Isabel Berry – Partnership Manager
I am employed by the National Trust on behalf of the Fix the Fells Partnership, to manage and oversee the Partnership. My role includes leading on strategic planning; ensuring funding of £550,000 per year is secured to cover our annual work programmme costs; coordinating and nurturing relationships between the five Fix the Fells Partners; and ensuring Fix the Fells is embedded into wider landscape projects on the fells where synergistic opportunities are available. I work closely with the Lake District National Park Authority’s Fix the Fells Ranger, the team of 18 National Trust Rangers and 130 Lake District National Park Authority Fix the Fells Volunteers to make sure that all the many moving parts of Fix the Fells are aligned. I oversee the Partnership finances and report on progress to the Partnership Board, funders, supporters and other stakeholders, and am the first point of contact for Fix the Fells, including promoting the benefits of what we do for nature and people.
I have worked in the charity sector most of my life, starting as an Outdoors Instructor with The Outward Bound Trust, and then taking two consecutive secondments within Outward Bound, looking after corporate partnerships and then working on a database development project. When they ended, I took on management of Outward Bound’s charitable trusts and foundations fundraising, building that income stream and team significantly over eight years. I then went to work as Operations Director for Rose Castle Foundation, as that charity transitioned from start-up into full operations. Most recently, I was at NatureScot, as one of a team managing the Scottish Government’s ‘Nature Restoration Fund,’ and thence to Fix the Fells. Outside work, orienteering is my number one passion, as well as running and walking in the fells. When I need to rest, I am usually to be found curled up on the sofa with a book. The outdoors and nature have been central to my entire life and so to be able to bring my professional skills together with my love for the fells feels very exciting. I am thrilled to be part of the wonderful team which is Fix the Fells.
