Val, an IT manager working in Axminster, has been acting since school days. Although she has had no formal training she has attended many NODA courses and now has over 40 years of experience in acting and directing. Since moving to Seaton in 1987 Val has been involved with the performing side of things in many ways. While her family was too young for her to take part herself she assisted with Gang Shows and other youth shows. Always a supporter of the then Seaton Amateur Dramatic Society, she joined in 1992. Her first part for the group was in “An Inspector Calls”, since when she has tackled a wide variety of parts from the ‘bit on the side’ in “Out of Order” to the Chief in Ben Elton’s “Gasping” and from the murderess in “Take Away the Lady” to the daughter in “Arms and the Man” and many others beside. In 1996 she began directing plays as well as continuing to act (not at the same time!) and take part in musicals, and in 1999 directed her first musical, “The King and I”. She became the chairman of SDG in 1990.