sage Carley will be supporting the Green fingers sessions and working with volunteers, continuing to champion personalised green care and the benefits of green spaces and STH activities.

Meet our trustees...

Good Trustees are essential to every great charity and at SAGE we are blessed with some of the best Trustees around. They have a wealth of skills and experience and a passion for making sure what we do is the best.

Dr Will Carlile

Chair of Trustees

I joined the trustee board because I believe that the work engaged in by SAGE Greenfingers is life-changing for the many people it reaches. We might think this benefit would be only for clients/members but family, carers and many others such as SAGE staff, volunteers and trustees all can benefit in different ways. I have seen very distressed or emotionally distant people find connection, joy and relief through the therapeutic intervention of time spent at the allotment. This is often for people who have failed to find relief/support through other agencies. During 30 years as a local GP caring for people with mental health problems I recognise the severe limitations of purely medical approaches, and I am really pleased to be able to give my time to a charity dedicated to providing alternative and additional support for which there is good evidence of effectiveness. I have to thank SAGE for providing some of the most rewarding moments of my professional career. Witnessing SAGE’s positive interventions would lift me on my own darker days. Attending the allotment sites, eg on an open day, is uplifting, as is engaging with the users and hearing their feedback. A great cause worthy of my support.

Alison Frost

Trustee

I am proud to have been involved with SAGE for many years, initially as co-facilitator of gardening sessions in my role with the Primary Mental Health Care Project, I spent several years as Chair of Trustees and now I continue my involvement as a Trustee of this thriving and successful independent organisation. In my professional life I have over 20 years’ experience of supporting people with mental health problems, originally qualifying in social work and latterly counselling and counselling supervision. For me, the service SAGE offers is the perfect medium for engaging with and promoting the well-being of vulnerable and isolated people for whom mainstream services do not work.

Max Nerurkar

Trustee

I am someone who has always thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors and spaces of natural beauty. I have spent the last 5+ years as a professional mountain biker where I have been fortunate to spend many of my days in the forests and mountains receiving the joy and healing benefits of mother nature. I also spend a large part of my time creating, sharing and selling artworks, mainly acrylic on canvas but I’ve experimented with other mediums and forms as well. Both creativity and nature have brought so much to my life, from friends to peace of mind. For the last year I’ve been looking for ways to connect with and support my local community. I’ve took a number of different roles, one of them being a volunteer and trustee at SAGE.