Our people
Meet our dedicated team of staff at Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and find out our favourite Dales places!
Our current Chief Executive David Sharrod started as a Project Officer when Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) was first established in 1996. Today we have over 20 members of staff working from our offices here in Clapham.
We pride ourselves on being a ‘doing’ organisation, and working hard to achieve practical results. So it goes without saying that our people are a hands-on, enterprising and hardworking bunch, who are passionate about the Yorkshire Dales.
Meet the team
David Sharrod, Chief Executive
david.sharrod@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Moughton Scar. A vast open and empty, almost lunar, landscape of limestone pavements and scars with Pen-y-Ghent and Ingleborough as backdrops. Has a sense of scale, of age, of peace. Yet full of life, with the ancient Junipers and delicate flowers sheltering in the grikes and hollows and a haze of purple heather in late summer; and although you rarely see anyone evidence of long use from Celtic huts to one of the longest and most impressive drystone walls in the Dales marching across the skyline.
Fundraising & Development
Michael Devlin, Development Manager & Deputy Chief Executive
michael.devlin@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Hubberholme in Upper Wharfedale! There is a fantastic meadow walk that we always try to do in June and the cycling up the dale via Yockenthwaite to Fleet Moss is one of the best climbs! The climb up Kidstones isn’t too bad either… The pub and medieval church sat either side of the old bridge over the River Wharf is picturesque Dales at its best!
Mike Appleton, Marketing and Communications Officer
info@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
It’s difficult to pick a particular spot I love in the Dales because there are so many. I have fond memories of Dent; swimming in the river as a young lad and then walking up Rise Hill and also to Ibbeth Peril. Then there’s the cheese press stone in Kingsdale and the plateau of Little Ingleborough on the way to the summit. I’ve seen some amazing places underground too – Heron Pot in East Kingsdale being a classic!
Jill Brown, Fundraising Administrator
jill.brown@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Walking the Turbury Road above Kingsdale, because of the space and fabulous views.
Leah Galloway, Development Officer
info@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Scaleber Force because I think it feels like a hidden place when you find it and reminds me of walks with my Dad when I was younger.
Sarah Hodgson, Development Officer
sarah.hodgson@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Bolton Abbey… on a crisp cold winters day! I love the mixture of woodland, river and history in one place. It’s an area we visited a lot when I was younger, and I’m enjoying being able to visit again having returned to Yorkshire after a few years away and making new memories there with family and friends.
Lindsay Wallace, Marketing and Digital Officer
lindsay.wallace@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
A bit of a cheat but my favourite place is just next door - Brimham Rocks in Nidderdale AONB. It's mother nature's adventure playground - with stunning panoramic views, hundreds of gravity defying rocks to climb and winding pathways to explore. The perfect place to let the kids go wild on a clear winters day when the crowds are at home.
Projects and Operations
Don Gamble, Operations Manager
don.gamble@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
My favourite view is of Swaledale from the ruined Crackpot Hall. It has everything – dramatic fells, a deep ravine, the crumbling remains of lead mines, and lush meadows in the valley bottom with field barns and dry stone walls. The name Crackpot is thought to come from the Old Norse for crows and pot, the local name for a cave or deep hole. The ruins of the Hall were consolidated as a YDMT-funded Environet project. Our Muker Meadows walk leaflet includes the option to visit the remains.
Debbie Boswell, Landscape Designer
debbie.boswell@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Sulber Gate looking over Thieves Moss, Moughton Scar. Excellent views down into Crummuckdale, great timeless spot for a picnic or just to take a moment!
Anthea Hanson, Schools Out Officer
anthea.hanson@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
My favourite place is the footpath that goes past Broadrake farm in early summer when the meadows are in full flower looking back towards Ribblehead Viaduct on one side and Ingleborough on the other. To make it perfect I would be nursing a cup of tea!
Judy Rogers, People and the DALES Community Officer
judy.rogers@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
I love sitting at the top of Malham Cove on a summers evening. It’s a great place to sit and watch the peregrines when they are nesting and look out over the place where I call home.
