We were thrilled to join Tone at the Council Rooms in Godalming on March 20th, when she received the Mayor’s Award for Volunteering from the Godalming Town Mayor, Councillor Paul Rivers. 

Tone was nominated by me, as her friend, a colleague and my co-founder. It means we have a matching pair now, having received my own award just a year ago!

I can’t put it any better than in the words I used in her nomination … 

Over many years working as a Paediatric Chiropractor in Godalming (originally from Godalming Chiropractor, and latterly at her own practice, Lick’s Yard Clinic, in Milford), Tone has had a passion for helping young people. She became more and more concerned at the number of teenagers she was seeing professionally, many of who had postural issues and back pain, much of it brought about by stress and anxiety.

She felt strongly that young people needed to understand how to manage stress and anxiety at such a critical time in their lives, and she started doing talks, assemblies and workshops for young people in local schools.

As she learned more and more about the issues young people were facing, she was inspired to create Teen Summit in 2015, along with a small team of specialist therapist speakers. Together they spearheaded a series of workshops and talks for teens via local schools, talking about the best strategies and resources to overcome challenges young people may face. Over 10 years Tone talked to more than 2500 young people, often at both Rodborough and Broadwater Schools.

In 2020 Tone was driven to take the idea to the next level when she realised that an unused piece of land behind her clinic could become the perfect Teen Therapy Garden. Despite the difficulties of lockdown, Tone pulled together a team of key committed individuals – including her Co-founder, Vanessa Lanham-Day – and The Green Hub Project for Teens was born.

Since then, the Green Hub has grown to 60 volunteers and even has a small central staff team. There are now two additional garden spaces in the Godalming area, and the team is currently working with 100 or more stressed and anxious teenagers each year, with ambitions to do much, much more.

Due to Tone’s personal circumstances, having tragically lost her husband in June 2024, she has had to step back from day-to-day involvement in Green Hub. However, as a Trustee, she continues to be a key part of driving the project forward and her original idea will always be central to everything the charity does.