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BETTY WILLETT
I never envisaged that verbatim reporting would be my chosen career but once I had put my hands on a Palantype keyboard I fell in love! My love affair with that ugly little black Palantype box was to take me to such exotic places as Venezuela, Japan and Zimbabwe to cover international conferences, to almost everywhere in Europe, and in the UK to assignments in the lowliest magistrates court to the Court of Appeal, as well as American depositions, trades union conferences and such things as the International Whaling Commission and the Piper Alpha disaster. In between all this I became a Fellow of BIVR, joined the Council in the 1960s and was elected President five times. Now retired (almost) I spend my time fighting the cause of older people so do not have time to get bored! |
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JEAN LUKINS (Vice President)
When I was searching for something sensible to do with a law degree from Sussex University many years ago, I lit upon a booklet from BIVR extolling the virtues of verbatim reporting. “What is that?” I wondered. Having spent my spare time learning Pitman New Era to take down lectures, and with both parents able to write the same system, I should have guessed. After graduating, I was lucky enough to join Hansard in the House of Commons, and later worked in almost all of the Crown Courts in London. Along the way, I added stenography to the Pitman’s, and concentrated on the little American machine. This has taken me overseas for US depositions, and opened the door to a wonderful career. I spend most of my time nowadays in the field of health professions regulation. |
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SHERYLL HOLLEY
I am now a qualified Speech-to-Text Reporter, living in a village called Pontyclun, about 13 miles northwest of Cardiff, South Wales, but when I started my working life it was as an office junior, progressing to secretary working in several legal practices in Cardiff. I stopped work in 1992 to have the first of my three children, with the other two following close after. Since leaving full time work, I worked from home offering audio typing services on a self-employed basis. In 1999 my husband spotted an advertisement in the local press for Electronic Notetakers (Speedtext Operators) to train to work with deaf and dyslexic students. However, following qualification as an Electronic Notetaker, I decided to learn stenography, in order to take a verbatim realtime note, through a distance learning course and the rest is history, so to speak. I obtained my CACDP and BIVR qualifications in the Winter of 2004/5. I have loved the work ever since, enjoying the travelling and constantly meeting new people. |
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ANN LLOYD (President)
I started my career with DL Sellers & Co in 1979 where I remained for 10 years working mainly in the Crown courts with the occasional foray into the private sector. Operations were then scaled down whilst I had a young family and during this time I moved out of London to live on the South Coast. I returned to working solely in the private sector in the mid 1990s where I have remained ever since. For the last five years I have specialised in digital transcription services which is a rapidly expanding market. I also work on international arbitrations both at home and abroad providing daily transcription as well as covering disciplinary hearings and parliamentary work. |
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KAREN YOUNG
My ambition was always to be a journalist, so I really stumbled upon this career as I replied to an advertisement for "Court reporters". Discovering that it was not what I had originally set out to do, I decided to give it a go. I undertook my training with Sellers & Co in 1989 moving to Virgina Wason & Associates in 1990, qualifying in the summer of 1990. I have never looked back. It has been an exciting, challenging, and I have learnt so much along the way. I took part in a television programme for the BBC filmed in Oxford called "Trial by Jury" in 1997 where I was the stenographer. At present, I specialise mainly in the field of professional regulatory work and occasional deposition work. I have enjoyed my career as no two days are the same and I have been lucky to meet a wide range of people. |
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SUSAN HUMPHRIES
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Mary Sorene
Secretary of the Institute, I began training at the Old Bailey in November 1971. I now train verbatim reporters for realtime as well as other verbatim work. |
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HELEN EDWARDS
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