I’ve lived in Kingston for 40 years and since I retired I have been active in a residents’ association, in community gardening, and chaired Healthwatch Kingston, the local watchdog for health and social care, where I sat on two council committees and got to know several councillors.

Full statement

In 2024 I was elected as a governor for Kingston and Richmond Foundation Trust (including Kingston Hospital). In 2025 I was given a Mayor’s Community Award- my nominator said ‘she seeks practical compromise but she has a terrier-like determination’, qualities which I hope to put to the service of residents in Norbiton.

I started my career as a public health nurse and then moved into university teaching with a spell at the Department of Health. So I have a great interest in health and social care, and in how we can work together to improve living conditions and life chances, particularly for babies and young children. It is a disgrace that so many children live in poverty in Kingston, and aren’t ‘school ready’. At the other end of the spectrum, I am an Age Friendly Ambassador and keen that the move to digital does not exclude older people from participating in local democracy.

Why I Am Standing

As a long-standing Labour Party member I am proud to represent my party in this election and would love to put my skills and experience to use in Norbiton. Having been a senior member of a university managing NHS training contracts I would bring experience of getting things done, including committee work. As a research manager at the Department of Health I worked on evidence-based policy making and I notice how RBK committee papers rarely draw on any research evidence, or comment on how other local authorities tackle the difficult problems that they all face. We can all learn so much from each other.