BE PART OF OUR NEXT CHAPTER
We’re looking for up to four volunteer directors to help shape the next phase of The Soil Factory.
Something real is working at our first station in Forest Row, and there’s much more it could become. We need more good people around the table to help us get there.
You might want to help guide the bigger decisions and share responsibility for the CIC. You might also have skills you’d love to put to work in a practical part of the project.
Some people will do one. Some will do both!
What you would be joining
At the heart of The Soil Factory is Station One, our community compost station beside Forest Row Community Centre.
Local household members are bringing us their food scraps and together we turn them into living compost, which then goes back to our members.
One member scattered some around a rose that seemed done for the year, yet it flowered for a third time (with its best display yet).
Another member’s basil is doing better than it did with their home compost (and WAY better than the grow bag from the garden centre). Elsewhere, members’ veggies are looking great and their pots are full of life.
In short, we have a working compost station, an engaged membership and our first batches of cracking compost out in the village.
The foundations are there - but we’ve reached the edge of what the current team can carry.
Our big vision is taking shape
First, we want to make the village’s Station One strong, reliable and easier for more people to join.
Then the possibilities really open up.
Imagine Soil Factories of different shapes and sizes, connected with schools, allotments, growers, farms and local businesses across Wealden and Sussex.
Each one helps to keep more soil fertility local, return living compost to the land and give people somewhere to get involved and learn by doing.
We’re part of a movement with deep roots. Community composting in the UK stretches back more than half a century, with a wealth of experience and brilliant examples here and around the world.
We want to lean much further into those connections. We can learn from what works elsewhere, share what we discover locally and explore how far this idea could grow.
There is still a lot to try, learn, and work out. That’s one reason this is such an interesting time to join.
Why soil, and why now?
The scraps left over from our food still contain nutrients, carbon and the ingredients for new life.
Much of that goodness currently leaves our local areas. Meanwhile, the soil growing our food needs more organic matter, more life and a better chance of holding onto water when rain finally comes.
After the long, hot and exceptionally dry summer we’ve just had, the need is easy to see.
We can keep more of that fertility local, turn it into living compost and return it to allotments, community growing spaces and farms around Forest Row.
This is how we support healthy food for tomorrow by making better use of yesterday’s scraps.
TWO WAYS TO JOIN THE BOARD
A) DIRECTOR
Help guide the CIC, ask good questions and share responsibility for our direction, decisions and governance.
You don’t necessarily need to lead a particular area of work.
The usual commitment is:
One 90-minute directors’ meeting each month
Time to read papers and prepare
Occasional decisions or conversations between meetings
Around 2–4 hours in most months
B) DIRECTOR + PORTFOLIO
Take on the same board responsibilities while also helping to lead a practical part of the work.
This could be a good fit if you have more time, or experience you’re excited to put to use.
The commitment is:
Around 6–10 hours a month initially, including the directors’ meeting
Responsibility for one agreed area between meetings
Support from the wider board, volunteers and delivery team
For both routes, we’re asking for an initial 12-month commitment, with a check-in after six months.
These roles can develop as the team, work and funding grow.
FIVE AREAS WE’D LOVE TO STRENGTHEN
We’re recruiting four directors across five connected areas, but they are not five separate jobs.
Some will naturally overlap and some may be shared, while others can grow with help from volunteers or future funded roles.
OPERATIONS
Help make Station One reliable, well supported and easier for more people to take part in.
This could touch compost systems, volunteers, memberships, collections or the practical development of the site.
EDUCATION
Help create lively, practical ways for people to learn about soil, compost and food growing.
We’d love to develop this work with schools, young people, growers, educators and the wider community.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT + PARTNERSHIPS
Help more people find their way into The Soil Factory.
Support members, grow participation and turn promising relationships with local organisations into work we can do together.
COMMUNICATIONS + STORYTELLING
Help us show people what is happening and why it matters.
This could include social media, member communication, documenting what we learn and bringing more people into the story.
FINANCE + BOOKKEEPING
Keep the CIC financially clear, well organised and ready to make good decisions.
This could include bookkeeping, budgets, cash flow, accounts or the financial side of grants and new projects.
WHAT COULD YOU BRING?
Perhaps you’ve coordinated projects, run a business, managed budgets, taught people, built partnerships or helped an organisation communicate.
Maybe you’ve been a director before, or maybe you haven’t.
Compost knowledge is welcome too, but none of this is a fixed requirement.
The main thing is that the vision excites you and that you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, share responsibility and bring whatever skills, experience, relationships or ideas you have.
We’re interested in what you could add, including things we haven’t thought to ask for.
HANDS IN SOIL. DISCO BALL NEARBY.
There’ll be proper work to do. Being a director comes with decisions, accounts, responsibilities and the occasional tricky conversation.
We also want room for shared learning, good food and tasty drinks, music, stories, art and creative expression.
The microbial universe beneath our feet can be our inspiration and our teacher: diverse lives working together, transforming what already exists and creating the conditions for more life.
We say: Be more microbe! Which might look like building networks like fungi. Staying curious. Making something together.
As an incoming director, you will help shape what that looks and feels like in practice.
THE FORMAL BIT
All directors are registered company directors and share the same legal duties, whether or not they lead a portfolio.
That includes responsibility for the CIC’s decisions, finances, statutory filings and community purpose.
Directors must complete Companies House identity verification. Some personal information will also appear on the public register.
The role is voluntary. When funding exists, paid project work for Directors may sometimes be commissioned separately through a transparent approval process.
We’ll provide an induction and handover.
Read the official guidance on being a company director.
See The Soil Factory CIC’s public filings and incorporation documents
CURIOUS? EXCITED? RARING TO GO?
You don’t need to know exactly where you fit before getting in touch, but you might also feel very clear about what you can bring.
So tell us a little about yourself and what excites you about the project and email hello@thesoilfactory.earth. Or contact founding director Jon on WhatsApp at 07747 732995 and let’s start with a conversation.
Thank you so much for your interest.