The Team
Luke Gamble – Chief Executive
Luke Gamble, the founder and chief executive of wvs, graduated from Bristol University in 1999 and then completed a clinical scholarship at Cambridge University 2001-2002 in large animal medicine and surgery.
He is a mixed practice vet, married to Cordelia (also a vet) with a son called Noah and works for WVS on a voluntary basis. During the working week he runs a five vet mixed practice, an emergency service covering Bournemouth and Poole and a couple of other businesses to keep himself busy.
In his spare time he attained a black belt in combat karate, competed in an ironman triathlon and completed the 152mile self supported footrace across the sahara desert (Marathon des Sables) in 2004 to raise money for WVS. Luke, Cordelia and Noah share their home with a ridgeback called Leuwen and the boss of the house – a cat called Little Charlie!
In 2010 Luke was awarded the JA Wight Memorial Award by the British Small Animal Veterinary Association, for outstanding contributions to the welfare of companion animals.
James Florence – PR & Operations Manager
Born in Romsey, England and educated in Bristol, James has spent much of his life working for animal welfare and conservation organisations. He has recently returned to the UK after spending 8 years in Zambia, where he founded an elephant release programme and then later helped establish it to become the country’s only elephant orphanage and rehabilitation centre. James also spent two years working in a wildlife sanctuary, helping to rescue and rehabilitate a vast array of African wildlife and also creating a marketing strategy for other third world sanctuary’s to follow.
As well as the wildlife and conservation background, James has run his own Graphic Design and Audio/Visual Production company and worked as a Development Project Manager for a well known retail company. He has worked in Australia and New Zealand and travelled extensively throughout Asia, Europe and Africa.
Tessa Pollard – Charity Support & Projects Manager
Having volunteered to help the charity in her spare time, Tess was finally convinced to join the team permanently in 2006. She holds diplomas in Conservation and Primatology and is qualified in Animal Science. Responsible for driving the charity on, initially spearheading all our marketing, public relations and membership administration, Tess is now the Charity Support and Projects Manager and the vital link between the volunteer teams and our associated charities. Tess is the proud owner of a completely crazy Springer Spaniel called Dizzy and is bracing herself for attempting to train Dizzy in canine agility this year!
Linda Packman – Membership & Merchandising Manager
Linda is a long-time resident of the village of Cranborne and former owner of Janes General Stores and newsagents in Castle Street, where Luke’s veterinary practice is now based! She ran the village shop in Cranborne for 26 years and was looking for a change when WVS started the second hand book shop at the front of the office – so we didn’t have far to look for the perfect person to run it! She started working just a few days a week to help get the new shop up and running, but with the book shop growing in popularity, Linda is now our full time Merchandise and Marketing Manager.
Kate Shervell – Disaster Emergency Response Manager
Kate Shervell BVSc MRCVS, graduated from the University of Bristol in 2004 and worked for 2.5 years in small animal practice, before moving on to work in the challenging world of small animal emergency and critical care. She discovered a passion for overseas voluntary work whilst volunteering with a Worldwide Veterinary Service-supported project in Portugal and has since travelled to Peru, Malawi and Sri Lanka to carry out animal welfare work. She currently splits her time between working for Black Dragon Veterinary Emergency Clinic in Bournemouth and heading up the Overseas Veterinary Training initiatives of the Worldwide Veterinary Service in Cranborne, Dorset. In her spare time she plays folk fiddle in a local group and spins fire poi, a performance art derived from a Mauri custom. She loves to travel and explores far-flung corners of the world at every opportunity.
Laura Craighead – Veterinary Operations & Support
Laura graduated from Glasgow vet school in 2007. After graduation she travelled to West Africa, where she worked for a small NGO dealing with working horses and donkeys. After two years in practice in Yorkshire, Laura migrated south to join the WVS team. Her time is split between the WVS office and working for Black Dragon emergency service.
In her spare time Laura likes to head to the beach with ‘Timmy’ the tearaway terrier to attempt to learn to surf. Currently she is training for a charity scramble to Everest base camp in November. She hopes to make it there and back alive and raise lots of funds for WVS in the process!
Helen Lord - Finance Manager
Helen retired early from H M Revenue and Customs having enjoyed a career as an Inspector of Taxes. The extra time available enabled her to pursue her other interests to an academic conclusion which included an English Studies degree at Southampton University as well as a further period studying law and commencing and continuing an MA in Art History. This supposed retirement further embraced a two year stint as project manager on a large building project as well as time spent pursuing her amateur hobby of music. The dogs were walked throughout.
She sings with The Salisbury Musical Society as well as the Salisbury Festival Chorus and plays Piano, Cello and Flute (badly) and is at present attempting to add guitar to the list. Her abiding passion is books and she is developing a real interest in new technologies which is rather fortuitous bearing in mind she’s now working for a Charity heavily reliant on the internet and which runs a bookshop to help the overheads. Her convoluted route to WVS would take an essay to describe so suffice to say her real interest in figures, animals, general accountancy and administration has found a fine home.
