LESS director Lynne Carr explains why it’s an exciting time to join the board of Lancaster’s Community Interest Company…
I’m Lynne Carr and I’ve been a director of LESS (Lancaster District) Community Interest Company for almost a year.
It’s a great opportunity to be involved in an enterprise that is trying to make a real change in Lancaster and the surrounding area.
What do we do? LESS is an organisation that is helping local people live more sustainably, by co-ordinating a wide range of projects throughout North Lancashire – projects such as FoodFutures, Lancaster’s quarterly seasonal markets, the Community Composting network and The Plot and Farmstart, training new food suppliers.
The role of a director is a voluntary one.
We meet quarterly at board meetings but also in between meetings, I might be called upon to give some support to staff.
I didn’t know anything about food production, as I had worked in social housing my whole life, but I found that the skills I’d learnt at work, such as human resources (HR), financial management and customer participation, have all helped in my role at LESS.
So far, I’ve been involved in buying a community farm for Lancaster, reviewing HR policies, staff appraisals, researching becoming a charity and recruiting new directors!
So the work is varied and if you’ve not been a director of a company, it’s a great opportunity for learning.
The staff are great and it’s really motivating to work alongside a group of highly committed young people.
This is an exciting time to join LESS.
Over the past five years, we have grown from an organisation that employs two part-time staff, to 20 part-time staff and four freelancers.
The purchase of the community farm in Lancaster means there will be lots more to be developed, including food production, community building and education and training.
We are also keen to bring new skills and perspectives onto the board to help build our own organisational expertise.
In particular, we are looking for people with a background in finance, IT, HR, equalities, diversity and inclusion, safeguarding, and health and safety.
We are having an online recruitment event on Monday 27 October 2025 at 5.30pm.
You can book via https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/92232
More information is available at https://lessuk.org/less-is-seeking-new-directors-
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