VEPK Patron and Trustees
Our Patron is Dame Judi Dench. Our UK trustees are: Katy Allen, Margot Branson and Alix Beldam.
Dame Judi Dench, the famous actress, is our Patron. Dame Judi is very well known for her work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and many successful films including an Oscar for the film Shakespeare in Love.
She was awarded an OBE in 1970 and became a Dame in 1988. She was appointed a Companion of Honour in 2005.
Katy Allen set up the charity in September 1994. Katy, a lawyer in the City of London for over ten years, gave up her career to go to live and teach in Mshiri village on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. Katy now spends some time in England concentrating on fundraising and developing the work of the charity. In 2001 she was awarded an MBE for services to education in Tanzania. Katy is ably assisted by Dilly Mtui in Tanzania who works full time as overall coordinator.
Alix Beldam read law and after her degree completed the barrister's vocational course and was called to the Bar in 1981. She is now with the Government Legal Service working for the Ministry of Justice.
Throughout the schooling of her four children she has been an active participant on various committees and parents' associations.
John Samson qualified as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa in 1989. He worked for a large auditing firm before relocating to London in 1996 and he has been working in the financial services industry since then. He has visited Tanzania and the projects of Village Education Project Kilimanjaro many times.
Margot Branson has a background in the arts. She is now retired, but was a freelance fashion illustrator, and later a producer of musicals for schools.