Our Roots
Photo Credit: Mark Simmonds Photography©
Students plant Sarah’s tree at Ragmans Land Farm
Sarah Pugh’s Teachers
Co-Founder
Sarah Pugh
Sarah Pugh lived and worked in Bristol from 1997, beginning her journey as a community gardener, fundraiser and activist. She founded the Bristol Permaculture Group, growing it into a thriving network of more than 2,000 people interested in sustainable living, growing and community resilience. In 2007, she helped establish Transition Bristol, bringing together people from across the city to explore practical responses to environmental, economic and social challenges.
Sarah developed her passion for teaching permaculture through facilitating Patrick Whitefield's Sustainable Land Use course and Mike Feingold's Permaculture Design Course. She went on to develop her own distinctive approach to permaculture education, combining practical skills with systems thinking, creativity, community building and personal transformation.
In 2010, Sarah co-founded Shift Bristol with Laura Corfield and together they created the Practical Sustainability Course. Their vision was to offer a richer, more immersive learning experience that engaged the head, heart and hands, bringing together an extraordinary network of practitioners, growers, builders, educators and changemakers. Sarah served as Lead Tutor and Creative Director of the course until 2020.
A hardworking single parent to her son Albie, Sarah was passionate about ensuring that transformative education was accessible to people from all walks of life. Her belief that learning should be practical, affordable and community-centred remains woven into the fabric of Shift Bristol today.
Very sadly, Sarah passed away in 2022 after a two-year journey with brain cancer. Her infectious enthusiasm, practical no-nonsense approach, generosity of spirit and unwavering belief in the power of people working together continue to inspire thousands of lives. Her legacy lives on through the communities she helped build, the students she taught, and the many people continuing the work of creating a more resilient and regenerative future.
Hear Sarah talk here:
Patrick Whitefield
Mike Feingold
Photo Credit: Mark Simmonds Photography©
Photo Credit: Mark Simmonds Photography©
Photo Credit: Mark Simmonds Photography©
Co-Founder
Laura Corfield
Laura Corfield co-founded Shift Bristol with Sarah Pugh in 2010 and has played a central role in shaping the organisation's vision, culture and learning programmes ever since.
Laura first discovered permaculture in 2006 through one of Sarah's courses and was immediately drawn to its systems-based approach to creating positive change. Inspired by the ethics of Earth Care, People Care and Fair Shares, she became increasingly involved in supporting Sarah's work before joining her as a course facilitator. What began as a teaching partnership soon evolved into a close creative collaboration, combining Sarah's vision and fearlessness with Laura's strengths in organisation, facilitation and bringing ambitious ideas into reality.
Together they founded Shift Bristol and created the Practical Sustainability Course, developing a unique educational model that weaves together practical sustainability skills, ecology, community resilience, group dynamics and personal development. Through a diverse network of tutors, practitioners and community partners, the course has supported hundreds of students to develop the knowledge, confidence and relationships needed to contribute to a more resilient and regenerative future.
Following a period away from the organisation, Laura returned to Shift Bristol in September 2021 as Sarah's health declined following her brain cancer diagnosis. Taking on the role of Creative Director, she worked closely with Sarah during her final year to support the continuation of the Practical Sustainability Course and help steward the organisation through a period of profound transition. Following Sarah's death in 2022, Laura led the next chapter of Shift Bristol's development, rebuilding organisational capacity, expanding educational programmes, strengthening governance and supporting the emergence of a wider community of facilitators, tutors and leaders to carry the work forward.
Alongside her leadership within Shift Bristol, Laura is a nature-connected coach with a particular interest in human potential, personal transformation and the relationship between individual wellbeing and wider systems change. Her coaching combines reflective practice, systems thinking and nature-based approaches to help people navigate complexity, reconnect with their strengths and discover the unique contribution they wish to make in the world. She believes that lasting change happens when people are supported to grow in environments that foster curiosity, connection and belonging.
Today, as Shift Bristol transitions from founder-led leadership towards a shared stewardship model, Laura's focus is on ensuring that the organisation's values, culture and hard-earned wisdom continue to be passed on to future generations. Her work remains rooted in a simple belief: that people, like ecosystems, thrive when diversity, connection and care are nurtured, and that everything needed to create a better future already exists within our communities.
