WELCOME....

I grew up in a family that valued going out to work over education, no-one mentioned college or university but it was full of love and mixed with buckets of Liverpudlian and Lancashire working class humour.  I left school at 16 and yes...worked in a mill, the famous "Trencherfield Mill" at Wigan Pier.  No, I didn't wear clogs!

Cutting and folding textiles all day led to daydreams of the world beyond Wigan Pier.  It wasn't long before I was living and working in hotel management on the Isle of Man, I couldn't think of a more beautiful place to live, until discovering New Zealand.  I spent months travelling and working the length and breadth of this stunning country.  Staying in guesthouses, friends houses, tents or hostels I flicked between the life of a waitress and a nomad; living on the road, sleeping under trees, brushing my teeth in mountain rivers.

My current 21 year teaching career is the result of both serendipity and hard decisions.  Age 30, I became a single parent of two wonderful boys and through volunteering at their school, realised the power of education.  I quickly stepped into the role of mature student, working through college,  then onto a degree with Liverpool Hope University in 2001.  

In the final year of my degree, luck struck me on the same day that tragedy attempted to step in.   Waking up in Fazakerley hospital I was told I had been cut free from the wreckage of a three car  head-on collision.  I have no memory of the fire and ambulance teams that came to my rescue, but it's an experience that leaves a legacy, and for me an acute awareness of our fragility and mortality. 

Fast forward to my recovery and a return to many late nights of studying I shocked everyone around me by graduating with something called a First and winning the University prize for top Bioscience student that year.  Nothing like a set back to give you focus!

University didn't want me to leave, handing me my first lecturing post which evolved into taking post graduate study in education then being invited to take a teaching role in high school science.  It's a unique experience, to have had the pleasure of teaching every single age group; from Reception children to University undergraduates.

Already teaching evening Pilates classes,  in 2018 I met Lolita San Miguel at a Pilates conference in the hometown of Joseph Pilates, Monchengladbach.  We shared a beer and interesting conversation which led to my continued training with her and her educators in the UK and USA.  Lolita granted me my fully comprehensive certification in 2021.  It has been a unique learning opportunity and I feel lucky to be one of only a handful of teachers in the UK to be part of this legacy.

I believe the teachings of Joseph Pilates remain a valuable prompt for all of us. How being closer to nature and going outdoors is essential for our body, mind and spirit.  This is also the true inspiration for our annual outdoor retreat in beautiful Wales.

My love of the outdoors and nature was forged during my 12 years of living in the Isle of Man where I discovered a real and surprising connection with Mr Pilates himself. During the First World War Joseph Pilates was interned as an 'enemy alien' at Knockaloe.  It's fascinating to think of all of the corners of the world he may have been, he had originally worked on his method right where I came to live.

One of my favourite sayings.

"Everything is connected!"

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Qualifications

I’m fully trained in contemporary mat Pilates as well as traditional and contemporary apparatus Pilates, having studied with Pilates elder Lolita San Miguel and Joakim Valsinger of Balans, Scotland. 

I travel and continue my learning in person with many internationally recognised teachers including Elizabeth Larkham, Alan Herdman (the first person to bring Pilates to the UK in 1970),  Brett Howard, Tracey Mallet, Joy Puleo, Nancy Castiglioni, Anula Maiberg, Blossom Crawford and Julie Driver.  Gaining experience in a wide range of Pilates styles, from Body Control Pilates London, Pilates Esher Surrey, Sixth Street Pilates, New York, Balanced Body on Tour and with the International Pilates Congress at Monchengladbach Germany.  

Pilates Teacher training Legacy Programme

2019 - 2021 (3 year fully comprehensive)

HFE Pilates Teacher Certification Level 3 - Matwork

2016

Post Graduate Certificate In Education 2007 : Nottingham University

Lecturer in Health & Psychology 2004/5

Liverpool Hope University

First Class Honours degree in Human Biology and Psychology 2004 :

University of Liverpool. 

Top Bioscience student award 2004:

Institute of Biology