Laura was an inspiration and a light. I feel extremely privileged to have had the chance to work so closely with Laura. In the few years that I worked with her I learnt a lifetime of knowledge. How to be brave. How to demonstrate deep respect. How to listen and really hear. She became a close friend. She created a space for me to talk with honesty and truth, and she always took time to listen. I miss her deeply but am so grateful for all the time we spent together.  …

Laura, I am so grateful to have known you and work with you over the years from Lambeth to LEAP. It is difficult to put to words who Laura was and how big a heart she had. Her warmth, compassion, patience, kindness, generosity, commitment, passion, charisma, determination and humour led all our teams to flourish. We were like a big family. She had genuine interest in everyone’s wellbeing. Her most chats with me were about our grandchildren, showing their latest pictures and what they were up to. When I retired, she told me she will follow me soon to spend the rest of her time with Latifah, Kyla and Jaxon. Aside from building great teams and her caring family life, Laura’s great vision and unwavering dedication for the work she does, the passion to ensure that no families are unseen, that they are supported and each child achieve their greatest potential were all evidence in how she led LEAP with grace, breaking so many barriers. She has left a legacy and impact not only in Lambeth but across the nation. Every child who access LEAP and new children born after LEAP will benefit from all her hard work. I…

Often people talk about their ‘work family’ and it is a well-used phrase but, I have worked on many teams and workplaces and I can honestly say that the ‘LEAP family’ is the real deal. This, more than anything, is a testament to the kind of person Laura was – she built this family day-by-day, year-by-year with her incedible warmth, her honest and humble leadership, her inspirational passion for what we were doing, her resilience and determination, her sense of fun, her open-hearted compassion, her ever-ready listening ear, and her joy in sharing her love of all things Bowie!  Laura was the beating heart of the LEAP family and she was a friend who is very very missed….

Laura was such a wonderful leader at LEAP, where I started my career. She had time for everybody and such wisdom. My favourite memory of Laura is of her telling me about her early days as a social worker in Lambeth, with some interesting stories and how her team and colleagues “thought of themselves as a bit like the Black Panthers”. Laura had clearly lived so much life and was so cool. It was such a pleasure to work with her and the world will miss such a bright, warm presence….

Laura, I still can’t believe this is real. You were larger than life, always so happy and smiley with every member of the team. You had time for everyone from the PA’s to SLT, even chats with the cleaner at the end of a long day!   I am so sorry you were not able to enjoy your retirement the way you deserved. You worked so so hard from your teens to support your community and help babies, children and young people thrive in Lambeth. Your work and your legacy will forever live on in all their lives. The babies and toddlers of LEAP may not realise it but their parents will certainly never forget your impact.   Your relationship with Latifah, Kyla and Jaxon was the most beautiful thing to witness and to hear about. I loved hearing about your weekends watching Kyla play football or you and Jaxon “grooving away to some cool jazz on vinyal”. I know they have the most amazing memories of you and they are the luckiest people in the world to have you as their Mother and Grandmother.   Thank you for all your support, advice, funny stories and well wishes for…

Laura, I think about you all the time; I looked up to you and I learned from you. Your influence on my life was bigger and more important than I can put into words. I love you and and I am eternally grateful that our paths crossed….

It was such a privilege to work for Laura at LEAP.Her passion and determination to give children in Lambeth a better start shone through everything she did and said.Her enthusiasm was infectious, and her wamth and wisdom brought out the best in everyone who knew her. Laura gave so much, and always with grace .She was so proud of Latifah, Kyla and Jaxon, and was looking forward to having more time with her lovely family. Laura, you are gone far too soon, but will always be remembered with love and respect….

Laura, not a week goes by where I don’t think about you. I miss you so much and wish I could go back in time so I could spend more time with you. You were more than my manager, you were also my friend. I feel blessed to have known and worked with you x    The work that Laura did over her lifetime; the passion and determination to improve the structures and processes that had the potential to improve the lives of children is inspirational. I hope that Lauras legacy can be felt by both the children and their families who were touched by her work, but also by those working in the space of children and young people, within Lambeth and beyond.      …

