NEWS AND INFORMATION
Scroll down for:
- Forthcoming Events
- Sign Language Resource Information
- Runton Road Christmas Lights
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Rushmore Golf Club Charity Day
- Personal CD/MP3 Leads
- Sight and Sound Centres
- The Buzz - Youth Website
- Flickr - More DDCS Event Photographs
- Cinema Subtitles
- Discount Cards
AS FROM MONDAY 28TH NOVEMBER 2011 THE SPECIALIST SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPIST FOR DEAF CHILDREN IN DORSET HAS HAD HER HOURS INCREASED FROM ONE DAY A WEEK TO THREE DAYS A WEEK UNTIL 31ST MARCH 2012!
THIS IS GREAT NEWS BUT IT IS SHORT TERM AND WE STILL NEED THESE ISSUES SOLVED LONG TERM.
DDCS IS STILL WRITING LETTERS TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT THE SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY PROVISION FOR OUR CHILDREN!
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Sunday 19th February - Granby Fun Factory
Tuesday 3rd April - Adventure Wonderland
Tuesday 10th April - Weymouth Outdoor Education Centre
Sunday 27th May - Honeybrook Farm
29th June to 1st July - PGL Osmington Bay Weekend
Sunday 25th July - Crazy Monsters Soft Play Centre
Sunday 19th August - Fun Day & Hog Roast
Some dates are provisional at the moment but we will keep you informed of any changes.
More information about the events can be found on our Let's Hear It Briefly newsletters on the home page, nearer the time of the event.
SIGN LANGUAGE ON LINE RESOURCE
INFORMATION
Dorset DCS has now put together a booklet of on-line resources to support sign language development. It contains a list of websites which feature sign language, video clips and information and contains five sections from beginners to intermediate and advanced.
If you would like to access this information please click on the link below:
Thank you to Ursula Murley who spent many hours collecting and producing the information for DDCS!
RUNTON ROAD, BRANKSOME
CHRISTMAS LIGHT DISPLAY
A very big THANK YOU to Chris & Jackie Smith (grandparents of Harry Sherman) and all the residents, helpers and supporters of The Runton Road (Branksome, Poole) Christmas Lights! Every year they put on a fantastic display of Christmas lights which many people travel some distance to come and see. The display has built up quite a reputation!
We are very grateful as this year they chose Dorset Deaf Children's Society for donations given and they raised an amazing amount of money - £1142!
There must have been many hours of work in putting up the lights and taking them down so thank you from all the Trustees and all the deaf children and their parents!
SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY
The results of this survey can be viewed on the link below. We feel strongly that these views should be taken into account as the support of Speech and Language Therapy plays a very important role in the development of hearing impaired children not just academically but also emotionally.
A meeting was held on 31st October 2011 in Wimborne and parents were given the chance to talk about thier concerns and worries for their children. It was a full and frank meeting and at times emotional. All concerns were taken in a positive way and by the end of the meeting parents were optomistic that improvements could happen. Fiona Haughey informed the parents that they intend to look at the issues and hope to address them in the short term and also to look at applying for more funding for the next funding year starting in April 2012. She also agreed to come back and speak to parents again to feedback any progress.
RUSHMORE GOLF CLUB CHARITY DAY
RAISING FUNDS FOR DORSET DCS!
On the 19th August 2011 Rushmore Golf Club held a golf charity day to raise funds for Dorset DCS.
We are very grateful that they chose us as their charity this year as they raised £4888.50! This was an incredible amount and is a lot of money for DDCS and one thing this means is that we now have the funds for our PGL Osmington Bay weekend in 2012!
Thirty four teams of four entered the competition and turned out on what was to be an excellent day. Many individuals and companies sponsored holes, there were two raffles one for 32 bottles of wine and one for a variety of prizes that had been donated. A silent auction was held and the players could even make bets on the fourteenth hole as to whether they could hit the green from the tee!
The whole day was a lot of fun and also raised much needed funds for us. We would like to thank Roger Aplin for all the hard work in organising the event and also Davina and Chris Drewett, Dave Light and Jason Sherman for the time that they put in to make this such a successful event.
Also a big THANK YOU to all the individuals and companies that supported the day!
MANY THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HELPED TO ORGANISE AND SUPPORT THE DAY!
PERSONAL CD/MP3 LEADS STILL ON OFFER
The leads enable sound to go straight to the hearing aids via the special shoe attached to the hearing aids
If you would like your child to have one please ask your Teacher of the Deaf or contact any of the DDCS trustees.
Sight and Sound Centres are drop-in information centres for people with a hearing impairment. The centres are located at:
Bridport Sight and Sound Centre - Allignton Court, St Swithins Road, Bridport, DT6 3JL and is open on Wednesdays between 10am and 1pm.
Christchurch Sight and Sound Centre - Inside of Christchurch Day Centre, 250 Lymington Road, Highcliffe, Christchurch BH23 5ET and is open on Wednesdays between 9am and 11am.
