Promotions and new appointments in Cumbrian business

Karl Stout has been appointed as Facilities Manager at Harrison & Hetherington’s head office at Borderway Mart in Carlisle. He will work across all of the H&H auction marts in the North of England and the Borders.

He joins H&H after 14 years working with Amey\Urbaser, most recently as an Operations and People Manager, working in partnership with Eden District Council to oversee the smooth running of the municipal contract. Cumberland born and bred, Karl has known and visited Borderway Mart all his life. “I have always been involved in agriculture and I visited Borderway many times when I was a boy. In the past I used to keep about 30 Texels so I have been on the other side of the Farmstock fence as well,” he said.

*A new farming officer has been appointed to the National Park Authority.Claire Foster has moved to the Lakes from Yorkshire where she was brought up on her parents’ tenanted arable farm just outside Leeds. Her farm adviser career started with a role at the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), based at Thirsk. It was this job that took Claire into Nidderdale, where she lived for 12 years, working on a variety of projects including Catchment Sensitive Farming, as well as facilitating a farmer group in Upper Nidderdale and developing projects with the Nidderdale AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) team and Yorkshire Water.

During her work as an independent farm adviser in Yorkshire, Claire has supported predominantly upland beef and sheep farmers to access many environmental grants and schemes. Added to this is seven years’ experience as Farmer Coordinator for The Farmer Network, covering Nidderdale and the Eastern Yorkshire Dales. But she recognises that much of her working knowledge of upland farming is linked to her time spent living in Nidderdale, and her connection to Swaledale sheep.

“I know the Lake District is very different to the upland areas I have previously worked in, particularly with commoning and fell farming and their respective challenges. But I know that many farmers are facing an uncertain future, and I am ready to learn fast and work hard to be able to improve this outlook.”

*Two new arrivals at Penrith law firm, EMG Solicitors, have highlighted the different routes into the profession. Associate solicitor Natalie Spedding qualified 13 years ago and was working in Kendal before joining the firm. She had studied geography at Lancaster University and converted to law at the College of Law in York before training in Carlisle.

She specialises in commercial litigation, employment law and dispute resolution relating to business and probate.

Natalie grew up on her family’s dairy farm near Carlisle, is married to a farmer and has her own flock of North of England mules and Dutch spotted texel sheep.

Phil Capstick, from Penrith, spent 14 years in the motor trade, as a mechanic then in sales, before deciding to pursue a new career. He took A level equivalent qualifications then a law degree at the University of Cumbria while working as a paralegal for a firm in Windermere.

Aged 35, he is one of the first solicitor apprentices, a relatively new three-year training programme which will see him qualify in 2025. “I had always considered a career in law but I followed in family footsteps first. The apprenticeship suits me because it’s on the job training with one day a week at university.

*Armstrong Watson has made a key promotion in its senior management team in Cumbria as one of the firm’s former accounting trainees has risen through the ranks to the role of director.

Lauren Graham joined Armstrong Watson as a 24-year-old trainee in 2013 and has now been promoted to Audit and Assurance Director. Initially joining the firm’s Hexham office, Lauren completed her AAT apprenticeship and went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant, gaining her ACA in 2018, before taking on managerial roles in 2020.

Lauren, who is now based at James Watson House in Carlisle, has expertise in audit, risk management and quality assurance, working with companies, charities and academies.

She has also recently been appointed to join the Board of Trustees for Austin Friers School in Carlisle and has been on the Board of Trustees at Carlisle Youth Zone for the past three years. As a trustee and dedicated fundraiser of Carlisle Youth Zone, Lauren is running the London Marathon in April followed by Switzerland’s gruelling Eiger 50k trail run in July. She has previously completed the Great North Run to fundraise for the youth zone.

*Dr Scott McLean has been appointed as a Visiting Professor to the University of Cumbria’s Institute of Health. He is currently the Chief Operating Officer at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) which runs hospital and community services in south Cumbria and north Lancashire.

He trained as a nurse in 1992 in Fife, Scotland, and then spent the next 15 years of his career working in Cardiology in Fife, Edinburgh and Dublin. Having completed his PhD in the pre-hospital care of acute coronary syndromes, Scott moved to London in 2010 to take up post as Divisional Director of Nursing at Barts Health NHS Trust.

In 2013, he moved back to NHS Fife and was Executive Chief Nurse there before making the switch to become Chief Operating Officer. Scott then moved to Cardiff, Wales, where he was initially Director of Children and Women's Services before becoming Managing Director of the University Hospital of Wales. He joined University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust in 2022.

The university confers the title of Visiting Professor upon individuals of significant academic standing from other institutions, who are recognised as expert in their field.

*Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors, which operates across Cumbria and Northumberland, has recruited Lynne McFaul who brings more than 30 years’ experience in commercial property to the law firm. Lynne lives in Cockermouth and will be based at Cartmell Shepherd’s office in the town.

Lynne honed her legal skills in commercial property while working for large city practices in Liverpool before working for regional law firms based in Cumbria.

Originally from Liverpool, Lynne moved to Cumbria with her family in 2007. Her husband Mike is a university lecturer and the couple have three children.