On leaving school worked for the sixties band Small Faces. In 1984 after leaving work to have a family, graduated with an Honours degree in Humanities and went onto to train in journalism. After working freelance for many years and having her work published widely in newspapers and magazines, Val became an active environmental campaigner, receiving an MBE for that work in 1997. In 2011 contributed to first book published called "Why Noise Matters". Val is married to photographer Phil Weedon, has two grown up children, three grandsons and two granddaughters