A married couple have helped more than 2,500 people learn British Sign Language (BSL) across the county and beyond.

Husband and wife Russell Fowler and Rachael Parker, from Bognor, founded their BSL course in the town in 2011.

The pair, who were both born deaf, met on a date in 2007 and decided they wanted to set up an online service which allowed people of all ages, occupations and locations to learn BSL at their own pace.

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In 2011, the first course was set up to deliver online sign language classes from beginner level to fluent.

The aim was to to improve accessibility to sign language across the region.

Now, the pair are currently the only BSL training provider to offer virtual one-to-one training for students, with courses running independently of one another, instead of having a single set of dates for all courses and exams.

More information and prices about the courses and how much they cost can be found at https://www.bslcourses.co.uk.

Russell said: “Before starting the business, I was working as an IT and business auditor and, whilst I always had the desire to do something about the lack of BSL interpreters, it wasn’t until I met Rachael that I had the idea for how we could contribute to changing this.”

After eleven years of running the business from home, the couple decided to get their own office and classroom space to launching in-person training for Bognor people.

They choose to base themselves at the creative and digital enterprise space The Track in Station Road, Bognor.

Russell said: “We’re lucky enough to have worked with over 2,500 students from across the country through our virtual service, so we thought the natural next step for us would be to escape the living room, find a space to call our own and start welcoming people in to learn with us in a classroom setting.

“Whilst we continue to run our ever-popular online sessions, we love the added engagement that comes with the face-to-face classes and The Track has been the perfect environment for us to launch them.

"Our students love the welcoming and collaborative feel of the space and it’s been fantastic for us to be around other local business owners who are on similar paths to us.”

The Track is operated by coworking and small business specialist Town Square Spaces Ltd (TownSq) on behalf of West Sussex County Council.

The Track's community manager James Tippett-Iles said: “It’s a pleasure to have such a long-standing local business join our community at the hub and we’re exceptionally proud to have some form of involvement in the inspiring work they do to support the deaf community and upskill their students.

“BSL has been thriving since making the decision to move to a dedicated office space within The_Track.

"The team is a really positive presence in the community and I'd like to think, in turn, has taken inspiration in growing their business, even going on to work with another Track-based team, Seaglow Media, to promote their social media presence.

“We look forward to seeing what Rachael and Russell will go on to achieve next, and would urge anyone with an interest in learning BSL at any level to get in touch and find out how the team can help.”