Taking leadership for the countryside in Lancashire

Having been a trustee and Chair of CPRE Lancashire, Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester for the past seven years, Debbie McConnell has a fantastic insight and understanding of trusteeship. She shares her volunteering journey with us and explains why having different backgrounds, perspectives and life experiences represented on a trustee board is so important.

It all began with a passion…

Debbie was born in Oxfordshire, but as the daughter of a railwayman, she lived in many different English counties during her childhood, including Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire. Her love and passion for nature and the countryside grew throughout this time. ‘I’ve always been passionate really, mad passionate about the environment and the natural world ever since I was a very young child.’

Yet, she admits: ‘I didn’t realise for many years just how unique the English countryside is until I started to travel abroad and see other places. We have wonderful places on our doorstep. My favourite place is the Yorkshire Dales, the Yorkshire Moors; it’s stunningly beautiful. If you ask anybody in England what they think of as the countryside, I think a lot of them would describe the Yorkshire Dales. It’s James Herriot country, it’s just lovely.’

Debbie now lives in the rural village of Higham, East Lancashire, nestled within the countryside. ‘There’s nothing like seeing a 500-year-old oak tree or listening to bird songs or being in a bluebell wood – it just makes your heart sing. It’s just the most wonderful thing.’

She’s also an advocate for the importance of protecting the countryside in light of the climate and biodiversity crisis. ‘The countryside is our future. We need it for food security, and we need it for people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing.’

After over 20 years working as a lawyer, and with her daughter leaving for university, Debbie was looking to take on some voluntary work. When the opportunity to become a trustee with CPRE Lancashire, Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester arose, Debbie found her calling to help protect and enhance the countryside. ‘I applied and became a trustee in 2017 and then in 2019 I became the Chair. I wanted to do my bit and to give back. I had the time, and I wanted to do something where I felt I could make a difference and make things better.’

What it means to be a trustee for CPRE

So, what’s involved in Debbie’s role as a trustee and Chair? At the heart of trusteeship, Debbie explains, is ‘having a passion for what we do and trying to enthuse others with this’. She adds that ‘strategy, finance, good governance, …looking after and supporting our employees and contractors, risk management and leadership’ are also the collective responsibilities of a trustee board.

To be a good trustee, Debbie explains: ‘you need to be a critical friend. If you have a board where everybody is in agreement all of the time, there’s something wrong, the board isn’t diverse enough.’ She highlights the importance of being collaborative, supportive and tolerant of the views and ideas of others but says that ‘you also need to be tactful and diplomatic in delivering your own alternative point of view or different ideas.’

Indeed, Debbie admits that being a trustee can have its challenges, particularly when managing time and capacity barriers. ‘Tthere’s so much more that we could do, but we just don’t have the resource.’ However, being a trustee with CPRE has also presented some fantastic opportunities and experiences for Debbie. Hear her talk about what she enjoys most about her role and some of her highlights since joining CPRE as a trustee over seven years ago:

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Debbie is a strong advocate for the importance of EDI. ‘Anybody can be a trustee, providing that you’re willing to work hard, turn up at meetings and to speak to your colleagues about what you think and what you feel. I think it’s really helps if trustees are passionate.’

Ideally, a trustee brings to the board some experience, skills, knowledge and/or perspectives to help support the governance of a charity. As Debbie explains, having a board with people of diverse backgrounds and life experiences is crucial: ‘EDI for me is absolutely vital; we need people who’ve had different life experiences, who’ve grown up in different places and different environments. That particularly includes the young, people of colour, people who are less able-bodied, people with particular needs or who are neurodiverse. It includes people with different sexual or gender identities, and people who’ve faced economic challenges. If they’ve grown up in poverty or in disadvantaged circumstances, their perspective of the countryside is going to be different.’

‘I think we need all of these people around the table because they bring different ideas and it’s refreshing to hear these different ideas and to be challenged.’

Indeed, CPRE Lancashire, Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester are currently seeking a trustee to join their board who’s under 30. ‘We want somebody who has different ideas because they’ve grown up in a very different world and bring very different experiences to the table,’ Debbie explains.

Find out more

If you’re under 30 and are interested in the exciting opportunity to join CPRE Lancashire, Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester as a trustee, you can find out more and apply here.

If you think you’d like to volunteer for CPRE like Debbie and stand with the countryside, take a look at our volunteering pages and current opportunities, or get in touch with us at volunteeringteam@cpre.org.uk.