I’ve had a wonderful career teaching PE and Maths, including working as a Head of Year in a large secondary school in London. Then came marriage, a career break, and two beautiful children.

As my children, Oli and Charlotte, grew up, my creativity found new ways to appear — hosting children’s and adults’ birthday parties, making wildly over-the-top birthday cakes, chairing the school PTA, organising car boot sales and coffee mornings, and spending countless happy hours making messes through arts and crafts together. When the children were younger, my parents would come over every Tuesday so I could have some precious time to myself — usually heading off to the gym or taking art classes. Of course, life is never completely smooth sailing. Following divorce, I returned to teaching — a profession I genuinely loved. But as the education system changed, the role became increasingly challenging. Even so, I always tried to bring creativity into my classroom through my teaching style, lesson ideas, and the way I connected with students.

Then lockdown arrived. Like many people, it drew me back towards creativity. I converted a small room into an art studio and spent hours experimenting with acrylic pouring and water colour’s. Lockdown round two, however, brought long days of teaching PE and Math’s online, learning unfamiliar IT systems, and trying to navigate an entirely new way of working. By the end of each day, there was little time or energy left for creativity, so once again, art was pushed quietly to one side. The studio was still there — I just couldn’t quite give myself permission to sit down and create when there always seemed to be something else that needed doing. The last few years of teaching have thrown just about everything at me. During a period of illness and stress, I found myself following online mindful doodling sessions, and for the first time in a long while, my mind began to settle.

I started creating doodles woven with personal memories and meaningful moments as gifts for family and friends, and gradually “Moments in Ink” began to grow. Then, in 2026, my teaching position at the local high school was made redundant. I thought I would be devastated — and of course the shock took a little while to settle — but alongside it came something unexpected: a creative awakening. Maybe this is the point where art finally started to save my life. And maybe this is where a new chapter begins — combining creativity, teaching, connection, storytelling, and bringing people together. That’s how Moments & Ink was born.