The Things That Connect Us

A personal reflection on people, possibility, belonging and the things we build together

I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I wanted to say in this first blog, partly because there are so many different parts of my life that could each become a story of their own. Sport. Family. Gullivers. Sturts Community Trust. The farm. Inclusion. Community. The people I've met and learned from along the way.

For a long time, I probably viewed those things as separate chapters. Looking back now, I can see that they are all connected by the same thread. It's a thread woven through relationships, opportunity, belonging and the belief that people are capable of far more than they are often given credit for.

The older I get, the more I realise that the achievements I am most proud of are rarely the things I achieved alone. They are the things built alongside other people.

From Team GB to Gullivers

Bethy Doran at London 2012 Paralympics in London

Sport shaped a huge part of my life.

I had the privilege of representing Team GB, becoming a World Champion at nineteen and competing at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, bringing home silver and bronze medals. Those experiences opened doors, challenged me and helped me discover what I was capable of.

Yet when I think about those years now, the medals are not what stay with me most. What stays with me are the people: the coaches who saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself, the teammates who encouraged me through difficult moments, and the people who invested their time, energy and belief into helping me succeed.

Sport taught me discipline, resilience and determination, but perhaps more importantly it taught me that people flourish when they are given the right opportunities, the right support and the space to find their own way forward. Not everybody travels the same path, and not everybody needs the same things to succeed.

That lesson has stayed with me long after my sporting career ended and continues to shape how I think about leadership, inclusion and community today.

A Different Kind of Team

Those lessons feel just as relevant now as they did then, although these days they play out in very different surroundings.

Gullivers Farm Shop & Kitchen has become a huge part of my life. Lee and I co-founded Gullivers together and I feel incredibly proud of what has grown here over the years.

People often describe Gullivers as a farm, a shop and a kitchen, and while all of those things are true, none of them quite capture what it actually feels like to spend time here.

On any given day there are people milking cows before breakfast, harvesting vegetables in the Market Garden, serving customers in the Farm Shop, preparing food in the Kitchen, creating products in the Creative Workshop, caring for animals, learning new skills and finding confidence in places they perhaps never expected.

There are children discovering where food comes from, families enjoying time together, customers stopping for coffee and conversation, and people with additional support needs contributing across the enterprise in ways that reflect their strengths, interests and ambitions.

One of the things I love most is how naturally all of these lives overlap. A customer might buy vegetables grown by someone they meet later that day. A person learning a new skill may see a product they helped create being chosen by a customer. A conversation started over coffee may become a friendship, a volunteering opportunity or the beginning of something entirely unexpected.

These are not grand moments, and most of them happen quietly, yet they are often the moments that matter most.

What the Land Has Taught Me

The longer I spend on the farm, the more I notice how connected everything is. The soil, the crops, the animals, the weather, the insects, the changing seasons and the people all influence one another. Nothing exists entirely on its own.

I've started to realise that people are much the same. We don't always know what someone else is carrying, we don't always see the work that has gone into somebody's success, and we may not understand why a person needs a different approach, more time or another way of communicating.

The farm has made me more patient with those things, perhaps because growth never happens as quickly as we want it to. Seeds don't become harvests overnight, confidence rarely appears all at once, and skills develop through repetition, encouragement and time.

Some of the most rewarding moments I've witnessed at Gullivers have not been dramatic breakthroughs. They've been the quieter moments where somebody realises they can do something they thought was beyond them, or begins to take pride in a task that once felt impossible.

Those moments have reinforced my belief that progress is often slower than we expect, but also far more meaningful when it comes.

Why Sturts Matters to Me

My work with Sturts Community Trust is equally important to me because, at its heart, it is about people. It is about creating opportunities for people to learn, contribute, develop confidence and know that they belong.

That sense of belonging matters enormously. I know what it feels like when somebody believes in you and what that belief can make possible, but I also know what it feels like when decisions are made about you without genuinely listening to you.

Those experiences have shaped how strongly I feel about inclusion and co-production. For me, inclusion is not about doing something for somebody and hoping they are grateful for it; it is about listening carefully enough to understand what matters to them and being willing to adapt because of what you hear.

Some of the most valuable lessons I've learned through Sturts have come directly from the people we support. Their experiences have challenged my assumptions, influenced decisions and reminded me that lived experience is a form of expertise that should never be overlooked.

Co-production isn't simply a principle that sits within a policy document. It changes how decisions are made, whose voice is heard and who gets to influence what happens next.

Sometimes that means changing an activity, adapting equipment, communicating differently or reconsidering an environment. At other times, it means stepping back and allowing another person to lead. Whatever form it takes, it almost always begins in the same place: it begins with listening.

Community Lives in the Little Moments

When people hear the word community, they often think about large events, major projects or organised initiatives, but in reality most communities are built through much smaller moments.

Community is someone sharing a skill they have learned, noticing that another person is struggling and offering help without being asked, celebrating another person's success, showing patience when something is difficult and continuing to show up for one another over time.

Those moments happen constantly at Gullivers and Sturts. They happen around workshop tables, during coffee breaks, in the Market Garden, in the Kitchen, while feeding animals or simply through conversations that take place throughout the day.

Individually, they may appear unremarkable. Collectively, they create places where people feel welcomed, valued and able to contribute, and that is the kind of community I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of.

I'm Still Learning

Although I've had opportunities I could never have imagined when I was younger, one thing remains true: I'm still learning.

I'm still learning from the people around me, learning how to listen better and being challenged by perspectives that differ from my own, which is a constant reminder that there is always more to understand.

The older I get, the less interested I become in having all the answers and the more interested I become in creating space for other people to be heard.

Some of the people who have influenced me most have done so not because they were the loudest voices in the room, but because they offered a different way of seeing something. That continues to happen every day at Gullivers and Sturts.

A Little of Everything That Matters

So what will I write about here? Probably a little of everything.

There will be stories from Gullivers, Sturts and the farm, reflections from sport, and thoughts about inclusion, leadership and co-production. There will also be moments that make me laugh, challenge my thinking or remind me what really matters.

Most of all, I hope this becomes a place where I can share what I'm learning from the people, places and experiences that continue to shape my life.

When I became a World Champion at nineteen, I could never have imagined where life would eventually take me, and today I am grateful that the journey brought me here.

Sport gave me one kind of team, while Gullivers and Sturts have each given me another. Through all of them, I've learned that the things we build together are usually far more important than the things we achieve alone.

There is still so much to learn, so many stories worth sharing and so much still to build together, and I'm looking forward to sharing some of that journey with you.