Following an MSc in Environmental Technology, I spent 17 years as an Environmental Manager firstly on an oil refinery and later with British Airways. This professional background has provided me with an interest and skills in protecting the natural environment, sustainability, environmental auditing, outreach projects and community engagement.

Over the last few years this has developed my enthusiasm for all things gardening……. I have been a volunteer gardener for the National Trust for over eight years. I've volunteered on the Garden Visits Committee at the Garden Museum in London since 2014, and in 2015 brought the Chelsea Fringe to Henley on Thames, organising the opening Floral Flotilla. I have been a judge for London in Bloom for some years and recently completed a course in garden/landscape history.

I have now built on this varied experience by becoming a judge and IYN assessor for Thames and Chiltern in Bloom.