As Love Wimbledon’s Strategic Adviser, Sally’s passion for placemaking, sustainability and community projects helps shape the look and feel of the town centre. From launching Sustainable September SW19 and championing creative reuse projects to helping deliver Wimbledon’s long-term vision, Sally combines strategic thinking with a hands-on approach to making Wimbledon a vibrant and sustainable destination.
Tell us about your role at Love Wimbledon.
Although a strategic planning role, I absolutely get my hands dirty – we all jump onto events and help build and create things around town. Every day is different here and I can be working on longer term business strategy and delivery whilst planning events, sustainability or place interventions for the town centre. The work I do with the team can have a massive visual impact on the town centre, from investing in extra planting, getting to order the station Christmas tree or initiating The Wombles mural, it is a delightful mix of different things.
Is there anything that sticks out to you?
It’s funny, but some of the small things we do have the best effect. I’m an absolute advocate of reuse, so we managed to refurbish some of the original benches from Wimbledon Hill when they were replaced and they now sit proudly in Hartfield Walk – a very cost effective and green alternative to new seating! Introducing Sustainable September SW19 to Wimbledon has been massive. We knew kilo sales and preloved charity items would be popular and its so good to see it flying out. Last year I introduced the Charity Shop Catwalk to Sustainable September – all our charity shops participated. They have such a great selection of stuff and this year they are back all weekend on the 12th and 13th of September. The team here are amazing and Jennifer and I have introduced a Wellness Weekend, including a Korean experience for the last weekend of September (26-27), working closely with Wimbledon Quarter and Sustainable Discovery. It’s going to be such a draw. Like Craig our CEO I am a massive Wombles fan and really proud of bringing them into town. In fact, we had an investment conference and one turned up. The Wombles are always a hit!
How do you use your expertise in placemaking, sustainability and marketing to advise Love Wimbledon on its strategic goals?
In many ways! It’s a very inclusive team here and although I’m here just two days a week I feel absolutely part of it. The team often use me as a sounding board or I work with them more closely on specific projects. The beginning of the year we agree objectives for the year and deliverables. I have a background in design, retail and professional marketing and I’m a trustee at local charity Sustainable Merton, so I have an interesting mix of creative, sustainability and business skills, I think that probably helps. We always do learnings after campaigns and events where we get both quantitative and qualitive data to help us improve, this team never stands still!
What you are most looking forward to?
I am just off to finish our five year Business Plan. It’s had input from businesses, community organisations and the Love Wimbledon team and board. We have a busy couple of months sharing our plans, helping to invest in Wimbledon’s success – I can’t wait to see it in print and use for another term.
