We are a social venture based in Cambridge, UK. At present, all our work is done on a voluntary basis amidst school runs and looking after our little ones.
Our Story
While many projects begin from “the kitchen table” ours started out from my boys’ bedroom and the need to find suitable recycling places (other than the charity shop) for the toys they no longer played with. Given that at the moment there are no recycling facilities targeted to the toys we buy or acquire one form or another (not to mention the usual phrase every parent says at least once in their life time “we have too many toys in this house!”), and the need to reduce plastic pollution, I decided to create something that would help parents and their families as well as the environment. This is how “A Toy’s Life and Beyond” was born.
After a successful year or so growing within the community and with further plans to organise more events, including our second Green Christmas Festival we had to stop all our activities due to COVID-19. In 2021, we decide to wind-up the company and we are no longer a CIC but active members of Transition Cambridge (basically everything remains the same except we longer have a legal personality).
Our founder is also now a #OneStepGreener Ambassador ahead of COP26. We are delighted our work can inspire others to help their communities become greener and healthier places to live!
The Team
Maria Antonieta “Antoinette” Nestor, Founder/Director. Antoinette is a mother of three boys and passionate about community economic development. She holds a BCL (UCD), LLM (UCLA) and a PhD (TCD). If you would like to know more about her, click on her name.
Zeena Thompson, Illustrator
Emma Danter. Emma is a mum to three children and has been a midwife for the past 14 years. She feels very strongly about the need to protect and sustain the environment for our future generations.
Annie Morgan. Teacher
Njemile Faustin. Njemile vividly remembers the GCSE geography lesson where she first learnt of our ability to negatively impact our planet. She is committed to doing her part to leave our planet inhabitable for future generations and has implemented sustainable practices both at home and in her workplace. Njemile has also conducted research at Cambridge University to help advance sustainable shaft construction for tunnelling projects in large cities. Now a mother of two boys, she has become increasingly aware of the damaging effect most toys will have on our planet.
Chloe Woolgar-O’Neil. Chloe coordinates the toy library at Brown’s Field Youth and Community Centre.