Val was born and brought up in South London and has raised her family there too. She can remember herself as a child waiting to catch a bus home opposite Kingston YMCA in its old home on Eden Street.
Val first heard of YMCA LSW through her work with AZTEC, the Training and Enterprise Council, and its successor organisation The Learning and Skills Council. Whilst working on a project with her current employer, Merton Local Authority where she is a 16 to 18 Commissioning Manager, she worked on a consortia project for young unemployed young people with the Centre Director at YMCA Wimbledon. Through this she learnt more about the future plans of YMCA LSW which fed her passion to make a difference. Val hopes to do this as part of her work on the Board of Trustees.