Meet the team

Healthy Valleys employs a team of dedicated staff, which includes management, admin, team leaders, project workers and casual workers. In addition, we are lucky to have the support of an amazing team of volunteers, without whom we would not be able to deliver the breadth of services we do. We are governed by a Board of Directors that meets quarterly to drive strategy and direction.

The trustees are all volunteers and are drawn from different backgrounds to ensure the charity has the best mix of business, financial, marketing and health advice. The trustees are supported by officers of South Lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire.

The Board

John Dalrymple - Chairperson

John is an experienced social worker who has spent most of his career working in services for people with learning difficulties in Scotland. He is currently the Joint Director of Radical Visions.

He worked in a variety of roles including Principal Officer for Learning Disabilities for Strathclyde and Resettlement Project Manager at Lennox Castle Hospital.

John was the first employee and chief officer of Partnership Housing (now INSPIRE), and co-founded Support for Ordinary Living. With Simon Duffy and others he was a founder of ALTRUM, and sits on the Board of In Control Scotland.

John contributed to the Scottish review of learning disability services, The Same As You? (2000) and was instrumental in establishing Values Into Action Scotland as an independent Scottish agency in 2007.

John lives in Biggar, South Lanarkshire, with his wife Moira, and is keen on Hearts, jazz and Scottish self-direction.

Dr James Torrens

Jamie is currently a GP working in Clydesdale. He has worked as a GP in this area for 5 years.

Jamie also has positions in NHSL including Weight Management Service and in Mental Health. Jamie joined the board in 2019.

He is passionate about social prescribing and how this can unite communities. Jamie is a keen sailor and uses his spare time to travel.

Margaret Wilson

Margaret was Human Resources Manager with North Lanarkshire Council, Health and Social Care Partnership and retired in 2017. She has been a volunteer with Healthy Valleys since November 2017 in the Resilient Families Team and has been a Public Partner with Healthcare Improvement Scotland since 2018.

Margaret is married, has four sons, four grandchildren and two Gordon Setters. She is a Committee member and past President of the Upperward Mountaineering Club been an active member of Greyfriars Church and School Board Member/Chairperson of both Robert Owen Memorial Primary School and Lanark Grammar School.

Margaret keeps fit by attending her favourite Body Combat class, hillwalking in Scotland and has climbed/trekked in Spain, Morocco, Nepal and Tibet.

Paula Harrison

Paula is currently a director of Automatic Protection Limited based in Biggar. She was educated at Biggar High School and gained a BSC(Hons) in Immunology and Pharmacology, an LLB and a Professional Legal Practice Diploma from Strathclyde University.

Paula then moved from Glasgow to Edinburgh and took up post as a solicitor in an Edinburgh law firm in their commercial contract department.

Paula now lives in Biggar with her husband and three children. She is a true geek at heart who enjoys board games, jigsaws, puzzles, hospital and crime tv dramas and socialising with her friends and family.

Having benefited herself from the opportunities that a consistent family and friend support network provides, Paula is passionate that this is something that everyone should have in their life and is excited to be involved in an organisation that has this belief at its core.

Richard Orr

Richard is passionate about helping people live healthy and fulfilling lives. As Director of Partnerships at the national charity Winning Scotland, he drives fundraising, business development and cross-sector partnerships to create lasting impact.

An accomplished communications professional, Richard has written for leading newspapers and magazines and is the author of two books, including the 2008 bestseller Be A Winner. He also shares his expertise as a freelance trainer with Pink Elephant Communications, equipping companies worldwide with presentation and media skills.

Outside of work, Richard enjoys quality time with family and friends, and can often be found playing or watching sports.

Karen McGuigan

Karen is currently a Health Improvement Co-ordinator and Public Health Advisor for NHS Lanarkshire. She has worked for NHS Lanarkshire for 16 years and was one of the original members of the group that secured funding to develop the Health Valleys initiative.

Her first degree is in sport and she also has a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Glasgow. Karen joined the Board in 2015.

She is passionate about empowering communities to improve health and wellbeing and recognises the valuable role that the third sector plays in this.

Karen spends her spare time with her husband and two young sons and enjoys running to keep fit and healthy.

Pauline Nichol

Pauline worked for Healthy Valleys for over 20years and finally retired from her role as Finance Manager in March 2025. Prior to that she worked in the Third Sector and accountancy and banking sector.

She is originally from Liverpool (is not really football mad but her family definitely are) and has lived in South Lanarkshire over 40 years.

She works hard at meeting up with her family and meets up with them on regular week-ends away ‘to celebrate anything we can think of!’

Pauline is very interested in health and wellbeing and will continue, not only to pursue her personal goal to get fitter, but to support the great work that Healthy Valleys do in our local communities.

Kirsty Campbell

Kirsty, originally from Biggar, moved to Glasgow to study Marketing and Communication. After graduating, she worked at Endsleigh Insurance, quickly progressing to branch manager and later became a multi-site manager. After the birth of her children, she transitioned into business development, underwriting and then focused on property investment. Kirsty is currently Operations Manager at H M Raitt & Sons, a residential construction company.

Kirsty has consistently maintained an active involvement in her community in addition to her professional activities. She was a member of South Lanarkshire Council's Parents as Partners group and chaired the Parent Council when her children were in primary school. She also established and led the school's Coding Club, managed the Save the Children Families Connect program at Carstairs Primary, and served on the Carstairs Village Hall committee. She later rose to the position of Vice-Chair of the Biggar High School Parent Council and supported parental engagement in schools throughout Scotland as a facilitator for Connect, previously the Scottish Parent Teacher Council.