Executive Director
We are now seeking an outstanding Executive Director to lead our next chapter.
This is an exciting opportunity for a values-driven leader to build on our strong reputation, recent strategic review and ambitious campaigning work. We are looking for someone who can combine strategic vision with hands-on leadership, bringing energy, credibility and expertise to a charity with a proud history and a growing future.
All relevant documents can be accessed via this link.
Closing date: Monday 18 May 2026 at 5pm.
Victoria Benn
Membership & Events Officer
Victoria joined us in 2021 and works three days a week. Victoria is responsible for the management of our events, social media, communications and publicity. Victoria is already well known as a feature writer across several regional publications and has also written two books about the Yorkshire Dales, its people and traditions.
Penny Lowe
Administration Assistant
Working part-time across two-three days per week, Penny joined us in 2017. Penny works on all aspects of membership administration – sending out welcome packs to new Friends of the Dales and tracking our monthly income and expenditure. Penny has a wide range of experience and skills, having worked for the NHS, a Yorkshire education charity and also running her own business offering holistic therapy.
Trustees
All our trustees are unpaid volunteers, who together help to run our charity and deliver our campaigning work, communications and events. They also ensure we operate legally and comply with our financial and governance obligations from the Charity Commission, Companies House and the Fundraising Regulator.
Kevin Armstrong
Anna Burke
Rachael Caton
Simon Croft
Mohammed Dhalech
Ian McPherson
Jonathan Riley (Chair)
Jane Smart
Matthew Pollitt (Treasurer)
Alex Welsh
Honorary positions, elected annually at the AGM
President
- Dr Amy-Jane Beer
Vice presidents
- Prof Rick Battarbee
- Mark Corner
- Ian Harrison
- David Joy
- Dr Bruce McLeod
- Dr Malcolm Petyt
- Dr Colin Speakman
- Nancy Stedman
Volunteers
Volunteers are essential to the delivery of our work, contributing hundreds of hours towards events and the creation of our quarterly magazine, Yorkshire Dales Review.
To find out more about volunteering, phone us on 01756 749400 or email Victoria Benn
Lynn Leadbeatter – has been the volunteer sub editor of the Yorkshire Dales Review since 2017.
Prue Harrison – has been volunteer editor of the Yorkshire Dales Review since 2020.
Bernard Peel is our longest standing volunteer. We estimate that Bernard has put in more than 4,000 hours of volunteering to support our charity. Trustees awarded Bernard an Honorary Membership of Friends of the Dales in recognition of his high level of volunteer commitment.
If you are interested in volunteering or want to talk about becoming a trustee, email Victoria Benn.