Meet The Team
Organic Cookery School courses and workshops are delivered by a fantastic team of certified tutors, helpers and volunteers, overseen by a small management committee.
WHAT MAKES A GREAT ORGANIC COOKERY SCHOOL TUTOR?
Our tutors come from varied teaching, health, nutrition and community education backgrounds, and have experience working with children and adults with a range of educational needs. We are expanding our tutor base through our accredited tutor training program and welcome enquiries from individuals who share our vision and values and are ready to inspire the next generation of foodies.
Find out more about opportunities to become an accredited Organic Cookery School Tutor here.
OUR TEAM
Meet some of management team, senior tutors, programme developers and nutrition experts.
Karen Clark
I started my career at Good Housekeeping magazine testing and writing about consumer and good products. I trained as a Secondary Food Technology teacher teaching from year 7 up to A level, delivering healthy eating and nutrition and helping students to design and make range of different products from healthy lunch boxes to pasta products and biscuits.
I love the relaxed and friendly learning environment at The Organic Cookery School, it really encourages everyone to 'have a go'. No one day is ever the same and I always come away from a session having learnt something new! There's something very special about the the proud faces of children (and their adult helpers!) when they've got their finished dish to take home.
Abby Ixer
Abby Ixer is a registered dietitian with a passion for food and nutrition. She is currently working for the NHS in the area of health promotion, delivering healthy lifestyle programmes and giving dietary advice to groups around West London.
She says: “There is a vast array of information available about nutrition and it is often difficult to know what to believe. As a dietitian, I am passionate about teaching parents and children practical tips to include nutritious foods in a way that fits in easily with family life. I plan to discuss nutritional benefits of various ingredients and share easy ways to include them as part of a balanced diet.”
Alicia Lewis
Alicia is a qualified Nutritionist with a degree in Human Nutrition, having clinical and community experience. As well as delivering courses for The Organic Cookery School, Alicia also develops recipes and offers personalised nutrition advice to clients.
She is passionate about health education and offers support and guidance in many areas of health including, weight management, digestive issues, allergies and intolerances, healthy ageing and bone health.
‘I enjoy working with The Organic Cookery School on their various cookery and nutrition programs for families and individuals. I particularly love the opportunity it gives to meet people from many walks of life, and being able to share my passion for nutrition and healthy lifestyle’.
For more information, you can find Alicia over at kitchentakeovers.co.uk
Helen Linnell
Helen joined our fundraising team in 2010, and successfully helped secure a number of bids, to pilot and expand our flagship community cookery programmes, Cooking for Baby, Food Explorers and Man with a Pan. She is full of ideas for community education and our expert in proving need and measuring social impact.
She supports other charitable organisations in a freelance capacity, including Disability Challengers, and is also a Development Officer at Voluntary Action South West Surrey.
Lucy May
Lucy founded The Organic Cookery School in 2004. She came to social entrepreneurship and community education after an early career as a Primary School Teacher and extended learning advisor for Surrey CC (Four S). As well as postgraduate qualifications in teaching both adults and children and nutrition, she is a keen home cook and strong believer in getting children interested in cookery and healthy eating from an early age.
'It's a privilege to have been able to send our mobile cookery school out to so many schools, children's centres and community organisations and to have developed projects and course materials which have a lasting effect. I'm supported by an amazing team and look forward to expanding our reach and impact through our social franchise program in the coming years.'
Lianne Phillipson
Lianne Phillipson is a Registered Nutritionist, bestselling author, engaging speaker and nutrition expert featured weekly on Toronto’s NewsTalk1010 radio. She’s an approachable and sought after media contributor and go-to for nutrition quotes, interviews, ideas, tips and articles. She consults with clients both in person and online. She has also written countless articles on nutrition, online and in print.
Lianne is artful at making complicated and overwhelming situations like news releases of recent studies (often differing to last weeks study), fad diets or taking clients’ test results and helping implement them into your daily eating habits and life. There’s an overwhelming amount of pressure to eat a perfect diet for both parents and kids, and some think to be healthy, you need to eat kale and quinoa daily. Lianne understands firsthand the pressures of feeding yourself and family. And for the record, she doesn’t really like quinoa!
Also as a mom of two super healthy, gorgeous girls, she's inspired to make what she knows available to every family so they too, can make a healthier choice one mouthful at a time.
Lianne started Sprout Right after her first daughter was born in 2003 with the hopes of supporting parents more than she was as a new parent, to feed her daughter.
Ultimately Lianne is a Registered Nutritionist who understands that balancing food, family and life can often end in needing a glass of wine!
Dr Ericka Good
Dr Ericka Good is part-time family GP, mum of 2 (very soon to be 3) and runs an online business in the health and wellness industry.
‘My main interest in medicine has always been child health but more recently, I have become increasingly interested in nutrition and general well being. When Lucy invited me to provide expert support to The Organic Cookery School I was delighted, having seen the impact of the projects they run in Surrey and Hampshire..
Being a GP mummy, I will be able to give you some decent practical advice about common childhood issues surrounding nutrition as well as tips for pregnancy and after. I understand the worries and concerns that many parents have about their children’s nutritional needs. My own son suffered with reflux and cow’s milk intolerance, so I appreciate how difficult that can be to manage on a day-day basis, and we’ve been through our fair share of fussy eating too.’
Dr Good will be contributing expert blog posts for The Organic Cookery School, and engaging with parents taking our family nutrition courses through Q & A sessions.
She can be contacted via her Facebook page: The Arbonne Advantage with Dr Ericka Good