Founded on friendship
Smile was founded by Karl Lansley and Lee Clark in 2024 to give local people a supportive and positive community where they can find help, advice and good company when life gets tough.
Our regular meetups offer something for everyone. Find out more about our founders below and if you’d like to join us, feel free to get in touch and join our Facebook Community group.
Karl Lansley
Founder
SMILE has resonated with so many people and I am incredibly proud of what I have helped to create.
My name is Karl Lansley. On 1st June 2017, my wife (of almost 13 years) Carli passed away from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS). Carli was just 36 years of age. We have two children, Jess and Ethan, who were aged just 10 and 6 at the time. It goes without saying that this senseless tragedy completely knocked me and, were it not for my children, I’m not sure where the dark times would have lead me to.
Alongside raising Jess and Ethan as a single Dad, but with considerable help from friends and family (especially in the early days), my other focus became a charity we established in Carli’s memory, which provides free heart checks to young people aged 14-35 to help detect undiagnosed heart conditions.
As of August 2026, our charity has raised over £250,000 and checked the hearts of almost 3,800 young people.
In 2019, an unexpected opportunity arose to start a new relationship and I thought I’d found a “new happiness”. Although we were together almost three years, the last 12 months of the relationship were amongst the most toxic, mentally challenging times I ever hope to endure and it (again) took me to some dark places.
In May 2024, to honour the memory of Carli and to find a sense of purpose, I undertook a walk of 1000 miles around the South East of England. This ‘poignant pilgrimage’ gave me a love of walking, and exploring the amazing countryside we have.
This lead to the suggestion, with Lee, of creating a walking group to help anyone who is struggling – for whatever reason – and to get people active and outdoors.
Because of my ‘double whammy’ of losing Carli and suffering a toxic relationship, I believe I have developed a level of empathy that makes me want to help people in any way I can.
The walking group – which we soon named SMILE – has obviously resonated with so many people and I am incredibly proud of what I have helped to create.
Lee Clark
Founder
I look forward to welcoming you on one of our walks or events very soon.
Hello everyone, my name is Lee, and it’s a pleasure to meet you all. I’d like to tell you a little about myself and the journey that brought me here.
I was born in Great Yarmouth in 1981. When I was very young, my mum was in a domestically abusive relationship. As a result, we spent time living in women’s refuges, first in Norwich and then, after finally escaping, in a refuge in Southend-on-Sea. I moved to Southend when I was around eight or nine years old, and it was the first time I truly experienced the kindness of strangers.
Local people welcomed us with open arms. They took us on days out, supported us, and gave us hope at a time when we needed it most. Those acts of kindness have stayed with me for the rest of my life, and they inspired me to always try to give something back to my community.
As I got older, life brought many more traumas and difficult experiences. Rather than facing them, I buried them deep inside and convinced myself they hadn’t really happened. I carried on as though everything was okay. I went through failed relationships, spent years masking who I really was, and constantly tried to fit in. I mirrored other people because I believed that was what I was supposed to do. Looking back now, I realise I wasn’t really living – I was simply surviving.
To everyone around me, it probably looked like I was coping. I told myself I had my trauma under control, but the truth is I never did. I had simply become very good at hiding the pain. For many years I pretended everything was fine, but deep down I was struggling and found myself in a very dark place. Eventually, I realised I couldn’t keep running from my past. In 2024, I went to my GP and laid everything on the table. That was the beginning of my healing journey.
I started counselling, began to understand myself for the first time, and recently received my ADHD diagnosis. I am also currently waiting for an autism assessment. Those answers haven’t changed who I am, but they have helped me understand why I have experienced the world differently throughout my life.
If my story helps even one person realise it’s okay to ask for help or to come along to a walk, then sharing it has been worthwhile.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. It’s lovely to meet you all, and I look forward to welcoming you on one of our walks or events very soon.
