Sandra attended Durham University to read Modern History and where she was Vice President of St Mary's College JCR.  After graduating she travelled to Japan where she taught  English and "had a whale of a time" in Tokyo, including working in a Karaoke bar.

In London after training in accounting and a series of accounting and administration posts, including a stint as Finance Director of the Young Vic Theatre, Sandra joined All Nippon Airways in London where she worked for eight years, in charge of London accounting and training staff across Europe.  A stint as a director of a company formation agency was followed by corporate and trust fundraising work at the Campaign to Protect Rural England and since 2004 Sandra has been managing the charitable arm of the South London and Maudsley Mental Health NHS Trust, which has a large endowment.  This follows twenty years of being active in the mental health field, including what is now Rethink and with the Clubhouse movement. She is also currently writing a paper on the mental health service user movement in Japan.

Throughout Sandra's time in London she has been active in what is now the Liberal Democrat Party, standing for Parliament three times and as candidate for the European parliament.  She was a councillor in Lambeth for 11 years, as Chair of Social Services, Chair of Children's Services, Chair of the Liberal Democrat Group and Chair of the Constituency, and since 2004 Sandra has chaired the Lambeth Twinning Association.  Sandra is, the immediate past President of Manchester High School Old Girls' Federation, the two year position from which she retired in June.

Sandra lives with Colin in Streatham, her partner of 11 years, and has a niece and nephew nearby who keep her busy.  She is still in touch with a dozen or so people from school, which, she says, is "great".