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Richard Jackson

Founder President

Richard has been part of the horticultural industry all his working life. For the past 15 years, he has been a writer and broadcaster and is a guest gardening presenter for QVC. Richard founded Greenfingers Charity, but stood down as a Trustee in 2013 following 15 years of support and contribution to the work of the charity. He still remains an active and very passionate supporter of the charity.

Sue Allen

Chairman

Sue has been involved with Greenfingers Charity for over 20 years. She is Chairman of Millbrook Garden Centres, having established the business in 1979 with her late husband, Dick. Sue also splits her time between sitting on the Board of Trustees for the Garden Centre Association and is Chairman of the GCA Trust.

Boyd Douglas Davies

Chairman Elect

Boyd has spent over 40 years in the horticulture industry, particularly the retail and nursery sectors. He has been a long-time supporter of Greenfingers and spoke at the launch of the charity in 1999. Boyd is the founder of Garden Re-Leaf Day, the charity's annual FUNdrasing and Awareness day.

Boyd is Immediate Past President of the Horticultural Trades Association, Chairman of The Environmental Horticulture Group and Managing Consultant at The Boyd Partnership, an industry centric consultancy practice.

Richard Capewell

Treasurer

Richard has spent many years in the social care and charity sector and brings a wealth of experience to his role as Trustee at Greenfingers.

Richard Claxton

Richard, who trained at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals Medical School has specialised in both paediatrics and general practice medicine. After a long career that has spanned over 25 years, Richard has now retrained as a garden designer and specialises in creating garden spaces that focus heavily on the mental and physical wellbeing that gardening provides as well as placing biodiversity and the integration of wildlife at the heart of the garden.

Rob Jones

Rob, a former lawyer specialising in medical Crime and malpractice, swapped his suits for secateurs in the early 1990’s, studying horticulture and garden design at Pershore College of Horticulture. He established an in-house design and build company for a garden centre in Marlow, before creating The Garden Design Co Ltd in 1996. Rob has featured in Homes and Gardens and the Metro newspaper. He joined Greenfingers in June 2017 and is currently the Chair of the Garden Committee.

Alastair Peat

A Geordie by birth, but a southerner by upbringing led Alastair to Loughborough University to gain a Mechanical Engineering degree, and on to spend 10 plus years in the petrochemical and power generation industries. One day, however, he answered his own question – what would you do a year after you won the lottery? The answer was to set up a landscaping firm and go and play in the sunshine. Alfresco Landscaping was born, a local firm designing and constructing some lovely gardens for lovely people. 18 years later they have been fortunate to be recognized at a national level with multiple awards with Bradstone, the APL and Prolandscaper. With a strong sense of needing to give back, Alastair accepted a place on the Greenfingers Gardens Committee in 2021 with the role of having direct input and support on the work of the charity. In 2022 he joined the Board of Trustees. Working alongside some incredible people who are generous with their time and experience, this is truly a way in which he feels he can facilitate amazing spaces to inspire children and their families to make lasting memories.

Neil Sewell

Another Geordie by Birth, now based in Northamptonshire. Neil approached Greenfingers in his lead role as MD of an International Hotel Management Company at the end of 2016 and led their FUNdraising partnership to become the Charites major donor in each of the following three years, enabling the charity to secure its foundations for future growth, pressing ahead with much-needed garden Projects. Neil's career centred upon the Hospitality sector in the UK and abroad, receiving accolades along the way, always known for his easy communication style, support and development of people and teams, he brings a welcome ‘Out of Garden Industry’ perspective to the team at Greenfingers Charity. Neil became a Trustee in October 2018.

Heidi Towse

Heidi has been part of the Horticultural industry since she was 16, working at a Nursery. She qualified at Oaklands College, and has since worked in many garden centres including The Frosts Group, Blue Diamond, Notcutts, Wyevale and Homebase. Swapping stores for suppliers, she has also worked with garden manufacturers. One of our more energetic fundraisers, she is regularly spotted on many race start lines. Having been an Ambassador for several years, she became a trustee in 2022.

Colin Wetherley-Mein

Colin joined the garden trade in 1975 at Hurn Bros, manufacturers of Ark Brand Wooden Trellis and Fencing Products. His next career step saw him moving to Tufflink - manufacturers of Plastic Chain and Trelli - where he became Sales Director, until he left to join Vitax Ltd. in 1992 as National Account manager, later becoming National Sales Manager in 1994. Colin was GIMA President in 2015, standing down from the GIMA council in 2017, but still remaining involved. Outside of work, Colin is an ECB level two cricket umpire and he has two grandchildren.

Adam Wigglesworth

Adam has been actively involved with the garden industries Trades bodies and served as President of the Horticultural Trades Association between 2016-18. Adam has been a keen supporter of Greenfingers for many years.

Tammy Woodhouse

Tammy has been Managing Director of Millbrook Garden Centres since 2009. Millbrook Garden Centres have stores in Crowborough, Staplehurst and Gravesend and all hold regular fundraising events for Greenfingers, including many activities for Garden Re-Leaf Day.