Jamie’s Farm, Lewes

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Sam Maynard

Sam grew up on an East Sussex fruit farm, so farming is really in his blood! He studied for a Masters in Drama and Theatre Education at the University of Warwick, and spent a decade working in theatre with young people in Chichester and London, before becoming Director of Arts at an East London secondary school in 2017. He tries to bring his passion for drama, creativity and fun to life on the farm, as well as loving getting out on a walk, spending time in the woods, or getting stuck in with anything that needs doing.

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Charlotte Streeter

Charlotte grew up on a farm in Sussex and studied Agriculture for 5 years, after which she completed a middle year placement at a local Dairy farm and stayed for 7 years calf rearing.  During this time she jointly owned and managed a flock of 200  sheep with a mix of breeds from Welsh mountain Badger faces, Suffolk x mules to Romneys with her partner Jake producing local boxed lamb. Next, she went to Plumpton to shepherd 600 Suffolk mules and a lovely herd of Sussex cows, working with young people as the next generation of farmers/agricultural students. Along the way, she’s collected 8 dogs who are very well-loved by all the visiting young people. She lives with partner Jake and son Darren on the Farm and loves working her dogs, shooting, wildfowling and exploring Scotland. Anything involving mud and the outdoors- and Easter eggs! 

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Katie Meanwell

Katie is the Designated Safeguarding Lead for Jamie’s Farm. Along with the team of DSLs across the different sites, she is responsible for overseeing the safety and wellbeing of our visiting young people. She and her fellow DSLs provide guidance and support to staff and communicate with schools to ensure that all young people are appropriately supported both during and beyond their visit to the Farm.

Katie joined the charity after teaching English and Drama at St George’s School in Maida Vale, one of our longest partner schools. She helped set up Jamie’s Farm Hereford in 2014 and enjoyed many memorable years as Therapy Coordinator there, before moving to East Sussex in 2019 to bring the Jamie’s Farm methodology and magic to our Lewes farm. Here, she leads many group meetings and has reflective conversations with young people who visit, supporting them and their teachers to piece together pathways for future success.

When Katie is not at the Farm, she can be found with her young family, exploring the South Downs and other sites of Sussex!

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Clare Martin

Clare grew up in rural Somerset and has had a love for the outdoors from a young age. Graduating from Swansea University with a degree in Geography, she went on Edinburgh University to study for a Masters in Health Inequalities and Public Policy. It was during this course that she developed a strong interest in the role of nature in healthy childhood development. Clare spent six years working in outdoor education, with socially disadvantaged young people on the beautiful Dorset coast. She is looking forward to following in her grandfather’s farming footsteps as being part of the team as Senior Visit Coordinator at the Lewes Farm.

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Felix Haxby

Felix spent a lot of his younger years camping and hiking around Sussex. This fostered a love of the outdoors which has stayed with him ever since. With a background in carpentry, you’ll find him leading woodworking and wood-chopping sessions, as well as supporting with other aspects of farm life. As a visit co-ordinator, Felix enjoys working with young people to ensure they get the most valuable experience possible during their stay at Jamie’s farm.

Felix is also involved with various charities supporting young people from a refugee background in Sussex. He has had several roles teaching ESOL, tutoring science, and coaching football. He spends a lot of his free time getting stuck in with various community projects in and around Brighton.

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Tim Grewcock

Tim grew up in Gloucestershire, spending much of his time in the outdoors and helping out on family farms during holidays. He managed to combine his love of travelling with the outdoors by heading to Australia to work in the outdoor education department of a school in Victoria. It was here that he really began to realise how nature and outdoor activity can to help raise the confidence of young people. After this he studied Geography & Politics at Sheffield University before heading down to live in London where he did a variety of jobs ranging from assisting on film productions, to dressing as a giant chess piece in Hyde Park.

However the work that made the biggest impact was working as an HLTA in special needs schools and pupil referral units. This combined with volunteering at Jamie’s Farm Waterloo has led him back to working in the outdoors with young people. At Lewes Tim will be mostly found in the kitchen or garden and probably off on some walks too. If he’s not at Lewes he’ll probably be making short films or performing with his improv comedy group.

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Laura Johnson

Laura began her time at Jamie’s Farm at the Hereford site and is now based at Lewes.  She loves putting her passions and values into practice on the farm, and can usually be found having a walk and a chat with a visiting young person, holding a group meeting, chopping logs, singing round the fire, or generally getting herself (and other people) caked in mud.

Laura graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) with a degree in Social Anthropology.  She has worked with young people on camps and courses from south Devon to the Scottish Highlands.  She has also spent several months volunteering for a humanitarian NGO working with displaced people in northern France.

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Jessie Thomas

Jessie has always felt happiest outdoors and is passionate about the transformative impact nature can have on us all. She studied Environmental Science and Human Ecology at London Metropole and spent many years travelling the world supporting herself by working on yachts, in catering and on farms.

She came home to Sussex to start a family and volunteered for the Sussex Wildlife Trust and BHee (Brighton Hove environmental education) at their ‘wild beach school’ where she qualified as a Forest School teacher. She also trained as a Teaching Assistant which led to a role in a Primary School as Learning Support. She managed to combine her love for the outdoors with her passion for gardening by setting up a ‘living classroom’ offering a parallel provision for those that struggle with mainstream teaching. She likes to use her Mindful, Attachment Aware and ELSA training to help children validate and label their feelings while creating Environmental stewards, instilling confidence, and pride.

As well as growing food she has always loved growing flowers and is a qualified florist. She loves early mornings, walking and anything beach related.

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Katie Thompson

Katie studied to become a teacher at Brighton University and spent a few years teaching in London before moving back to teach more locally, in Sussex. For the past five years she has been a foster carer and feels very privileged to have loved and nurtured some very special young people through a challenging stage in their lives. She also works caring for young people with complex disabilities. 

She has been ‘horse-mad’ since the age of five and has previously worked in roles caring for competition horses. She now loves to help the young people at Jamie’s Farm Lewes spend time connecting with the gorgeous horses, Toffee and Nessie. 

She loves being outdoors and even runs marathons as an excuse to spend the day outside and explore new areas of the countryside.  She has four ponies of her own (Star, Dipsy, Wellie and Oscar) and a very loyal and lovable Labrador called Olive. 

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Riley

Having been through the Jamie’s Farm programme himself, Riley understands firsthand that feeling of arriving on the farm for the first time. He is looking forward to helping make the young people feel welcome and exploring every adventure the farm has to offer with them.

Riley loves music and all things outdoors. He enjoys working alongside the animals and getting to know their personalities. He hopes to build up his farming skills and is especially excited to get stuck in with the hard work and joys that the lambing season brings.