Ann Hindley

Cross Keys Associates

Overview

Ann is a community development worker with nearly forty years’ experience of working in and with the voluntary, community, social enterprise and faith sectors as well as working for local authorities, educational institutions and government bodies. Her involvement with the sector has been as a paid employee, a volunteer, a trustee and as a consultant. Ann’s approach is one of building on strengths, appreciating the vast amount of unpaid time that is put into the sector by trustees and volunteers and the increasing demands placed by regulators and others, whilst also appreciating the need to maintain the integrity of the sector. She has been self-employed since 1992.

Ann provides support with feasibility studies, business planning, funding strategies, governance and pieces of research and development, including project evaluations . Training on any of the above can also be provided.

She works mostly in Yorkshire and the Humber and the East Midlands but will venture further afield.


Clients

Over the past twenty seven years, Ann has worked with a range of clients from embryonic community organisations to the Countryside Agency and the Universities of York and Lincoln.

Current and recent projects include:

  • support to a community organisation in Scunthorpe with forward planning;
  • working with Althorpe with Keadby Parochial Church Council on feasibility and business planning to transform the church hall into a much needed community centre;
  • North Yorkshire County Council – review of current systems of voice and representation for older people and presentation of options for the future;
  • preparation and implementation of a funding strategy for a community library in Sheffield;
  • project evaluation of Ex Forces Support for Community First Yorkshire as part of an evaluation led by Rose Regeneration;
  • also with Rose Regeneration, involvement in a project evaluation of the MOVE employability project managed by Lincolnshire Voluntary and Community Services;
  • management supervision for a worker involved in a community based youth project in Scunthorpe;
  • consultancy on governance issues and forward planning for a recreational charity in North Yorkshire.

Qualifications

B.A.(Hons) Applied Social Science
M.Soc Sc
M. Phil
PhD – thesis written on women’s role in rural community practice
Open University Unit B789 – Managing Voluntary and Not for Profit Organisations
PGCE (FE)
Level 2 Certificate in Organic Horticulture (proudest achievement so far!)


Experience

Ann started her career in community development in 1978 doing neighbourhood work with older people in inner city Birmingham. After spending some time involved in research around issues concerning old age, she was appointed to manage a new church based community development project in Scunthorpe. This was followed by similar work in Gainsborough before becoming self-employed in 1992. Initially, this was combined with teaching for a local college and work for Humberside Co-operative Development Agency.

She has been a trustee (and chair) of two law centres, a trustee of a Rural Community Council and a village hall, and is currently a trustee and vice chair of a grant making foundation and trustee of a charity providing services to asylum seekers and refugees. In the past, she has been a volunteer in independent advice centres and with a wildlife trust and now spends her time campaigning for better railways and running an apple juicing co-operative.