Who We Are
& What We Do

Pip Wilcox - founder & host

I’m a pottery-making, seaside-dwelling, perimenopausal woman in my fifties! I live with my husband in Hastings, UK. David and I didn’t meet until I was 36 and it wasn't until my forties that I moved to the coast and found my way to clay - I’m proof that this life stage can be a time for new beginnings. Prior to that I followed my nose and heart into all sorts of professional careers including spending more than a decade in the world of finance; returning to university to re-train as a therapist; and working for a number of years as a freelance secular funeral celebrant, during which time I led over 300 funerals. That work taught me many things including an awareness that life is precious, it can be so short - and we deserve to grab it with both hands.

I consider it a great privilege that I’ve had the opportunity of bringing together skills I picked up on my erstwhile quirky career path - with the audience that built around my ceramics – in order to create new projects and conversations and communities. When you next have a spare 27 minutes - and if you fancy inviting me into your ears - in this podcast I tell the story of ‘that’ post which became the seed which, one year later, grew into Middle Years Monday. This podcast was recorded as part of a community project about ‘making a difference’. As well as talking about the gravitational pull I have felt towards doing my bit I also reflect on some of the slightly shadowy and icky aspects of making a difference too! On Instagram, as well as @middleyearsmonday (where I’m pretty active) I am also @pipwilcoxceramics (although it’s been a long while since I’ve posted there) and if you’d like to know a bit more about me, there are links to magazine, blog and podcast interviews from my ceramics website.

When Jo Fairley (co-founder of Green & Black’s chocolate) moved to Hastings, she was committed to a daily yoga practice but couldn’t find a teacher and studio that met her need. So she set up a wellbeing centre, with its own yoga studio, that is open to all. Similarly, although not quite so grand I know, I have created Middle Years Monday as much for me as for you. This life stage has left me feeling so different on a molecular level - some days I experience this as empowering and liberating and on other days I am lost at sea. I am so excited at what this community brings us all.

For me, being the Founder and host of Middle Years Monday is the virtual equivalent of inviting you to my home to sit around my table with other women who understand and can help to illuminate and make sense of your current experience. My role is to welcome you with open arms, to talk with and listen to you and - together with our guest contributors - to do what I can to bring nourishment your way whilst you are here. And what a joy this is!