Laura, what a caring and warm hearted woman you were. You were a real peoples’ person, always looking out for everyone and wanting to support them in anyway you could. You were truly passionate and committed to improving outcomes for families and children. I am so glad you gave me the wonderful opportunity to work with you and the LEAP team. You put me at ease, enabling me to talk to you about anything. You listened to my moans and groans whether it was connected to work or not, showing much patience! I really appreciated that you enabled Jacqui and I to make decisions on how we worked and what we implemented You gave us time to review, adapt and develop further our practice. You were a good sounding board! You had endless love for your daughter and grandchildren and showed such joy when you talked about them. I will treasure the times we shared and talked about our work and life experiences. We did have lots of laughs!  You are truly missed!❤️❤️  …

I met Laura McFarlane through the LEAP, where I was given an opportunity to deliver innovative training on domestic abuse to Early Years services. I will always treasure the two years of working with passionate and inspirational people, with Laura being one of the greatest. I was inspired by Laura’s warmth, knowledge and understanding of the families and communities and their needs. Her determination helped us evidence the need for prevention and early intervention in this area, to support system changes and create brighter future for youngest residents and families in need, in Lambeth. Her encouragement and support contributed to findings that will be applied in practice and research that will support the development of educational programmes and new approaches to help prevent domestic abuse. Laura has left a lasting legacy and impact personally and professionally and will be greatly missed. Condolences to her family and support network. …

Laura was a strong leader who empowered her teams to achieve their best whilst enabling them to achieve the dream of LEAP – to give children ‘A Better Start’. Laura was a great listener, thoughtful and considered in her actions and good fun. Laura has been an inspiraton to me and enabled me to achieve so much from when I joined the wonderful LEAP team she created and lead. She embodied the kind of leader I would like to become. Her wisdom and actions will always stay close to my heart. Thank you Laura….

I was fortunate enough to have met Laura personally and been given the opportunity to show how much I appreciate all her hardwork in person. I got the chance to work with her on a speech for the 10 year anniversary of LEAP presentation for a couple of months. I am so humbled by her quiet determination to show what it means to really care for vulnerable adults and children. She gave her time to LEAP which I directly benefited from as a first time parent, my child and the wider community we can’t thank her enough. LEAP has been an integral part of my journey as a parent and like so many other parents and guardians, Laura’s work is a legacy she has left behind to us and our children and those after us in this community who will hear about Laura I’m sure for years to come and how selfless, determined and dedicated woman she was. I’m so honoured to have worked with her on my speech with the generous time she gave me and the impact she left on mine and my child’s life. Thank you forever sweet Laura <3 p.s. she spoke of her grandchild(ren)…

I was fortunate to work with Laura and the amazing LEAP team for five wonderful years. As everyone knows, Laura was a very special person and an amazing leader. Somehow, she seemed to be tough and resilient and caring and gentle, all at the same time. She was a passionate believer in people’s potential and an unbelievably powerful advocate for the families of Brixton and Lambeth. I remember her as a sort of completely unique and powerfully engaging force, made up of positivity, intelligence, experience, charisma, passion, determination, humour, and kindness.  I remember watching as Laura supported and held the team during lockdown and reflecting that she was just remarkable. I also remember sitting with her on my little garden patio (where I am writing now) while my wife cooked us Indian food. Laura offered enormous support to me, my wife and my children when we suffered a family bereavement during covid. Laura – thank you for everything you did for me. Thank you for letting me work with you on your amazing project to transform early years services in Lambeth. Thank you for being a brilliant leader and a great friend. I feel very lucky to have known you…

With a real sadness I received the email about Laura’s passing. I had an opportunity to work with Laura as a part of the LEAP project. She was always full of life and passion for what she did. She left amazing legacy behind which will never be forgotten! Condolences to her family and friends. Rest In Peace. …

We are deeply saddened by the untimely passing of Laura, a truly inspiring person. Her leadership, strength, vision and unwavering dedication left a profound impact on all who had the privilege of knowing her. She led with grace, courage and compassion, breaking barriers and lighting the way for so many others to follow.   She’s remembered with a huge amount of affection by all of us from BfN Lambeth as such a warm, kind, funny and all-round wonderful person.  An absolute pleasure to work with and a real advocate for breastfeeding families and supporters, Laura was someone who always made time for you and was lovely to talk to when you saw her at the school gate picking up her grandchildren, or when you saw her out and about in Lambeth.   Her legacy will live on in the countless lives she touched, the causes she championed and the example she set. In her memory, may we continue to carry forward her spirit of purpose, justice and hope.  She will greatly be missed and our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies are with her family, friends and all who mourn her tremendous loss.   With love, deepest respect and sorrow from…