The NFU North Poultry Board is chaired by Matt Donald (North Riding and Durham) with Stephanie Kerr (York East) as Vice-chair, and Cumbria County Adviser Catherine Stokes and Cheshire County Adviser Helen Wainwright as secretaries.
Upcoming meetings:
Wednesday 20 May (Online)
Thursday 2 July (Venue TBC)
Thursday 10 September (Online)
Wednesday 4 November (Venue TBC)
All members are welcome to attend board meetings. If you would like to attend, or to find out more about the work of the board, contact Catherine or Helen, or get in touch with the NFU North regional office on 02476 939401 or [email protected]
Board members:
Matthew Donald
NFU Poultry Board member and Regional Chair, North
As a member of the NFU Poultry Board and a former NFU Poultry Industry Programme participant, Matt is keen to get more young people involved with poultry and farms with the aim to produce more from less, alongside enhancing the local environment.
The poultry sector's resilience, aiming to maintain its environmentally sustainable credentials and producing safe and affordable food for everyone are some of the things Matt sees as key priorities for the sector.
Vice-chair: Stephanie Kerr (York East)
Ryan Dakin (Cheshire)
Steven Pace (Cheshire)
Paul Wignal (Lancashire)
David Brass (Cumbria)
Mark Forster (Cumbria)
Catherine Armstrong (Northumberland)
Lucy Sanderson (North Riding and Durham)
Will Raw (North Riding and Durham)
Chris Fenteman (Yorkshire West Riding)
Claire Wright (York East)
Board secretaries:
Catherine Stokes
Cumbria county adviser
Catherine supports NFU members across North Cumbria.
She manages the NFU’s lobbying activities with MPs and a range of external organisations from local authorities, the police and government agencies to non-governmental organisations and relevant commercial bodies.
She also actively supports NFU group secretaries to drive NFU membership and works closely with elected farmer representatives including county officeholders and members of regional and national commodity boards.
Catherine joined the NFU in November 2023. Prior to starting her role as County Adviser, Catherine worked in the NFU Mutual Carlisle office supporting the group secretaries by organising events and meetings for NFU members and signposting member queries.
Before moving to Cumbria eight years ago, Catherine had no farming experience and had spent much of her life working in social care or homeless services for local authorities. This all changed after Catherine moved in next door to a farm and tried her hand at sheep work. She then worked on several farms as a calf rearer and eventually became a full-time seasonal calf rearer and general farm worker on a dairy farm.
Helen Wainwright
NFU county adviser (Cheshire)
This includes managing the NFU’s lobbying activities with MPs and a range of external organisations from local authorities, the police and government agencies to non-governmental organisations and relevant commercial bodies.
She also actively supports NFU group secretaries to drive NFU membership and works closely with elected farmer representatives including county officeholders and members of regional and national commodity boards.
Helen is the joint regional lead for the North dairy and poultry boards.
Helen was born and bred in Cheshire and runs her family Angus beef suckler farm alongside her role as county adviser.
Helen joined the NFU from a local feed company after completing an agricultural degree at Harper Adams.