Registered Charity 281051

Archives page where you can look up for old news here Archives Phyllis Mary Kither Bequest Update Bromley Chain AGM 2008 Darrick Wood School Reunion 2007 Cinema Petition Deaf Access & Bromley Chain Party 2006 Bromley Deaf Social Club News Bromley Chain AGM 2006 Videophone Interpreting Service Tom's Australia Photo Album  Bromley Chain AGM 2005 Deaf Parenting Group Bromley Chain AGM 2004 STAGETEXT® at Bromley Churchill Theatre   Phyllis Mary Kither Bequest Grant update I thought our members would like to have an update on the bequest set up in memory of Phyllis Mary Kither a few years ago. I am pleased that we have given out almost £5000 to Bromley residents to support their projects & courses. We helped with Deaf Badminton Club in Forest Hill,  part funded BSL courses for parents of deaf children, contributed to Greenwich Playscheme which is attended by deaf children from Bromley area. If you need financial support with projects/study to benefit local deaf community & would like an application form, email the chair for the forms to be sent by post or by email, see contact us page. Bromley Chain AGM 2008 The next AGM has been booked for 2008 on Tuesday 10th June at Ripley Arts Centre which boasts a lovely sensory garden in which we could relax on a summer evening after the business meeting. Venue: Ripley Arts Centre,  24 Sundridge Avenue, Bromley BR1 2PX Time:  Open 7pm for 7.30pm start followed by refreshments. We currently have vacancies on our committee & would love to see new faces, no matter if you're deaf or hearing, as long as you have an interest in deaf & hard-of-hearing issues. See the Committee page section for more information. Back to top ****************** Darrick Wood School Reunion Bromley Chain was proud to sponsor the first ever Darrick Wood School H.I.U Reunion, which took place on 6th October & was organised by 2 ex pupils, Sarah Dobridge (nee Connolly) and Theresa Whitton who came dressed in yellow & brown school uniforms! Theresa Whitton & Sarah Dobridge Sarah reported that the Reunion went well & about 80 ex-pupils and some teachers came to meet up again with old friends, look at many photos albums, catch up with their news. There was a magic show for children & raffle also buffet.     Acting Chair Tom Froude spoke at the Reunion to promote Bromley Chain & explained we were pleased to have given a £400 grant to make this event possible. Following the success of the reunion we all hope the next one will be even bigger & better in a few years time! Back to top ****************** Cinema Petition Many of you enjoy going to subtitled cinema to see the latest film releases but have to travel far away to the nearest cinema with the subtitled films. Bromley and Beckenham do not show any subtitled films at all & we are campaigning to have a local cinema to show captioned films & have started a Petition, which already has over 150 signatures. We look forward to working closely with the Odeon Cinema in Beckenham to bring captioned films near you in the new year but I cannot promise you things will change.  Back to top ****************** Joint Celebrations Bromley Chain and Deaf Access teamed up to produce a heartwarming party for Bromley Chain's 25th Anniversary and Deaf Access' 10th year of service on Saturday 30th September 2006. Special Guests at the party were the Mayor of Bromley, Councillor Charles Joel and The Bill star, Graham Cole. The party brought together old chums from the past and new young generations to meet up and enjoy entertainment from two Deaf stars -  flautist Ruth Montgomery and Comedian Colin Thompson.   Also 2 pupils from Darrick Wood Senior School did Signed poems for us. After these, the Mayor presented the children with certificates and they gave the Mayoress a bouquet of flowers. Chair Tom Froude dedicated this evening to the past Chairs who are sadly no longer with us to celebrate our 25th Birthday, current member Andrew Andreou's late father Chris and Founder Member and previous Chair Brian Campion. Also we were proud to be the parent charity of Deaf Access and hope to continue to support each other for many years to come. After refreshments. Pat Jacobs the Chair of Deaf Access and Tom Froude proudly cut the cake to mark our milestones. Back to top ****************** Bromley Deaf Social Club News In November 2005, BDS moved to new venue with better access for disabled people as the old hall was too small and we used the hall upstairs with no lifts. BDS met at Labour Party Hall for the first time and the evening went well, everyone was happy with the new bigger hall, with our own bar and comfortable lounge. Click here to see more details & new dates for 2007, we look forward to seeing you there! Back to top ****************** AGM 2006 Our AGM took place on Tuesday 13th June at Ripley Arts Centre. This evening was well attended and had Special Guest, John Short the Manager of Churchill Theatre, Bromley who gave an excellent talk on Access for All. Tom Froude gave his 2nd year Chair's report: The committee have met 6 times during the past year.  