“I would highly recommend Lorna as a partner for support with specific media engagements or media skills training. Sessions are always delivered with a personalised and flexible approach and Lorna’s ability to solve problems and think creatively is invaluable in helping distil key messages for media consumption. Thank you Lorna – you are amazing.”

— Shaun Morton, CEO

"Lorna may be an independent practitioner, but her commitment and passion make it feel like she's one of us. Lorna's versatility has shone through as she's supported us on a wide range of matters, from sensitive customer issues to crisis management planning, leading strategic, multi-faceted campaigns requiring complex stakeholder maps and liaison with other advisers, including other comms, legal and public affairs advisers. She's the person I want on the end of the phone when disaster-or opportunity, strikes."

— Kirsteen Vickerstaff, General Counsel & Company Secretary

“Lorna is our communications expert. As a hotel management and advisory company, it is great to have someone so knowledgeable in our corner. The reputation, issues and crisis management training for General Managers and our senior leadership team regarding interacting with the media (of all sorts) and particularly in crisis situations was fantastic, it was engaging and insightful, the feedback from all the team has been super.

“We will certainly be working with Lorna to coach other team members and be keeping the skills and tips learnt up to date through crisis scenario exercises.”

— Peter Hales, Managing Director

“Lorna delivered an impactful media training day for our directors. Her influence and expertise have made such a positive impact not just in how we approach PR but on our communications in general with all audiences. Lorna brings great experiences, common sense, a health dose of honesty and plenty of enthusiasm. The session was well planned, pitched and paced. We have a follow-up session booked and look forward to continuing our journey with Surge and Lorna.

Would highly recommend!”

— Laura Carter, Head of Communications

“Lorna has enlightened our students with her deep knowledge of crisis management and strategic approaches to comms. Willing to share her professional experiences, Lorna’s presentation skills are excellent and student feedback is always very positive.”

— Keith Thompson, Senior Lecturer

“Our bingo clubs had shut following Covid 19 and we were in the process of planning a restructure and refinancing. The nature of this process was highly confidential and involved a number of important stakeholders. We needed support with managing our corporate and internal communications, the nature of this project led to Lorna leading proactive comms, reactive comms and a leak strategy.

“Lorna jumped straight in and engaged with stakeholders at all levels (from Investment Director at our PE owner, Partner at our advisors through to our CEO) acting as a member of the Buzz team with total integrity and commitment. Lorna dealt with every scenario she faced with a cool and calm head.

“Crisis management comms is something few 'PR' and comms people can do exceptionally well, but Lorna has shown she can do this and displays the right balance of curiosity, compassion and command of the situation. Lorna challenged where necessary to get the right outcome and engaged confidently and credibly with all stakeholders. The result of this effort was that we delivered a CVA and Corporate refinancing with the right comms at the right time internally and externally, we owned the narrative and avoided negative coverage.

“I would recommend Lorna wholeheartedly for any communications consultancy. If you want someone that cares for your business as much as you do, who is prepared to roll their sleeves up but at the same time not compromise on the quality of consultancy advice then you should use Lorna.”

— Jamie Queen, Chief Commercial Officer

“Lorna has worked with Manchester Met for several years and has proved to be very popular guest lecturer with marketing and communication students at all levels. Her work complements our theoretical perspective and provides contemporary, real life scenarios which students can relate to. She is always happy to help students with any additional career guidance and advice and we consider her to be part of the team.”

— Debbie Kelly, Senior Lecturer

“I can’t thank Lorna enough for the insights and skills myself and my team have gained from her Crisis management course. I can’t believe how good our timing was to have Lorna’s training just before COVID-19 swept the country. It has definitely made us more prepared, whether that’s thinking ahead and pre-preparing statements/protocols, or responding in an appropriate, empathetic way to our customers.

“On a personal level, Lorna is lovely to work with. She is extremely approachable and knowledgeable, and always happy to give us help or advice if needed. The course was relaxed and interesting – we were all really engaged throughout the session and came out feeling very motivated! I think crisis management is one of those things some people might feel there isn’t much to. If you are one of these people then I couldn’t encourage you more to think again. I had no idea how much this crisis management training would help us and how much we could learn from it. It’s a no brainer – every company should have this training and should have a crisis protocol in place.”

— Victoria Fryer, Head of Marketing

“Lorna took on a project for us when we needed some additional support. Lorna quickly understood the requirements of each element, came back with a detailed plan with KPI’s, a critical path and cost proposal. It was an easy transition and all of the traits Lorna had demonstrated back in 2012-2014 when she worked for us, remained at the forefront: proactive, structured planning, energetic, considered feedback, quick to turn her hand to new tasks and research how to help achieve our objectives.

“Within days of commencing her project with us, Lorna was hosting an influencer event as though she had never been gone. It was a pleasure and I highly recommend talking with her about a communications project you might need assistance with.”

— Vicki Richards, Director of Sales & Marketing

“Lorna has proved to be invaluable in her role as a Volunteer Mentor at Sported. She is helping make a tangible difference to these groups by supporting them to develop and implement effective communications and marketing strategies, along with creating compelling messaging/stories to highlight the impact of their work. One of the impressive things about Lorna is her capacity is to be in tune with the needs, capabilities and confidence levels of the organisations she supports, tailoring her approach accordingly and enabling them to take ownership and feel empowered throughout the process. Lorna’s passion and commitment to the work combined with her approachable manner and good sense of humour make her a pleasure to work with.”

— Rehana Koser, Regional Manager

“Lorna is an outstanding communications professional and a true all-rounder. She's equally adept at both the strategic proactive work and the high-stakes reactive and crisis work - all too rare a currency, even today. She is smart, insightful, always works with the evidence and brings bags of energy and enthusiasm to everything she does. And she's a great laugh to boot. Put simply, she worked for me for two years and I'd hire her again in a shot.”

— Alice Macandrew, Director of Corporate Affairs (now Group Corporate Affairs Director, BBC

Testimonials & Endorsements