Directors
Sally Coulthard MBE CF FRSA
Founder and Managing Director
Sally is a former regular and reservist Army officer with career experience in education, training, and personnel policy and strategy. She has worked as a Programme Manager for the Royal British Legion Training College.
In 2017, Sally studied an MSc in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture and In 2019 was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study Nature Based Therapy for military personnel in Denmark and the USA.
The Defence Gardens Scheme has been developed from her experience and this research.
Chris Sutton
Company Secretary
Chris has spent his working life as an investment manager. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Securities Institute and holds a Masters Degree in Financial Economics.
Chris grew up on an estate in the Scottish Borders, though the interest and opportunity for gardening didn't come until later in life. During his earlier years, Chris trained and worked as a chef. Interests in gardening, food, travel, music, and tennis have all played parts in how he has dealt with the stresses of his life and working career.
Brigadier (Retired) Robin Bacon
Strategy Director
Robin served worldwide for 32 years in the Royal Corps of Transport and then the Royal Logistic Corps including operational tours in the Balkans with NATO and in Angola with the UN. In the latter part of his career he specialised in tri-Service personnel strategy; this included chairing the MOD’s operational stress management working group which first kindled his interest in mental health issues. On retirement from the Army in 2010, he then spent 11 years as the Chief of Staff of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, working closely with veterans and their families. He professes to be a reasonably competent gardener and also enjoyed having an allotment whilst living in Hampshire. He and his wife now live in Devon which is a whole new garden opportunity. Other interests include bagging Dartmoor Tors, of which there are 160, and playing the cello.