One of our concerns has been the RNID Communication Service.  We were shocked to find that monitoring of the Communication Contract in Bromley seems to have been stopped and we have been unable to find out the level of communication support deaf people are receiving and what the unmet need is. Last year I was part of the SIG (Sensory Impairment Group) which has now been changed to Disability Voice and now due to my new job I’m unable to attend monthly meetings and Kathleen Hankinson has taken over my place. I’m pleased to report that Bromley Deaf Social club had success after moving to the new venue at Bromley South and last month saw over 100 people attend. Bromley Chain will continue to offer support when needed and congratulate them on their growth. This year Bromley Chain is celebrating its 25th anniversary and is joining up with Deaf Access, who are 10 this year, for a joint party in September and we hope to have more information at later date. We have produced two issues of Chainmail and thank Deaf Umbrella for their part sponsorship of these. Copies are available this evening and we are grateful to the Churchill Theatre for giving readers the opportunity to win free tickets for a signed performance. Finally Andrew and I have been working together to re-design our website and I have bought my laptop for all to have a sneak preview of the new look but it may not look much different, as the new website is not completely finished and is not online yet. Also there's some changes on the committee as we welcomed 2 new Deaf members, Sarah Dobridge and David Pilkington. David Rose, Treasurer for many years had stepped down from the committee with Andrew Andreou taking over David's role. Now Andrew will no longer be Vice-Chair. Back to Top ****************** Videophone Interpreting Service Deaf Chair, Tom Froude presented a flat screen television to Susan Craney, Manager of Deaf Access, for use with its new Videophone Interpreting Service. Qualified sign language interpreters are in short supply and great demand since the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) so the service, sponsored by RNID has been hailed as a welcome innovation. It is easy to book at short notice for confidential meetings with service or business providers and both parties will now benefit from the enhanced image size on the donated television screen. Tom Froude with Susan Craney Back to Top ***************** Australia Photo Album Chair Tom Froude's photo album of his trip along the Australia East Coast and visit to see Deafympics 2005 in Melbourne is now online for all to view,  click here (will open new window) Apologies for the broken links, all have been fixed now! Back to Top ****************** Message from the Chair: I have returned from sunny Australia after successful Deaflympics in Melbourne where Great Britain did very well in medals tally. We, the web team apologise for this website not being fully completed as some pages are still left blank as this is my first opportunity this year to update this page! Last year Bromley Chain was proud to support DeafPLUS with running a Deaf Parenting group at Deaf Access, see more info below. We hope that you enjoyed our Christmas issue of Chainmail, sent out in December. Back to Top ****************** Bromley Chain AGM 2005 Bromley Chain's Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday 14th June, at Ripley Arts Centre, Sundridge Avenue, Bromley. Doors open at 7pm and the AGM will start at 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome to attend! Back to Top ****************** First for London as pilot project for Deaf Parents is launched  Fourteen parents have made history by being among the first in the UK to take part in a course specifically designed for deaf parents. The Deaf Parenting Skills course has been established following a unique partnership between various organisations and has proved so successful that there is already a waiting list. One appreciative mum who is attending the course, said: "I would like to say that I have learnt a lot and feeling confident in learning new information and am improving my ability to cope with things in my personal life." The course runs for eight weeks and, based at Deaf Access in Bromley, it is being facilitated by a deaf mum. The pilot project was set up after a huge gap in services for deaf parents was identified. The course was developed by deaf and hearing professionals from Lewisham, Bromley, Greenwich and Westminster Social Services who work closely with DeafPLUS, Deaf Access, parenting organisations including national charity Parentline Plus and deaf parents. The content of the course has been tailored to meet the specific needs of deaf parents.  "Historically, parenting skills courses were run for hearing parents and no consideration was made to meet the needs of deaf parents," said Group spokesperson Suzanne Bunt. "We knew there was a desperate need for such provision as we had all received lots of requests directly from deaf parents wanting to go on parenting skills courses." Gill Loughran, Deputy Chief Executive of Parentline Plus said: "We are delighted to be involved in such an innovative project. It is a great opportunity for Parentline Plus to review our material and leaflets to see how accessible it is for deaf parents." "We have recognised the significant gap in deaf facilitators for parenting skills and hope to work with the Deaf Parenting Project to find ways forward to increase the numbers of deaf parenting skills facilitators to run future groups." The project is being funded by South East London Community Foundation, Awards for All, Bromley Chain and Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, and is hoped it can be rolled out across the country.              For further information on the Deaf Parenting Course or if you are interested in becoming a facilitator, please contact Patricia Weston at Deaf Access (see below) For more information about Parentline Plus, access www.parentlineplus.org.uk Next Deaf Parenting course Deaf Parenting Skills Course Who for? *  Deaf parents who have a child either deaf or hearing *  The child must be between the ages of 0 - 8 years *  Deaf parents living in the Bromley, Greenwich, and Lewisham boroughs When will it take place?  HOPEFULLY will take place end of March/beginning of April 2005 How long is the course? The course is 8-12 weeks long Trainer - deaf or hearing? Deaf British Sign Language user Where will the course be held? Deaf Access Centre in Bromley If you are interested in joining this course - please contact Patricia Weston on: Telephone: 0208 315 2550 Fax: 0208 315 2554 Text: 0208 315 2552 SMS No: 07732 449 349 www.deaf-access.co.uk Back to Top ****************** Bromley Chain AGM 2004 At Bromley Chain Annual General Meeting on 15th June, the committee have elected new Chair, Tom Froude, who takes the place of Jane Evans who, chaired for the last 3 years. As a new Chair I thank Jane Evans for all her work and Kathleen Hankinson continues her duty as Secretary. Andrew Andreou has been appointed as Vice-Chair. David Rose continues with his Treasurer role and Jenny Froude as Minutes Secretary. Back to Top ****************** STAGETEXT® comes to Churchill Theatre A Deaf group has heralded a new service for hard of hearing theatre-goers as a 'lifeline.' Chairman of Bromley Chain Tom Froude saw the first ever "Stagetext-captioned" performance at Bromley's Churchill Theatre this month. He said "I am pleased to say STAGETEXT® passed my test with flying colours. I enjoyed the performance because it is like watching a live TV with subtitles, which I enjoy at home. STAGETEXT® is not just for deaf people as hearing people can benefit from the captions when they have missed something. It also offers useful information such as who is saying what, and giving out background sounds, and a symbol lets us know when the music and singing starts, and even the tone of voice." The hi-tech system, which converts the spoken word into visible text displayed near the stage, was funded by a £5,000 Arts Council England grant and was premiered during the recent run of High Society, on September 16th. Mr Froude said "The Churchill Theatre took a gamble with STAGETEXT® because for hearing people it could cause distraction for them when watching the show but to me, as well as other deaf people, it is our lifeline in the same way as sign language interpreters on stage help those of us who are profoundly deaf.  I hope STAGETEXT® continues its success at the Churchill and I look forward to going to watch other performances with this access in the future." Kentish Times 30.09.04 Also see www.stagetext.org Back to top