My name is Paul Craven and I was born in Plymouth in 1952 and live, with my wife Lynda, in the Crownhill area of the City.

I attended Goosewell Infant and Junior Schools before going on to Plymstock Comprehensive School. I left School in the summer of 1968 and moved to London where I served for 2 years with the Metropolitan Police Cadets.

I then returned to Plymouth and served 8 years with Devon Area Ambulance Service, during which time I qualified as one of the first two Paramedics in the region. In 1978 I left the Ambulance Service and joined the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary where I served until I retired in 2004.

I started my service with the Constabulary as a Patrol Officer in the Penryn and Falmouth Sub-Division. In 1981, I was transferred as a Patrol Officer to the Plymouth Crownhill Sub-Division. In 1990, I became a Detective Constable working initially at the Crownhill Sub-Divisional C.I.D. Office and later (when the Plymouth C.I.D. was centralised) at Charles Cross Police Station. From 1998 until my retirement I was attached to the Special Branch.

Lynda and I were married in 1991, but have been together since 1988. I have identical twin daughters by a previous marriage – one of whom is married, a married stepson and three step granddaughters.

Following retirement, I needed to find a new challenge and something different from the Police Service; not because I had not enjoyed my career – I had – but because I felt a change would be more refreshing. I also started to develop a slight loss of hearing.

Therefore, in January 2007, I started to learn British Sign Language, and am hoping to continue to improve my signing skills, eventually taking and passing the British Deaf Association BSL Advanced Level.

As a consequence of learning BSL it has drawn me closer to the deaf community and given me a greater understanding of the problems they face with communication.

It is with this heightened awareness of the importance for hearing people to learn BSL – in order to allow them to integrate more with the Deaf within our society – that I wish to do more to help.

Also, the facilities within Plymouth for learning the British Deaf Association BSL Curriculum are lacking.

So, with a view to helping to promote BSL within our community and a desire to achieve a higher level of my own signing skills, I have, together with Sue Bevans and Jean Lethbridge, set out on this new challenge and started the Plymouth School of British Sign Language

Sue Bevans
Jean Lethbridge