A wealth of creative qualities, skills honed in the charity sector, a general curiosity and quest for knowledge and boundless energy. Flo has brought all these elements together in garden design, where she creates gardens in which her clients feel immediately at home .

“After more than 20 years working in the charity sector, I began a journey into horticulture which has been immensely rewarding and brought me many opportunities and discoveries.”

Currently designer/presenter on BBC Garden Rescue and formerly part of the presentation team on BBC Gardeners’ World 2017-19. Flo is also involved in several community gardening initiatives in the London area, and she is delighted to now be working with the Green Hub Project for Teens in Surrey. She has been invited to be an Equity Ambassador for BALI and an Ambassador for the Great British Garden Festival.

Simon is involved in a number of local charities, and has a characteristic self deprecating style. “I worked in the City for the same financial services company for 40 years – with a few ownership changes – and this they say qualifies me to be Treasurer of the Green Hub!”

Helen works as a Head of HR in her day job and pursues her interest and love of gardening outside of that. She has an RHS Diploma and enjoys gardening and being on her allotment. 

“I’ve been involved in Green Hub since the early days in a number of different roles. I’m a wannabe garden designer- my garden design helped Green Hub win a local competition for garden materials donation! Having already done some garden volunteering at a local RHS garden, I wanted to build on that and contribute to a garden that had a local community and wellbeing focus.”

Doug is Chair of Cuil Bay Capital, and was most recently CEO of Tarsus Group, and previously held senior positions at Blenheim Group plc and after its takeover, United Business Media plc. He is a past Chairman and Director of the Association of Event Organisers (AEO), as well as past Chairman of the Events Industry Alliance. He is a board member of US industry advocacy body, the Exhibition & Conference Alliance (ECA) and was also the first international board member of the US industry trade body, SISO, where he went on to serve as Chair. Douglas oversaw the acquisition of Tarsus Group by Informa plc where he now acts as Senior Advisor on the combination of the two businesses.

Dr Andrew Hill-Smith has been a child psychiatrist for over 30 years, and a consultant for 25 years, working in the NHS in Surrey, until now. His NHS experience involved working in a CAMHS clinic and then later with the Hope service, a crisis team. He has held a number of leadership roles within Surrey and with the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Louise has been flower farming on her small holding since 2021, as well as having three children, a husband and dogs. Hydon’s is special and she says wanted to see if she could use her amazing space to help people. “I reached out to Green Hub – luckily at a moment when an additional space for teens was needed – and our partnership was born.”

John worked in banking for 42 years prior to his retirement in 2021. During his career he started at Midland Bank at the bottom of Friary Street in Guildford and, after 4 years, moved to London to work with Baring Brothers. Just three months later the bank famously ‘crashed’ in February 1995 – creating a somewhat challenging start to his married life with Gabrielle, only 3 months later! 

“Working in the Green Hub Garden is very rewarding and provides an opportunity to use the tools I have accumulated over the years. I feel that Green Hub is such a worthwhile cause as children’s mental health is so important as is the support of their parents.”

James rates enthusiasm rather than knowledge as his strongest attribute when it comes to gardening! He says that it’s the simple tasks that often bring the greatest satisfaction to the amateur who just wants to get involved.

“With a career history in Asian finance, the Green Hub is a far cry from my background but I have been so energised by the venture and simply inspired by the teens and all the volunteers committed to the project. The satisfaction from just putting something in the ground and seeing it flourish is innate in us all – that and a bit of nurturing is all it takes.”

He has yet to introduce any new tropical species into the garden but we’ll see what strange plants arrive in the future.

Sarah is recently retired from a long career in sales and loves the free time to do things she enjoys, which is mainly working for a few charities in varied roles as a shop worker, gardener, committee member, trustee and teacher. 

“I loved the idea of working outside and with teens who may not get that many opportunities to interact with nature and each other in such a positive way.”

Alison spent most of her career in Marketing working in a number of different countries including Singapore, New York and Saudi Arabia. However she considers her most important role being a mother to 4 teenage girls and 2 crazy spaniels.

A love of the outdoors and passion for helping young people attracted her to the Green Hub where she started volunteering as teen co-ordinator in 2021. In this role she is the first point of contact for the families. In speaking to hundreds of parents contacting the Green Hub they realised that there is little support for the parents. The Parent Hub was set up in May 2023 and Alison became facilitator of the monthly meetings. In 2023 she completed a ICF coaching course to help in this role.

Alison looks forwarding to expanding the number of teens the Green Hub can reach and providing and providing a safe and supportive space for the Parents at the Parent Hub

Natasha joins Green Hub with a mass of experience, having had a background in the pharmaceutical industry specially supporting the executive suite, recently acquiring a CIPD Level 5 in HR. She also has a passion for counselling after completing levels 2 & 3 in counselling skills with the CPCAB.

“I joined Green Hub simply because there is a lack of support out there for our teens; these are our future leaders and innovators and they deserve to flourish. Anything I can do to be a part of that process fills my heart with joy.”