The team at Active Hands are a friendly bunch and are happy to answer your enquiries. We love to hear what you have achieved with our products – it makes our jobs worthwhile to know that we are making a difference to you. Get to know our team better below… Try and spot the random facts the marketing team have discovered and added for their own enjoyment!
Directors
The directors see to the smooth running of Active Hands as a company and look after our brilliant team.
Rob Smith – CEO
Rob is an internationally competitive wheelchair racer in the T52 category. He is married to Jo and has a son, Jacob, and a daughter, Xanthe. He likes all his document titles to contain the word ‘stuff’ and would rather be designing than doing paper work.
Rob designed Active Hands gripping aids after his spinal injury and uses them regularly himself. He spends as much time as he can at the sewing machine or in his garage designing new products. Rob sneezes, twice, every time he eats a Polo mint!
Melanie Smith – MD
Melanie is Rob’s little sister and Mum to two teenage boys who both play the drums – so it’s good that one of her interests is live music! She runs the company with Rob, heading up the HR, ordering all the lovely products you see on our website and generally trying to keep Rob in check.
When she is not busy at work, she likes busting a move in dance-y classes at the gym or at music festivals. She enjoys being creative and making things, especially crochet animals and diamond painting. She also loves eating unusual food and often has her head buried in a good book. Mel once ate an entire tea bag!
Sales and Distribution
Karen, Hannah, Cathy and Bev are our distribution team and are a whizz with invoices, parcel tape, bags and boxes! Please contact the dispatch team if you need help placing an order, have a query about an existing order, need a quote or are interested in becoming a reseller of our products (or have any other random queries!). You can email the dispatch team on dispatch@activehands.com
Karen Kennedy – Office Manager
Karen is our Office Manager and heads up the day-to-day running of the Active Hands office.
When not at work she absolutely loves spending time with family & friends – especially Saturday afternoon cocktails with her daughter, Kelsie, and garden centre trips with her awesome mum! She adores family holidays to Cornwall & short breaks around the UK with her hubby, John, & their cute doggo, Mollie! She’s a massive foodie, loves baking, photography, reading, gardening & nature. Her super-power is not needing much sleep!
Cathy Walters – Dispatch Administrator
Cathy was Active Hands’ first dispatch assistant in 2012 and is delighted to be back as part of the team.
Married to Dave and Mum of four young adults, Cathy enjoys the variability of who will be at home from one week to the next! She loves walking and the sea, appreciates wildlife, maps and good beer, and plays the ukulele! Cathy started a trend – all of her children worked at Active Hands at some point whilst growing up. Jo never left and is now our Business Development Manager! Cathy was awarded her DofE Gold Award by Prince Philip!
Laura Fitzgerald – Dispatch Administrator
Laura is the newest member of our dispatch team. She is responsible for packing your orders and making sure they get posted on time!
Married to Rich, Laura has 2 children Jacob and Jess. She enjoys baking, walks in the snow, day at the seaside and listening to a good audiobook, but can be found happiest when cuddling with her cat, Winston.
Bev Tonks – Dispatch Administrator
Bev is part of our dispatch team. She will be responsible for packing your orders and making sure they get posted on time!
Bev is married to Dan and Mum to a teenage girl who is a keen go-kart racing driver. When not busy at work and at home, she enjoys reading, cooking, listening to live music and walks with her dog.
Media and Marketing
The marketing team loves to hear your stories and see your photos and video footage. If you have something that you would like to share with us then please contact us. If you have a social media stream showing you using our products we would love to share that with our followers too. You can contact the marketing team on marketing@activehands.com.
Jo Gumbley – Business Development Manager
Active Hands was Jo’s first part-time job as a teenager, and she’s still here now! Jo leads the marketing team and works on driving the business forward. She’s very busy! Her favourite part of the job is planning and attending exhibitions.
Jo is married to Jason and ‘Mum’ to a crazy cockapoo, Dexter! When she’s not at work she likes to bake, go for runs, and go on dog walks with her Mum, Cathy. She loves a good spreadsheet! Her proudest achievement is her incredible half marathon PB of 2:27!
Jo Smith – Marketing Officer
Jo has been with the company since 2017. She writes our customer and professionals emails as well as writing many of our articles. If you contact us on LinkedIn, Jo will likely be the one to respond.
When she’s not at work, she loves experimenting with new recipes, wild swimming, heading off to the gym or jumping in puddles with her energetic kids! Jo is married to Rob and mum to Jacob and Xanthe. Prince Philip once watched Jo do a gymnastics display!
Millie Wyles – Marketing Officer
Millie is responsible for our social media accounts. She loves to come up with wacky ideas for TikTok videos and likes making Rob dress up!
When not at work Millie likes going to dance classes and visiting the theatre as well as planning her upcoming wedding! She also loves looking after her two little nieces- Ruby and Mia. Her claim to fame is that she has completed BopIt! Can also run a marathon if needed!
Hannah Durowse – Marketing Officer & Dispatch Administrator
Hannah is a fab addition to our Marketing team- she heads up Tiktok Shop and Amazon making sure our listings are up to date and in stock! She is also a vital member of the Dispatch team.
She likes to keep fit in the gym, go to the theatre and concerts, and is enjoying planning her travels to Australia next year! Hannah can hip thrust 160kg!
Production
The Production Team are responsible for making many of our products. From designing new items to making bespoke gripping aids; heading up the at-home sewing team and putting Rob’s ideas into realisation; the production team are a busy bunch! If we don’t quite have the gripping aid for you, contact the Production Team about a bespoke aid on production@activehands.com.
Sarah Pinnell – Production Manager
After 9 years working as an Active Hands outworker, Sarah has now taken on the role of Production Manager.
Sarah is a professional seamstress and artist, and loves drama too – she’s a very creative lady! If she’s ever not working Sarah loves to drum, go to the gym & take trips to the beach!
Simone – Production Worker
Simone is one of our in-house sewing team. She manufactures our gripping aids on our industrial sewing machines.
Simone is also a dance teacher and loves creating exciting outfits for her big shows.
Caroline – Production Worker
Caroline is one of our new members of the production team but she is quickly getting to grips with the challenges of making our gripping aids.
Val – Production Worker
Val has recently joined our in-house sewing team, while enjoying semi-retirement.
She loves being outdoors and is ‘a lot’ of a bird nerd. She also tends an allotment and enjoys cooking new recipes. Val plays the bassoon and sings in a choir. She likes creating hand made gifts for friends and family, either by knitting or free-hand machine embroidery.
Design
The design team love to find new solutions to common problems related to hand function. They work alongside Rob to create simple solutions that are usable by anyone. Email them on info@activehands.com with your ideas or daily challenges.
Clare Reynolds – Design and Technical Executive
Clare maintains the website, develops new products and spends too much time tending to the 3D printers!
Clare is wife to Tim and mum to three young adults. When she is not working she enjoys baking, hiking and paddle boarding.
When we find a big box in the office, Clare has to see if she can fit in it.
Ellie Page – Design & Production Officer
Ellie has recently joined the design team. She is using her knowledge of wheelchair racing to create new products. Ellie will also be assisting Rob and Clare with design work using her sewing skills.
Ellie is a wheelchair racer. In her spare time she enjoys tatting, dressmaking and crochet.
