Funding from the Conwy Valley and North West Wales Coast Community Rail Partnership has been gratefully received by the Conwy County Deaf Activities group to support communication for their member’s coffee mornings and drop-in clinics.
The group were recently awarded £1,000 from the Community Grant Fund, an initiative from the Conwy Valley and North West Wales Coast Community Rail Partnership and Transport for Wales to support the sustainability and resilience of community organisations, to hire a British Sign Language (BSL) Translator to attend their coffee mornings and drop-in clinics.
Community Rail Officer, Claire Williams recently visited the group’s coffee morning to meet with the members and understand the impact their coffee mornings and drop-in clinics have for the deaf community in the Conwy County.
Rosemary Thompson, Chair of the Conwy County Deaf Activities group said:
“Our members are very isolated. We meet up every 2 weeks where we can talk about our worries or get help from each other to look after our wellbeing. We also need help with translation of our letters or forms, to make sure we have the right information at the right time to make our own decisions and to make sure we don’t make mistakes or miss important dates which can result in us losing our rights etc.
For some of our members BSL is their primary method of communication with English being secondary. This can present the members with difficulties in everyday life. The coffee mornings and drop-in clinic provide a much needed service to our community, strengthening the bonds between us and providing us with the opportunity to make informed decisions, building our resilience and giving us the tools to prepare for future challenges.”
The Community Grant Fund will also be used to arrange for BSL Speakers to present about topics of interest to the group. BSL Interpreters will also be arranged to attend visits, outings and events that are not accessible to the group without the assistance of an interpreter.