‍“We Will all Miss her Sparkle, Vigour and ‘Zhush’” – Rest in Peace Tina

For the last three years we’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Tina since she joined Neon to support us with client development in 2017.

I first met Tina on a work placement at Euro RSCG Skybridge in 2006 and I knew from the start that she was a force-to-be-reckoned-with in the event industry. Having the opportunity to work with her again after all these years was an honour, albeit (and she was the first to admit this) sometimes a challenge, but certainly a relationship I will always remember fondly.

Despite having been in the industry for almost 15 years, Tina still managed to teach me new things and for that I will always be grateful. Tina was passionate about developing sincere and lasting relationships with clients and always thinking about ways to make sure our event programmes had that extra bit of sparkle. Her values were close to Neon’s heart and I know they will keep on shining and spreading their magic for years to come.

As most people within the industry know, Tina had an extremely successful career, heading up the events team at Adding Value, Euro RSCG Skybridge and Motivforce, as well as time spent at Peugeot and Jaguar. The relationships she developed and nurtured with colleagues, suppliers and clients is evident in the heat warming tributes that have come flooding in since her passing. Tina wore her heart on her sleeve and always offered praise and adulation to all those around her; so, we hope somehow, somewhere, Tina can hear all of the kind words spoken about her.

There’s no doubt about it, Tina was always the heart and soul of any Neon get together! Whether it was collapsing in uncontrollable giggles after descending down the slide at Junkyard Golf Club on our Christmas Party (almost showing everyone where she shopped for her underwear!) or floating down the Thames wearing a bright pink feather boa and brandishing a male inflatable appendage around on a colleagues hen-do, she always was, in her own words, a ‘total scream’!

I was lucky enough to work on a range of event programmes with Tina; from the LHC Roadshows which we ran up and down the country, to the glittering awards ceremony we delivered for Peugeot UK. I always admired how, even after all these years, she was willing to roll her sleeves up and really get stuck in and support the team in making sure what we delivered exceeded our clients expectations.

Tina will always be in the back of my mind when I deliver events with Neon and I hope I can continue to add the sparkle, vigour and that little bit of Tina Morris ‘zhush’ that would really make her proud.

Laura, Client Services Director

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“I will miss Tina's cheeky personality and very selfishly, her compliments about my strong German physique. She was always up for a few drinks and her ‘flirting’ with the boys in the office was always a good laugh. She was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Her tomato plant will never be forgotten. A strong personality that will certainly be missed by her colleagues and the whole industry.”

Martin, Senior Account Manager

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“I will miss many things about Tina, these include her northern warmth and charm that made everyone instantly treat her like an old friend even if they had just met her, her knowledge and understanding of our industry, her ability to always have her lippy topped up for the next meeting, her lack of patience with modern technology (I was her tech support on many occasions) and last of all, even when sitting in a hotel bar at 3am after an extremely long hard show day surrounded by a half clad dance troupe, her ability to praise, appreciate and give me career advice. TM will be missed by all of us!”

Hannah, Account Manager - Events

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“I find it quite hard to think about not seeing Tina in the office again and at our next social Neon gathering. In fact, a Neon client organised event without her present and mothering and bossing us about in the most perfect way seems unthinkable really. (I’m pretty sure at one moment she was sat in the Champagne bar whilst texting us with instructions.... Why not hey?!) I will always remember Tina’s big smile, perfect lippy and trendy outfits. I have huge respect for Tina and her success in the events industry, and only hope I could do half as good a job myself in my career! Reading and listening to everyone’s stories over the last few days, makes me feel so very lucky to have worked, for too short a while... for a bit of a legend!”

Hattie, Head of Business Development & Marketing

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‍“I first met Tina 26 years ago in 1994 when she joined Motivforce and we got on pretty much immediately. 

At the time, the company management had a policy of picking posh girls who mixed with the Charles & Diana circle. Tina was definitely a pick against that type as she was Northern, noisy, loved a joke and understood me - which was more than the others did. I had just acquired BT as client for the agency, so I introduced her to my contacts and before I knew it, we won a series of huge Summer Fun Days for staff and families, all her doing. 

It was clear that she knew events from top to bottom and before you could blink the new events clients started to roll in - McKinsey Global Retreats, Vodafone Ball (one night, 11,500 people enjoying a silver service dinner), Halifax Recognition Weekends and many, many, more.  We built a whole UK events division on her shoulders and the industry awards kept on coming.

When I left Skybridge and Phil Jones and I set up River Marketing, I tried to persuade her to come and join and on two occasions she very nearly did.

We stayed friends over the years, meeting up for drinks and dinner a couple of times a year, always enjoying lots of laughs. I couldn’t believe our luck when Tina eventually did join the Neon team in 2017, taking up a part-time role as Business Development Consultant. Tina loved the people, the potential and the Neon no nonsense, can-do ethic. She helped us into clients like Peugeot, Citroen, LHC and was still working on things that we will benefit from after Covid like Royal London and Milken.

Tina had not been well for a while and it was nagging at her that it reduced her time with us. I told her not worry about it, she had already helped us, but she kept saying “no Peter this is only a little bit of what I can bring, I want to help Neon as it has helped me”.

That was Tina, always willing to help friends, funny, noisy, raucous even, but a very good friend to me, Phil and this agency - we are lucky to have known her.”

‍Peter, Director

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‍We will all miss Tina dearly and our thoughts are with Tina's loved ones at this difficult time.