Meet the Members

Members of Signs of God are committed to using their skills to encourage people to develop and improve their use of BSL in Christian settings
Gill Behenna (Administrator) Gill is the person most often at the end of the phone and the one responsible for sending out all the booking forms and bills! She is a priest in the Church of England working as Chaplain with Deaf People in the Diocese of Bristol (South West of England) and runs Signs of God in her spare time. "Interpreting in Church can be some of the most challenging and difficult. It includes poetry and music, sometimes drama and often very complex language. I am so glad that Signs of God is helping people to prepare for this very important work."		Derek Boardman Derek is a BSL and Deaf Awareness Tutor in North Somerset. He is also a Church of England Reader and regularly leads worship in BSL. He also preaches from time to time in his local Parish Church in BSL with an interpreter. He has acted as Tutor on two Signs of God Summer Schools and as Consultant to one of our Day Workshops. His sense of fun and his lively teaching style makes him a popular teacher with all our participants.   Debbie Harvey Debbie works as a part-time Chaplain with Deaf People in the Diocese of Truro. (That is Cornwall, South West in England as far as you can go!). She also works part-time as a Sign Language Interpreter. Debbie's past professions have included State Registered Nurse in a Renal Unit, Partner in a Wholesale business (nothing posh it just meant she got to hoover up), and then as a Social Work Assistant with deaf people. "At present, I am studying to become a counsellor with deaf people. God has given me a passion and heartfelt desire that deaf people may come to know Him, hence my involvement in Signs of God"		Trudy Field (Secretary) Trudy lives in Scunthorpe and works as a free-lance interpreter. She is a Fellow of the Association of Sign Language Interpreters and received this recognition partly because of her work in the area of training Interpreters working in Christian settings. She is well known as a tutor at various Workshops and Events. She is especially keen that people should constantly be evaluating their signing and interpreting and improving their standards Trudy is Secretary of Signs of God and is a Trustee.
Ros Hunt Ros is a priest in the Church of England and a qualified social worker. She is presently undertaking post-graduate study at Manchester University. She is really interested in how people interpret scripture, liturgy and theology into BSL. "The more I think about and the more I work on it, the more I realise how complex the task is. As a result I think we have to take time together to work on these things, pool ideas and produce the best we can. Hence my involvement in Signs of God."				Penny Beschizza (Chair &Trustee) Penny has always worked in a variety of settings since she started teaching BSL in 1989; currently she is a .7 co-ordinator of Deaf students in Southwark College, London, free-lance trainer and works within a school service for Deaf children one day a week. Her involvement with Christian sign language teaching came from working with Christians Communicating, an annual weekend course for people wishing to acquire CACDP standards and Christian vocabulary from Deaf tutors. She was active in the Deaf Christian Fellowship in London during the 70's and 80's. Currently she attends Westminster Chapel, London. Penny is active in deaf issues, she is Chair of the Deaf Broadcasting Council, a consumer organisation for deaf/HoH TV viewers.and is part of NATFHE's equality committee (trade union). She is training to be a qualified counsellor to underpin her responsibilities in supporting BSL learners and Deaf people. Her belief in BSL is to see more natural BSL in the church. "Working at the Signs of God Summer Schools have been memorable experiences, especially in seeing how everyone developed their BSL skills towards the end of the course."
Rachel Smith (Treasurer) Rachel is a freelance Sign Language Interpreter working mostly in Wales. She attended two Signs of God Summer Schools as a student so knows what it is like to be a "consumer" on our courses. She describes herself as an "ordinary Christian, without much knowledge of theology" but it is her desire to interpret well in Christian situations that has led her to considerable personal study and research. She is also determined to encourage others to learn and explore. A creative person, Rachel was also largely responsible for our logo. Rachel is Treasurer of Signs of God and is a Trustee My original calling to interpreting came through reading Romans 10:12 which spoke to me as: How can Deaf People know more about God without people willing to use Sign Language, and how can those people use Sign Language well without being taught and how can they communicate God’s word without knowledge?				Barrie Curtis Barrie is a BSL teacher and leader in the Deaf Community in Cornwall where he is active in campaigning for the rights of Deaf People. In 1991 he was awarded the "Oloman Ellis Award" for his service to Deaf People and in 1998 he received the "British Academy Award" for his work and campaigning in the British Deaf News. He has been a tutor for both our Summer Schools. His interests include Drama and Poetry and he has written many poems in BSL. He has also written a book about the Deaf Community in Cornwall, "Chasing a Dream". Barrie is an active leader in the Deaf Church in Cornwall where he is a Licensed Pastoral Assistant "I love to see Deaf Churches and Hearing mix together because hearing people love our signs"

Jonathan Field Jonathan works as an interpreter in Leeds. He regularly interprets at a variety of Christian Conferences.		Sarah Gallagher (Seggy) Deaf Graduate in BA (Hons) Professional Photography, Seggy works in London.  Fun, cheeky, encouraging, and loves to pray! Also a Youth Editor for Christian Deaflink and is a leader for Deaf Youth 4 Christ		Sarah Haynes Sarah works part time as a sign language interpreter at the University of Bristol and as a Freelance Interpreter. Sarah is one of our Trustees. .
Rosie Addis (awaiting info and photo)		Esther Maycock (awaiting info)		Jo Lindley Jo lives and works in Cottingham near Hull. She is a free-lance interpreter.
Mark Smith Mark is a Church of England minister with a background in Christian Adult Education with The Church Army. He works as Chaplain with Deaf people in the Diocese of Derby. He's also responsible for managing a website for Deaf Churches: www.deafchurch.co.uk Mark has helped us to train our tutor team and also given considerable Theological input to our Summer Schools.		Ali Fuller Ali works as a CSW in S.W.London.		Anna Smith Anna previously worked as an Educational Interpreter. The now works as a teacher with Deaf Children and also does some freelance interpreting. .
Beccy Field: Beccy is a BSL/English Interpreter working in Leeds. Beccy has worked within Christian settings at various conferences and at local churches. Conferences include Spring Harvest Word Alive, Soul Survivor and Brighton Leaders Conference.		Patricia Hodgson: Patricia is a Roman Catholic with an interest is in liturgical sign language. She is a professional BSL tutor		Wayne McMillan: Wayne is a professional BSL tutor living in Peterborough
Tj Jobson: Tj is a worship leader with a passion for Deaf access to worship. She is also keen to see more provision for Deaf children in the church.		. Catherine Moxon Catherine is currently a Sign Language Interpreter in the North West, although she moves around quite a bit! She is married to Nick, a Methodist Minister which she says helps enorrmously when it comes to understanding theology! They have two young daughters which keeps them very busy and she has recently taken up iceskating!