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. We would like to introduce our team to you:
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 the 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.
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 Assistant
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!
Hannah Durowse – Dispatch & Marketing Assistant
Hannah is a dispatch assistant but the marketing team have recruited her for a few days a week! She packages up your orders, assembles the Soloc belts and is just starting to do some of our socials.
She likes to party at the weekends and occasionally cooks her family delicious dinners. She likes to keep fit in the gym.
Bev Tonks – Dispatch Assistant
Bev is the newest member of our dispatch team. She will be responsible for packing your orders and checking stock.
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.
Clare Reynolds – Marketing and Technical Manager
Clare heads up the marketing side of the business, along with Jo S, Jo W, Millie and Hannah. She also maintains the website and develops new products.
Clare is wife to Tim and Mum to two young adults and a teenager. 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.
Jo Gumbley – Business Development Officer
Active Hands was Jo’s first part-time job as a teenager, and she’s still here now! Jo heads up the Soloc and Nimble sales, reports on marketing initiatives and works on driving the business forward. 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.
Jo Smith – Marketing Assistant
Jo has been with the company since 2017. She writes our customer and professionals emails as well as writing some of our articles.
When she’s not at work, she loves experimenting with new recipes, heading off to the gym or jumping in puddles with her energetic kids! Jo is married to Rob and mum to Jacob and Xanthe.
Millie Wyles – Marketing Assistant
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 drinking cocktails and bottomless brunching! She also loves looking after her two little nieces- Ruby and Mia. Her claim to fame is that she has completed BopIt!
Production
Our Production Manager Sarah heads up outworker production and the making of bespoke gripping aids. She also supports Rob and Clare in their design work, prototyping new products and helping get them ready for sale! 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!
Lucy Hinojosa – Production Assistant
Lucy has been sewing for as long as she can remember. She produces a lot of our gripping aids and creates some of our bespoke aids.
As well as sewing Lucy enjoys knitting, travelling and spending time with her husband and 11 year old son keeping active doing gymnastics, swimming and Kung Fu!
Ellie Page – Production Assistant
Ellie has recently joined the production team. She is using her knowledge of wheelchair racing to create some soft gloves. 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.