Ravensbury

Stephen is a businessman living in Morden who attended state schools and was the first in his family to go to university. He is married to Athy who spent 40 years working in the NHS and they have two children who were both born at St Helier Hospital.

A councillor since 2003, Stephen pushes for improvements to the ward. He supported the regeneration of the Ravensbury Grove Estate; ensured Morden Road was resurfaced and lines refreshed; and he succeeded in getting TfL to reduce the speed limit from 40mph miles to 30mph on St Helier Avenue making it a safer road to cross and to park on. Stephen litter picks along the green verges and arranges for his full bin liners to be collected by Merton Council’s waste services department for possible recycling.

In a first for the ward, Stephen called for a new GP surgery in the grounds of the local park. Residents now have access to a surgery in the beautiful setting of Ravensbury Park.

Stephen was a football referee for ten years mostly officiating on Sundays on pitches throughout Merton and on Saturdays in stadia around Surrey

Ravensbury

Peter McCabe is the son of Irish immigrants, who grew up on a Council estate in Lambeth. He attended a primary school in Vauxhall, and his secondary school was in Clapham. Peter became the first member of his family to attend University. Peter has been married to his childhood sweetheart, Jackie, for 48 years. They moved to Mitcham in 1985, and their four children were all educated in Merton schools.

Before retiring in 2022, Peter enjoyed a successful career in the voluntary sector. He spent the last 28 years of his employment as a Chief Executive of two national charities, including Headway, the brain injury association, which he led for 21 years.

Peter has been a Councillor for Ravensbury Ward for almost 40 years and has been involved in the campaign to keep Emergency and Maternity services open at St Helier Hospital.

For the last four years he has been the Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care. A recent independent inspection by the Care Quality Commission, concluded that Merton Adult Social Care was providing ‘Good’ services to residents in the Borough, which is high praise for his work.

Val Hoppichler was born in Argentina and started gymnastics at the age of six, becoming an elite-level gymnast and then a gymnastics judge. On retirement Val became a gymnastics coach and her work and passion for sport took her around the world, working in Argentina, Canada, Australia, and Chile before settling in the UK. She lives in Morden with her husband and has worked across Merton for the past 15 years.

Val has worked as a ski instructor and managed gymnastics clubs for over 30 years, and she founded and now runs Wimbledon Gymnastics. Val is a Sport Coach and PE Teacher and also works in independent and state schools teaching gymnastics, athletics, swimming, basketball, handball, volleyball, softball, dance, hockey, football, and netball.

Val volunteers at her church, entertaining and educating the children during the service; delivering food bags in the neighbourhood and organising a Christmas market.

As you can imagine, Val is very supportive of Merton’s ambitions to be the London Borough of Sport, and is looking forward to helping expand access to sport, make our streets safer, and promote healthier, active lifestyles.

Mitcham and Morden MP

Siobhain has lived in the constituency of Mitcham and Morden her whole life and was elected as the Member of Parliament for Mitcham and Morden in 1997.

Siobhain is renowned as one of the country’s hardest-working MPs, and regularly leads the list of MPs who have written the most letters, taking up thousands of new cases on behalf of constituents every year. She has led a variety of campaigns, including the opening of a new train station at Mitcham Eastfields, saving St Helier Hospital, introducing new community ‘Safer Neighbourhood’ police teams, and tackling graffiti, abandoned cars, vandalism and other anti-social behaviour.

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