In 2012, I founded a social enterprise to help children get excited about healthy eating. Through the medium of musical theatre, and using rhyming lyrics, games, colourful props, enchanting activities and a lot of fun, my theatre-in-education company I Know Why It’s Yum, Mum! has encouraged tens of thousands of primary aged children across the world, to eat more fruit and veg, cereals and seeds. My objective was to tackle the fussy eating and childhood obesity epidemics with a practical, positive solution. I am so proud of the impact we have had on so many children. And as the world has now accepted that vegetables are the most important part of any diet, and fruit juice can never be a substitute for eating a fresh piece of fruit, I am proud of having been a part of that revolutionary shift in national mindset about what ‘healthy eating’ really is.
I have always loved wildlife and nature, since my Biology degree days at Bristol University. In 2019, I couldn’t resist applying for a part time, short term role as an Education Officer in an award winning local park, which I did whilst running I Know Why It’s Yum, Mum! The rest, as they say, is history. Over the last three years I have loved delivering environmental, mainly outdoor, education for a wide range of organisations. The pandemic has opened little eyes to the restorative power and intriguing nature of the outside world. If we want the earth to become a healthier place to live, for all, I believe you have to start at grass roots level. Metaphorically and literally. So with all my outdoor and environmental work, I only have one aim: to hear the children gasp. So that they remember the experience and learning. And grow up to care, and hopefully positively change and restore the natural world.
