Pen Green Centre for children and their families

In memory of Dr Teresa Smith and her immense contribution to Pen Green from 1983-2023.

Dr Teresa Smith supported us at Pen Green from 1983-2023. She was an inspirational mentor to the leadership team as the centre developed, and as our services expanded across Corby.

Her own groundbreaking research on family centres in the voluntary and public sectors informed our practice from the start. Teresa became a strong, constructive critical friend to staff in the Nursery School, the Children’s Centre and the Research Base throughout all of Labour’s glorious and ground breaking initiatives.

When times were hard her support for Pen Green became a family affair. Tom Smith also offered us some intensive support in using data to effectively provide evidence on the vital nature of Pen Green’s services to a very economically challenged community.

As a family Teresa, Tom and George Smith helped us to hold onto vital local services We learnt through them how to use data to provide forceful arguments for retaining funding in Corby.

We are hugely grateful for all that Teresa did to support children and families in Corby; she will be sorely missed.