Jayne Lawton

 

Jayne Lawton trained in horticulture and garden design with the Royal Horticultural Society of England and is a qualified horticultural lecturer. She has extensive experience teaching all ages and backgrounds with differing special needs.

While teaching partially sighted students she recognised the need for a high quality gardening product that could be enjoyed by everybody. Jayne wanted to enable her pupils to enjoy the scents and textures of their own multi-layered garden without the physical demands of a traditional planting arrangement. Jayne developed a prototype Grobox and tested the method further with her different special-needs groups, including a class of stroke victims.

Inspired by the successes with her students she went on to develop a protective structure made from completely biodegradable and recycled materials. This innovation made the pleasure of gardening more inclusive without detriment to the environment; an achievement that has received widespread recognition and applause.

Over the past six months Jayne has received numerous awards and accolades including winning ITV’s “Mother of all Inventions”, Parkard Bell’s Independent Working Mum of the Year and British Female Innovator of the Year from the Global Women’s Innovators and Inventors Network. She has also received widespread media coverage ranging from the Richard Hammond Show, BBC Manchester and Prima magazine.

Jayne hopes her high profile acknowledgements will inspire others to follow their dreams and ambitions. She is particularly eager to promote self-belief amongst vulnerable members of society. This informed her choice to use Remploy, a special-needs employment charity, helping create economic independence for disabled people through work in her company. Grobox Gardens is also in partnership with Stockport Youth Offending team working on a number of community garden projects, helping to give participants the confidence to make positive lifestyle choices.

Her successes and commitment to helping others have attracted a variety of motivational speaker opportunities, presenting “Growing Success” to the North West Inventors at Manchester Library and “Education is about learning to believe in yourself” at the Women In Business Convention at DTI London.

A dedicated mother of two Jayne also manages to find time to train and run in both half and full marathons for her chosen charities St Ann’s Hospice, the British Lung Foundation for Lung Cancer, and has just competed in the London marathon, Great Manchester Run, Great North Run