About the Author – A Short Biography

I was born and brought up in Manchester, England

At the age of 18 years old, I went to work and live in St Ives, Cornwall in the heady days of the 70s, this was to avoid what my father wanted me to become – an accountant, a step up from the Mill Town of Radcliffe where we lived. Once settled in St Ives I trained as a goldsmith – jeweller, culminating after several years with my own small shop and gallery in Holland Park, London.

Moved to work and live in South Africa in 1987 after a visit there in 1977, prompted by my dislike of the apartheid regime and my great love of African Wildlife, especially of lions. I abhorred the “Canned Lion Hunting” industry and “Captive-Bred Lion Farming” taking place in Africa and wanted to do something towards dispelling these cruel endeavours.   

The last remaining group of, the Bushmen of the Kalahari came into my life shortly after arriving in the country in an educational capacity. This led to becoming involved with the Bushmen’s land claim in the “New South Africa” towards the end of the 1990s after being evicted and thrown out of the Kalahari Gemsbok Park – they’re rightful home, during the 70s and 80s. Together with a human rights lawyer, the Minister of Land Affairs, Derek Hanekom, myself and the group of Bushmen, we took on the South African Government. The land claim was successful, and the Bushmen received six expropriated farms and 63 000 hectares of land on the outskirts of the Kalahari Gemsbok Park.

Being a keen sailor at FBYC in the naval port of Simon’s Town, Cape Town, saw me being initiated as the first female Commodore  after 50 years of male dominance. During this tenure I sailed to the Island of St Helena in the South Atlantic in the Governor’s Cup Yacht Race in 2006/7.

Above everything my love of wildlife takes precedence. I have been lucky enough to have travelled and worked in Kenya, Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, and Tanzania experiencing and working with wildlife and conservation. Being part of a team relocating fifteen lions, a leopard and two tigers from the Free State to the Western Cape in South Africa – who were doomed for the bullet – to Panthera Africa, a safe lion sanctuary, and a part of Born Free Foundation, was a high in my graph of life. I am the Chairman of Wild Rescue Wildlife Sanctuary and Nature Reserve in South Africa. 

My love of tennis and swimming keeps me fit and healthy. I divide my time between Cape Town and Cornwall.