Huckleberries Nurture Farm

—Our team—

Huckleberries provides a safe ‘place to be me’ where children belong, can be themselves, learn to love who they are, and have their feelings understood.  Our leaders, practitioners and community volunteers bring a wealth of experience of working and volunteering with children and young people.

Our trauma-informed practice is integrated into our procedures and working practices, to support and assist healing and growth. We also interweave mindfulness into our work to promote childrens’ connectedness with themselves, their surroundings, staff and each other.

Our Board of Directors and staff hold the safeguarding of children and young people at the heart of all that we do.  Our whole team are DBS checked and every session has a paediatric and outdoor education first aider present. Our practitioners hold qualifications in their specialist areas, and we hold Public and Employers Liability insurance.

Beverley Cook

Beverley Cook

Managing Director, DSL & Nurture Practitioner

Bev serves as the Managing Director, Nurture Group Leader, and Designated Safeguarding Lead for Huckleberries, bringing a wealth of expertise to her role.  She is an accredited Nurture Practitioner through NurtureUK, a Youth Mindfulness Practitioner, and a dedicated environmentalist.  She is also a paediatric level 3 and outdoor pursuits first aider.

Describing herself as a strategic systems thinker and an eternal optimist, Bev holds a firm belief in the power of collaboration, hard work, and staying true to one’s values, to achieve remarkable outcomes.

Bev spent much of her career in the sustainable construction sector, working with clients, architects and engineers to embed sustainability into the the natural, physical, and social elements of the built environment.  Her favourite projects include Heathrows Terminal 5, London 2012, and UCL’s Bloomsbury transformation.

Having served as a school governor for 13 years, Bev possesses a deep understanding of the escalating mental health crisis facing young people, and recognizes the role that education and social systems play in this crisis. Coupled with her passion to improve outcomes for children and her love of all things outdoors, Bev founded Huckleberries Nurture Farm as a Community Interest Company in 2019, on her own back garden smallholding, to demonstrate the regenerative potential of positive interaction with nature, animals and each other. During 2020 she developed their new site in Elstead, with her family and friends, which has been open for children since June 2020.

Bev remains steadfast in her belief that children don’t need fixing, rather, it’s their environment that needs to change. She advocates for embracing the interdependencies between humans and nature, and a world where positive change in children’s mental health is achieved, while simultaneously contributing to the greater well-being of the planet. 

Antony Cook

Antony Cook

Director

Ant is the Chief Technology Officer for Triad Group Plc by day, Scout Leader at 7th Farnham by night, and Huckleberries agricultural engineer (fence posts mostly!) by weekend – he also looks after the books! Ant grew up at a residential outdoor pursuits centre in north Wales. ‘Bryntysilio’, owned by the Walsall Schools Holiday Camp Trust, and converted and run by his mother and father from 1969 specifically for the benefit of disadvantaged children, and continues to provide adventure activity courses today. It was this introduction to the outdoors that sparked Ants interest at an early age into rock climbing, canoeing, mountaineering and sailing, hobbies he continues to enjoy with his family and as an active Scout leader in Elstead. alongside his passion to help vulnerable children through his involvement in Huckleberries.

Jackie Bisley

Director

Jackie Bisley joined us as a director in May 2021

Tamzin Greggs

Tamzin Greggs

Nurture Group Leader and Nature Specialist

Tamzin is a qualified Forest School Leader and nature specialist.  She has been practicing Forest School education with children and schools since 2012.  She has a passion for all things outdoors, whatever the weather, from camping and bushcraft to butterfly identification!

Having enjoyed many muddy adventures with her husband and daughter, her mission is to provide as many children as possible with the opportunity to connect with nature and create the next generation of conservationists.  Tamzin is a qualified paediatric level 3 and Forest School first aider.

Mairead Amos

Mairead Amos

Yoga Practitioner

Mairead has been involved with Huckleberries, teaching yoga and helping to develop the programme since its embryonic days in 2018.  After spending many years teaching English Language and Literature to children and teenagers in Hong Kong, South Korea and London, Mairead moved to Surrey with her family and re-trained as a Yoga Teacher. She trained in London for two years at the prestigious Triyoga as well as completing further training to teach yoga to children and teens.  Mindful meditation underpins her teaching, providing an opportunity to fall still and discover what it means to be quiet, to reflect and to look inside.

For more information about Maireads classes and retreats see https://www.maireadamosyoga.com/

Dale Allen

Dale Allen

Nurture Group Leader

Dale is passionate about the outdoors, mental health and supporting children emotionally. She has a background in journalism, the arts and mental health.  She is presently pursuing a MA in Art therapy at Roehampton University as a part-time student.  Prior to joining Huckleberries Dale worked as an Emotional. Literacy Support Assistant and Learning Support Assistant at a local school. She has also volunteered at and worked for several charities, usually combining her passions for art and emotional well-being.  She is qualified to deliver therapeutic arts interventions, often working 1:1 with the children at Huckleberries, and continues to build her mindfulness practice, recently participating in a forest bathing retreat. 

Heather Shaw

Nurture Group Leader

Janine Sparks

Horticulture and Bee Keeping Volunteer