Rosie Russell-Cohen, Eco Schools & Green Mentor
rosie.russellcohen@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Ribblehead Viaduct. The industrial and human cost that went into its construction is incredible and devastating. I like that the Viaduct reminds us about an environment that has always been worked. It's about being custodians of traditional Yorkshire landscape and heritage, while also understanding that part of that history includes change and transformation. It's a great thing to talk about with groups visiting!
Hannah Rose, Projects Administrator
hannah.rose@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Sat on top of Chapel Fell. Chapel fell has some of the best and most pristine limestone pavement I have ever seen, you also have a cracking view of Highfolds, Great Close Scar, Malham Tarn and Tarn Moss. It is a place no one really goes, so you get to enjoy the peace and quiet (apart from the very noisey grouse and curlews!).
Carol Douglas, Woodlands Manager
carol.douglas@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
On top of ‘Winder’, the hill just north of Sedbergh in the Howgills. I must have been up it hundreds of times but it’s always a pleasure. Life just would not be the same for me if I could not walk out my back door and up Winder every week, or sometimes several times a week!
Chris Lodge, Community Woodlands Officer
chris.lodge@ydmt.org
Catherine Mercer, Bee Together Project Officer
catherine.mercer@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Crookrise Crag near Embsay. Enough bouldering to keep me going for many years to come, plus a cracking view off the top if you make it up there.
Sarah Deane, Green Futures Programme Manager
sarah.deane@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Janet's Foss in Malham. It’s a beautiful waterfall, set in woodland with a fairie story to go with it. It gets busy but I always feel calmer from being there.
Gail Smith, Evaluation Manager
gail.smith@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Sitting on the Paul Holmes bench overlooking the Tarn up at Malham Tarn Field Centre – an amazing view across the Tarn and the surrounding area, really calm and relaxing place to be (especially after a busy day up there with a group!)
Jo Boulter, Trainees & Governance Officer
jo.boulter@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Janet’s Foss in Malham – AFTER all the tourists have gone! It’s a magical and calming place early morning or in the evening, and great for a bracing swim.
Fiona Busfield, Green Guardians and Community Woodlands Project Officer
fiona.busfield@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Swarth Moor. It is the view from my bedroom window and I love the way it changes dependant on the season. It is rich in wildlife….I see owls, deer and sparrowhawks most days and it has a wonderful view of Pen y Ghent too! Perfect!
Rima Berry, Programmes Coordinator
rima.berry@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Blackstone Edge at the edge of Askrigg Common. I take a breath, enjoy the fell stillness on a foggy day, the mist slipping down into the dale, listen for curlew, grouse, snipe, plover or ring ouzel, sip a flask, and am remade.
Josh Wood, Discoveries on your Doorstep Officer
My favourite place
I have limited experience within the Dales so couldn’t give a favourite place. Instead I will give one of my favourite places in the North York Moors, which is where I call home. It is “The finest view in England” from Sutton Bank, as described by the writer James Herriot. I could look out from that spot every day for the rest of my life and not tire of it, simply beautiful.
Adrian Shepherd, Long Preston Floodplain Project Officer
adrian.shepherd@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
The summit of Gragereth is one of my favourite places. I like the high places, the views from Gragererth are unsurpassed with the 3 Peaks, Lakeland fells and Bowland Fells all in view with the quieter dales of Kingsdale, Bullpot and Barbondale closer at hand with Crag Hill and Calf Top as other lesser known summits. As a native of those parts the fact that it is in Lancashire too, and now in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, are a bonus!
Finance and Administration
Jane Massey, Finance Manager
jane.massey@ydmt.org
Shona Holmes, Facilities & HR Officer
shona.holmes@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
The stepping stones on the river Wharfe (in between Grassington & Linton) as my Mum was born there (In a big house near the St Michaels & All Angels church!) and I spent many summer days splashing around in the river as a family when I was younger.
Gavin Kennedy, Finance Administrator
gavin.kennedy@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Kingsdale near Ingleton, because it’s a quiet valley with fantastic views ranging from Ingleborough through to Dentdale.
Sophie Balderson, IT & Admin Officer
sophie.balderson@ydmt.org
My favourite place in the Dales
Cracoe fell, I love walking up to the obelisk at the summit and then along the top to Rylstone Cross. It’s so peaceful up there, and the views never fail to amaze me even when it’s throwing it down with rain or glorious sunshine.
