Val Armstrong
Carlisle

Val is a familiar voice to many having worked at the BBC in the county for more than 40 years. A Lancastrian by birth, she joined BBC Radio Cumbria in 1982.Across the years she’s done a whole host of jobs from answering calls on the switchboard to cleaning the kitchen.On air she’s presented everything from the Farming Show to Sport.
She is also a great ambassador for Cumbria and loves living and working in the most beautiful part of the world.
Val was named Cumbria Woman of the Year in 2011 following her second diagnosis of breast cancer.She made her fight public by keeping online and audio diaries in the hope that they would help others facing the same battle.
Val hopes people have been inspired by her pluckiness, her determination and ability to give a great roar of laughter no matter what life throws at her….
Val has been a member of the Cumbria Women of the Year Committee since 2005.

Edith Slinger
Wigton

Edith moved to Cumbria in 1971, working as a volunteer and fundraiser for Barnardos for 40 years.
Joining the Cumbria Woman of the Year committee in 1994, Edith has enjoyed 25 years of working to bring together and celebrate the inspiring women from all over the country.

Yvonne Clarkson
Calderbridge

Yvonne is based in Cumbria, working as a partner in her family business, owning and letting a portfolio of commercial properties and agricultural land.
Diving her time also to act as trustee and board member of the Rosehill Arts Trust and a Trustee of Little Mesopotamia Arboretum.

Sue Kaveney
Carlisle

Carlisle born and bred, Sue is passionate about her City and County. She is extremely proud to have been able to continue to live and work here, until recently when she joined a former client in a regional role as Director of HR and Charities for Bedspace Resource Limited.She now travels throughout the North West for her work but remains living in Cumbria.
Outside her professional life, Sue is very active in a voluntary and fundraising capacity and was awarded Cumbria’s Woman of the Year title for 2017.
She is a Volunteer for the Royal British Legion, a Poppy Appeal Team Leader and is Vice Chair at Carlisle United Community Sports Trust.
Sue joined the committee in January 2022.

Cath Giel
Workington

Cath was born and raised in West Cumbria.Having recently retired from a senior executive role in the nuclear industry, she is enjoying the flexibility to take on new challenges and support causes close to her heart.She continues to serve on the West Cumbria Grants Panel of the Cumbria Community Foundation where she has also completed a 9-year term as a Trustee.

An ex-Parish and District Councillor, Cath has spent a considerable part of her career and adult life representing her community and trying to improve opportunities, facilities and life choices.Cath is passionate about the area and its people.She never ceases to be impressed by the resourcefulness, generosity, and spirit of the people she comes in to contact with and is proud to call herself Cumbrian.

Cath joined the Cumbria Woman of the Year committee in March 2022.

Jayne Moorby
Barrow-in-Furness

Jayne is a Marketing professional and has worked at Oxley Group in Ulverston since 2012.
A passionate Barrovian, Jayne is committed to supporting the local community, tackling disadvantage and making Furness a great place to live and work. Jayne has been a member of the core team of Barrow Foodbank for seven years and for five years has served as a member of the Cumbria Community Foundation Barrow Grants Panel.
Jayne has been recognised by The Manufacturer as one of the UK’s 100 most influential people in the category of ‘Driver of Cultural Change.’
Developing the skills of young people is a particular area of interest and Jayne is Chair of the Cumbria Cornerstone Employer Group and Chair of charity FESP; encouraging businesses and schools to work more closely together to support the skills of young people.Passionate about equality, Jayne is involved with the Women in Defence Charter and STEM and champions projects to support young women into traditionally male dominated careers.
Jayne joined the committee in 2022.

Joanne Thomlinson
Carlisle

Cumbrian born and bred, Joanne has 14 years experience in the accountancy sector. She became Partner of Dodd & Co Chartered Accountants in 2021, providing guidance and business advice to businesses in all aspects of their life cycle.
A proud Wigton girl and an inspirational campaigner, Joanne won the Cumbria Woman of the Year award herself in 2018. Her title came after 4 years of campaigning for the release of her brother John and his colleagues, the Chennai 6, from an Indian prison after being held on false weapon charges.
The campaign saw Joanne spending time between India and the UK, alongside working full time and being a mum to two small children.
Joanne joined the Cumbria Woman of the Year committee in 2022, and is thrilled to be able to bring her own experiences and accomplishments into the committee, awarding and recognising other inspiring candidates in the community.

Maria Whitehead
Rusland Valley

Maria was born and brought up in Southport in the North West of England, moving to the Lake District at the age of 15 with her family to live in the Rusland Valley, where she met her husband Mark, they ran hotels and took over her parents café in Hawkshead when they retired in 1999, they began making a range of Pickles and Preserves in the café and this soon developed into the Hawkshead Relish Company, earning them both MBE’s in 2011 for services to the food industry in Cumbria.

Maria sits on several government advisory boards for SMEs in Food and Drink and is an Export champion for the North West.Maria was instrumental in co-ordinating the appeal to secure a doctor’s surgery in Hawkshead and is involved in many community events, supporting both the mental health charity Growing Well and the Sunbeams Music Therapy in Penrith.

Outside of work, Maria loves walking and foraging for mushrooms, herbs and plants in the nearby woods, with two dogs, Bertie and Gertie and travel, especially to India and South East Asia, where they pick up recipe ideas along the way. Throughout lockdown Maria has been researching her family tree and found and finally met her Spanish cousins.