‘I can't believe I'M STILL ALIVE’

PRISONER ICON VAL LEHMAN HAS PLENTY TO CELEBRATE

- Craig Bennett

 

Val Lehman bursts into a gale of laughter when asked if she'll be celebrating her milestone 80th birthday on March 15 with a big party and plenty of cake.

"Frankly, I can't believe I'm still here. But, I'm feeling remarkably well and ridiculously spry.

"Considering the life I've led, I don't think I have any right to feel this good," chortles Val.

"I figured as I'm turning 80, I'd round up some friends for a long lunch. I'm chuffed so many are coming from all over Australia, and there's even a close friend flying in from the UK!"

It's coming on to four years since Val overhauled her life, upping stumps from Queensland's Macleay Island, her home for 11 years, to Toowoomba with cherished dogs Bogart and Blaze in tow.

"I was pining for an old-fashioned garden with roses, peonies and irises. Toowoomba is renowned as [Queensland's] Garden City, so it made sense. I've always loved the laid-back, rural lifestyle," she says.