Dorchester Sight and Sound Centre - Inside of Dorchester Day Centre, Acland Road, Dorchester DT1 1SH and is open on Wednesdays between 10am and 4pm (closed for lunch from 1pm-2pm.)
Wimborne Sight and Sound Centre - Hanham Centre, Hanham Road, Wimborne, BH21 1AS and is open on Wednesdays between 10am and 12.30pm.
THE BUZZ
The Buzz is NDCS’s exciting new website especially for deaf children and young people aged between 8 and 18 years old. There are two cool web sites where they can find events in their area, play games and get information on all sorts of subjects.
They just have to choose the right website for their age.
There are two sites – one for children (8 to 11 years old) and one for teenagers (12 to 18 years old). It gives deaf young people the opportunity to make new friends and to chat and discuss issues that matter to them. The site is closely monitored and NDCS have a clear safety policy to help deaf children and young people keep themselves safe when using the website. Get involved and be part of the buzz!
www.ndcsbuzz.org.uk
VIEW MORE PICTURES FROM DDCS EVENTS
We do not have room to show all the pictures we take at our events on our website. If any parents would like to see them you can access them on a Flickr website.
If you are interested please e-mail info@dorsetdcs.co.uk for your own personal access password.
CINEMA SUBTITLES
We realise that many of our members would like to enjoy family days out and we have several local cinemas that can offer a range of subtitled films.
Click on the following link to access the Your Local Cinema website.
First click on the "subtitled cinema" icon, then click the "The cinemas" icon and search by your town to find the nearest subtitled films to you. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you have the option to enter your email address and town to get regular emails with local screenings.
Please make sure you double check with your local cinema before travelling as schedules are subject to change.
Some cinemas have a good range of films and times, some have a more limited range. There is an option on the page to leave positive or negative feedback with your local cinema. Please use this option as we need to tell the cinemas what we want.
You can also get a CEA card that entitles a carer to go to the cinema free of charge when accompanying a disabled person. The card costs £5 to buy and you need to send photos but I use ours regularly and save money every trip. For more details go to our Discount Cards page and click on the link. One of our committee members also finds she can get the same benefit by showing her sons Disability Register Card issued by social services.
DISCOUNT CARDS
Did you know that your deaf child is entitled to some useful discount cards that give the child, or the carer, or both discounts on - cinema admissions - rail travel - bus travel.
CINEMA DISCOUNT CARD
The card entitles a carer to free entry when they accompany the deaf child. The carer can be family or friend and the card is issued to the deaf child so a different person could accompany your child on each occasion.
If you have more than one deaf child they can each get a card and each can have a free carer accompany them.
To apply for the card, which costs £5.50 per person and is valid for 12 months, go to the following website or click on this link - www.ceacard.co.uk. The website also has a useful Q & A page to answer your queries.
To qualify for the card you will need to send a passport size photo of your deaf child and a photocopy of their entitlement letter for disability living or attendance allowance. Send this with your £5.50 cheque and the application form which you can print from their website and you should receive your card within 3 weeks.
The card is accepted by all the major cinema chains including these local cinemas -
Empire - Tower Park, Poole.
Odeon - Westover Road, Bournemouth and New Canal, Salisbury.
Cineworld - New Bond St, Weymouth and Old Station Way, Yeovil.
Please note it is not valid in some of the smaller independant local cinemas but the website has a very useful postcode search facility which tells you which of your local cinemas will accept the card (Bridport and Dorchester cinemas will accept it and so will Wells cinema)
The Dorset Deaf Childrens Society is happy to recommend this card to its members - several of our members have the cards and find them a good cost effective way to enjoy a family day out at the pictures.
The DDCS is currently involved in lobbying the major cinema chains in an attempt to get more subtitled films shown at times that suit our members - this is an ongoing process and we will keep you updated with our progress as we achieve any.
Don't forget that loop systems are available at the major cinemas for deaf and hard of hearing people wearing hearing aids or cochlear implant processors. These are of great benefit to the deaf - ask at the cinema reception or ticket booth for a loop and ask them to make sure the loop is switched on and working. For more information on what a loop system is and how it works click on this link - www.rnid.org.uk and enter LOOP SYSTEMS as a search in the top right hand corner search box.
RAIL TRAVEL DISCOUNT CARD
This card is available to all deaf children. It offers a discount off the adult rail fare for rail travel within the UK. Although it is probably cheaper to buy a child ticket anyway, the advantage comes in the fact that an accompanying carer travelling with the child gets a third of the price off as well. The card costs £14 and is valid for one year so you need to be making regular use of it or doing a longish journey to make this worthwhile. To read more or apply go to - www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk
DORSET BUS TRAVEL FOR FREE
Profoundly or severely deaf children can TRAVEL FOR FREE on buses within Dorset(and on journeys that finish outside Dorset but start from within Dorset).
East Dorset ,North Dorset,Purbeck and West Dorset Councils are all grouping together for this. You will need to apply for a travel card from either the West Dorset or East Dorset Council and send proof of disability and a passport style photo with their application form.
More details are available on the councils Dorset For You website and you can download the form and print it out in PDF format or get one from your council offices or click this link to go to their website - www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=546