Our Board Members and Volunteers
The Board of Directors
Peter Salkeld BSC (Hons), RSLI, MVLP
Chair of Directors
Following a successful management career within the leisure and entertainment industry that he pursued whilst studying to be an interpreter, Peter became a member of VLP soon after he began practicing as a freelance sign language interpreter in 2011. Peter achieved his degree in Social Policy in Wales and this underpinning knowledge led to him joining the VLP Management Committee in 2018 to work on policy documentation and the formation of VLP as a legal entity. Throughout his career he has worked predominantly in professional, medical and social services settings in London, the South East and the East of England.
Since 2019, Peter and the Management Committee have been engaging with members across the represented professions and regions; they are working on a dynamic repositioning of VLP as an inclusive organisation promoting high standards through support, collaboration and representation. Peter believes that VLP should be a leader in its field and that VLP’s strength lies in the collective knowledge of its members.
Annie Walpole RSLI, MVLP
Finance Director
Annie has worked within the Deaf Community since 1994, she became a qualified Interpreter in 2008 completing her training via the NVQ route. Since that time Annie has worked across all domains but the a vast majority of her work is community interpreting.
Annie started volunteering for VLP in 2017, supporting the board with membership renewals and enquiries but became a named director in September 2019. Since joining the board Annie has held the position of Secretary and Finance Director, thoroughly enjoying the challenges of helping to steer the association.
Jess Heyworth MA (Hons), RSLI, MVLP
Communications Director
Jess Heyworth became a Registered Sign Language Interpreter in 2015 when she achieved a Master's degree from Durham University. Since then she has worked in various interpreting domains, but has a particular passion for Deaf mental health and welfare rights and advocacy in the Deaf community. She is also keen to encourage local peer groups for interpreters and trainees, and is an active member of her local North East Interpreters Network. In her spare time she's to be found encouraging greater Deaf awareness in the running community and volunteering at running events to ensure Deaf people have access.
She has been a member of VLP since becoming qualified, and put herself forward as Communications Director in 2017. Since then, she has been focused on how VLP communicates with its members as well as the wider world. She is passionate about making sure all of VLP's communications reflect its ethos of openness, inclusivity and high standards.
Chance Walton-Ashmore BA (Hons), RSLI, MVLP. CAVA
Commercial Director
Chance has been a practising interpreter since finishing his interpreting degree in 2015, graduating with a first-class honours degree.
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Chance has been a member of the VLP board as the Member Engagement Director since September 2019.
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Qualifying as RSLI in November 2017 Chance went on to become a NRCPD standards advisor and an assessor in July 2019. Chance became interested in BSL as his mother is also a BSL Interpreter and Deafblind Interpreter.
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Chance says "I love co-working with different interpreters and learning from them. I also like to travel."
Dilys Palin RLS, MVLP, Lipspeaker
Elected Director
Dilys qualified as a Lipspeaker 1997 and since that time has worked in a broad variety of domains. Her interest in becoming a Lipspeaker was due to her having a profoundly deaf brother who lip read and signed. In addition to Lipspeaking Dilys now also devotes her time to training students training to become qualified Lipspeakers.
Dilys joined the team as a volunteer in September 2019 representing Lipspeakers and was elected on to the board in 2020.
Judy Scholes RSLI, MVLP
Secretary
Judy fell in love with BSL at a Christian conference when she was just a teenager after which she took up BSL and has enjoyed working with and for Deaf people ever since.
After several years as a staff interpreter, Judy became freelance in 2016 and relocated to Derbyshire.
Judy started volunteering with VLP in the summer of 2020 with a special interest in supporting our Student members. In 2022 she took on the role of Secretary.
Lee Campbell RSLI, MVLP
Elected Director
Lee has been a Registered Sign Language Interpreter since 2017. Since qualifying Lee has worked throughout Northern Ireland across a variety of sectors, but her passion is for community Interpreting.
Lee became a member of VLP in 2019 and began volunteering in 2020 as a member of the organising committee for VLP conferences. Since then, Lee has continued to support VLP’s work through the hosting of its Education Programme sessions and more recently was appointed the Regional Contact for Northern Ireland.
When she's not interpreting, Lee is an athletics coach with Special Olympics which has taken her and her athletes to numerous National and International Competitions.
Valued Volunteers
Stephen Ellis-Menton BA Ed (Hons), RSLI, TAQA, MVLP, MASLI
Volunteer
Stephen first started learning BSL at 15 but came into interpreting after training as a teacher, completing the BA Ed (QTS) at Liverpool Hope University. He completed his NVQ 4 in BSL and NVQ 4 in Interpreting whilst training and working as a teacher; he qualified as RSLI when he was just 23.
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Stephen's career as an interpreter started whilst working for what was the largest Deaf Organisation in the North West where he worked in their interpreting department for 6½ years and was responsible for the supervision and mentoring of their in-house interpreting team.
After becoming freelance, Stephen has worked with a range of organisations to establish and deliver mentorship programs and training for in-house interpreters. He became a qualified assessor after completing the Teaching and Quality Assurance Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (TAQA) at The City of Liverpool College in 2013 and is currently the lead tutor and assessor for the Diploma in BSL-English Interpreting at BSL Interpretations.
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Stephen currently volunteers with VLP undertaking a number of roles, with a large proportion of his time spent working on the VLP website membership benefits.