End of the Road Festival – is it really 20 years?

There’s been something happening over the last 20 years, the summer circuit offering such rich experiences. Over the years I’ve been part of many healing areas which have fallen into a ‘way of being’ that supports a different impulse. And that is why I’m so very proud of what End of the Road Festival has acheived and why i call it the ‘gold standard’.

In being invited, year on year, to curate the team for the Healing Garden we have been able to build a community. From that first year in 2006 when the garden wasn’t opened until Saturday morning due to Health and Safety checks, when we played football, gave each other treatments and prayed it was all going to work out. When the garden gates opened I took my massage chair out to the crowd waiting for the next band on the Garden Stage, drumming up interest. The years of growth, each year more stages, more guests, how the ‘village’ has welcomed many new faces. And last year, someone emailing me to say ‘you helped me get through the weekend’ due to Long Covid symptoms, and remembering the year after the ‘fallow year’ and how we’d missed the garden, the being there, the people we saw and that sense of renewing our community.

So this is a way of saying Thank You – to all those who made those early years worth the wait to celebrate 20 years at Larmer Tree Gardens, pitching our tents and sometimes performing miracles. From airbed fail saves, disco dancing injury repairs, hangover hugs and not being able to hear each other at different ends of couch when it’s really kicking off on the Garden stage. Thank you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for putting your faith in our abilities. And thank you for all the years of laughter and love.

Coming home

I wondered why I put ‘foundation’ in the title of Prime Wellbeing. It always felt part of the working title chosen to encompass my event work and the teams of therapists I’ve brought together these 20 years since 2006. And reading “Medicine Hands’ by Gayle MacDonald has lead me to this quote, an echo returning across the years since 2016 when i chose to rebrand.

Foundational to my practice and a foundation for a practice.

As i prepare for a home visit, it came to me. I know i want to share more and that is why this resonates so soundly now

Touch – Talk – Teach

High Praise

Global Health & Pharma Magazine launches a brand-new awards programme that puts the thriving world of Holistic Health centre stage.

“Wellness is no longer just a trend – it’s a movement! As the global focus on integrative health continues to grow, we’re shining a spotlight on the trailblazers redefining how we care for our minds, bodies, and spirits. From inspiring practitioners and dynamic wellness centres to product innovators, mindfulness leaders, and therapy pioneers, Holistic Health is reshaping the future – and it’s never looked more exciting.

The GHP Holistic Health Awards 2026 are here to celebrate the people and organisations who are breaking boundaries, driving progress, and creating meaningful change.”

and I’m thrilled to have been selected. I do love what i do and i love it when those that find me love it too. Since I first qualified in 1995 i’ve been loving it more each year. I’m thrilled to share the techniques i’ve learnt to here and all the experiences in clinic that expand my awareness of what clients need.

Thank you for such high praise – I am truly thrilled

Passive or Active? What do our bodies need…

I wouldn’t have been their first choice.

To be fair the first client had never had a massage before. I joke and say ‘nice one, I can make it up then’ and joking aside, in a way I always do and that’s part of of the beauty of it all.

The second client wanted it ‘harder the better, I’m used to being beaten up’ – so I smiled and with the greatest respect informed him ‘within my level of professionalism I’ll give you as much elbow as I can’

And the third client of the weekend who had a fundamental shift said they were used to feeling as if they had come out of a car wash, that their body needed that level of physical touch and treatment in order to be effective.

And then this email arrived and now I’m truly humbled…

“Just now sat in the lounge of the b&b we are staying in feeling totally chilled and relaxed enjoying a nice big brew – your treatment was a perfect way to end my much longed for weekend away … and I have to say other than my Mum and Dad spending the day with us yesterday, you have been the best part of my 3 days”

After each session I could see a change in all 3 of them for different reasons. After each session they all said how they felt deeply aware of themselves and how it wasn’t what they thought the treatment was going to be.

And after each session, my heart was lifted to know that ‘holding space’ for such changes to occur is truly a gift I offer to the world, and to help others to find what they are great at too.

And after each clinic, whether that is a full day, a home visit or a weekend retreat, I return to knowing ‘i am’ the therapist i am, I might not seem to be the first choice for many ‘conditions’ are bodies display, yet if as a client you are curious to sink deeper, many marvels can be revealed

End of the Road heralds a new start

On reflection September seems to have been a time of change for me before I started curating the Healing Garden at End of the Road, yet this year seems more poignant than previous years. Many new avenues opening, although most this year have become cul de sacs, each turning point an opportunity to reflect.

Through a friend of the family I have been introduced to a gem of a location for a new clinic, set close to home yet far enough away from the bustle of the town, it’s an echo of what i’ve been looking for.

I will look to build clinics on days which are popular and with the support of colleagues will be able to design Natural Health Wellbeing Events from there too.

Our Seasonal Sessions have found a new home and the event on 19th November will be the first of many.

Thank you for all your support with the clinic in Arnside which will continue in the short term although Field Broughton with be my main location.