Staff Team

Karyn joined The Meadows in October 2023 after spending 12 years managing services across the North East for a national mental health charity. As a professionally qualified Community and YouthWorker, she has also delivered and managed youth and community services with organisations across Tyne and Wear, including North Tyneside Council.

Karyn is responsible for the overall service delivery at The Meadows and ensuring the organisation’s finances are secure and stable. She is passionate about ensuring that staff, volunteers and people who use our services do so in an environment where they can thrive.

Josh joined The Meadows in June 2024 and is responsible for the finance and administration side of the centre.

Ian was a careers adviser within the National Careers Service for nearly ten years . He also worked in Further Education at Bournville College, Birmingham. Add to that a degree in Health Studies and a level six qualification in Advice and Guidance, and it’s not hard to see why he was a perfect fit for The Meadows. 

Ian strives to empower people to move forward and help individuals to attain their goals. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, walking his dog and music.

Sarah joined The Meadows in 2012 as a volunteer. It was soon clear she was a great people person with a nurturing nature, and she became our Lead Play Worker. More recently, she’s also taken on the role of Community Development Coordinator. 

Across any given day, Sarah can be seen wearing several hats. She oversees our Thrive Adult Daycare, Connected Kids Club, and helps with a range of other supportive activities. Whether she’s face-painting, cooking, dancing, or calling out bingo numbers, Sarah will always do it with a smile on her face! 

Andrew joined The Meadows in March 2020 as our Garden Lead. Directing our new garden plan, he works together with local people to make sure we get the most out of our outdoor spaces. With Andrew’s wealth of knowledge and willingness to engage our community, we have no doubt he’ll bring our big ideas to fruition, and then some! 

Jen joined the team in March 2023 to recruit and support volunteers, and deliver community activities. As a local, Jen has a huge heart for helping our community. She’s always looking for new ideas to benefit local people and our area.

When she’s not volunteering, Jen can be found camping with her family, and little dog. She also loves music. Pretty much anything goes, especially if it’s live!

Kurt has been with The Meadows for over 20 years, coming in from both a joinery production and training background. Kurt is a skilled joiner and is passionate about helping people fulfil their potential through practical skills, whilst aiding their social development.

Lisa is a bit of a versatile, superwoman. Since joining us in 2017, she’s become a playworker within our Connected Kids Club, as well as our Centre Cleaner. Despite having two hugely different roles, she does both with excellence. Lisa finds joy in supporting her community in any way she can, and loves bringing joy and laughter to the children she works with.

Kelly coordinates our 5-7 year old after-school club.

Rebecca is one of our playworkers for our 5-7 year old after-school club.

TJ joined our garden team in June 2021 on a six-month Kickstart placement. Very quickly, he became a key member of the garden crew, and it was easy to see how much of a hard worker he was. Because of his efforts, TJ earned himself a part-time role as a Community Garden Assistant in December 2021. We couldn’t be happier to have him as part of our team. 

Traci comes from a nursing background and spent 25 years working in hospital.

Traci moved to the North East 4 years ago and is loving her second career working in the Community Garden. She loves supporting people to enjoy activities in nature.

Dave joined the team as Community Cafe Coordinator in February 2022 to help us shape our cafe for the future. An experienced chef of many years, he’s passionate about good quality, affordable food that’s both fresh and healthy. Dave wants to include as much of our own garden produce as possible in our menu and loves teaching local people how to cook hearty, tasty meals on a budget.

Stephen joined us in 2021 as a Kickstart placement. Despite having no skills or background in hospitality, we soon found that he was a quick learner. In March 2022, Stephen became a part-time member of our team thanks to his own hard work. We’re over the moon to have him as a permanent fixture, as he’s much loved by The Meadows staff and cafe customers alike.

Paul joined the team as facilities coordinator in late 2024 and has seamlessly integrated into the team.

Paul can be found around the centre organising the rooms and keeping the place safe and tidy.

Tony is our skills and support worker with a background in many areas including hospitality, warehousing, welding, adult learning, disability employment advisor, advice and guidance and online chat moderation. On top of all this he is a keen musician with a long history of performance and music production. He is a qualified Information Advice and Guidance practitioner and uses his wide variety of experience and skills to support locals into employment, education and training. If you need advice guidance or just a chat then Tony is your man.

Theresa joined our team in February 2026. She will be looking after the reception and administration tasks at The Meadows.  Theresa is very organised and loves nothing better than a clean and tidy working environment.

Theresa started her time with The Meadows taking part in some garden projects and then volunteering with the Wednesday cookery class, crafting and other fun activities. She still continues to volunteer around her hours of work.

When Theresa is not volunteering, she is usually baking cakes, singing or making floral arrangements, often from our allotment vegetable plot.