Our branch members and families have been busy relaxing, socialising and having fun – with a few vigorous activities thrown in for good measure!

Climbing high in Cymru
Kent fun at the farm!
HSI visit to Buckingham Palace
Essex day club
South East branches family weekend
East Anglia Family Day
Essex’s snowy Christmas Lunch
HSI Christmas social

East Anglia Family Day

By Liz Royle, Chair of Sense East Anglia branch

The East Anglia Branch held a Family Day in December which saw us all gather at Playford Parish Hall. We started our day with a craft session, run by Penny the Leisure Librarian. Playford WI served us all coffee and biscuits and everybody had time to catch up with each others' news in-between trying out various craft activities.  We then all moved onto games with a parachute, which everybody enjoyed – including all our visitors!  We stopped for a sandwich, cake and fruit lunch, again served by Playford WI, and then had a Birthday Cake and very sparkly candle as it was the Birthday of one of our members.  We had booked a drumming group for the afternoon but they had double booked. Fortunately, Arron stepped in to lead us in a 'music' session and he brought his own instruments, including a didgeridoo, which was much enjoyed.  During the day we had visits from a PAT dog and a Hearing Dog as well as a very friendly dog (who is going to become a PAT dog now). The day finished with cups of tea and we are very grateful to the WI for all their help.  We all had a very happy day and watch this space for details of our next Family Day, as we would very much like to meet other families from our area.

Essex’s snowy Christmas Lunch

By Hannah Watson, Holidays and Events team

The snow provided a perfect backdrop for the Sense Essex Christmas Lunch on 5th December 2012.  A highlight on the Day Club’s calendar, 20 people and three guide-dogs managed to battle through the snow and ice to come together and enjoy a sumptuous 2 course Christmas meal.   Crackers were pulled, hats worn and stories were shared over Christmas pudding, whether in spoken English or deafblind manual.  Congratulations to Peggy and the Committee - a fabulous end to a great year!

HSI Christmas social

By Marylin Kilsby

We in HSI UK (Hearing and Sight Impaired) branch celebrated our Christmas early.  About twenty people attended our Christmas party, which was held at the Sense office in London, on Saturday 1 December.

Members from as far away as Nottingham braved the winter chill to meet friends and eat too much. 

Mark Pampel, who is hearing and sight impaired himself, brought his trusty keyboard and kept us entertained throughout with his professional playing of both his own compositions and also some music with a Christmas theme.

No HSI Christmas party would be complete without the mind-blowing quiz written and presided over by Liz Cook.  Liz has the gift of finding extremely obscure questions in order to scramble our grey cells. 

The raffle in aid of HSI funds went very well. Raffled items included the practical (hats and gloves) to the pampering (nice shower gels) to the unusual (striped socks with five “fingers” for the toes) to the calorific (a homemade Christmas cake).

Two long-standing volunteers, Peter Hines-Tabner and Birgit Fiebig, were given presents from the HSI committee as a thank you for all they have done to help the group. We couldn’t run the events we do without the support of all our volunteers, so a big “Thank you”.

The event was so successful that we could have continued into the evening.  However, to enable people to travel home in daylight, we finished at 3:30 p.m.

We were pleased to welcome some new faces and we hope that they felt at home and enjoyed themselves, and will come back to future events.

Climbing high in Cymru

The North and Mid Wales family branch had a superb day out in September at the Coed Y Brenin Visitor Centre.

After meeting for lunch for a good catch up, parents headed off up the mountainside. A couple of the dads opted out of the Go Ape! adventure and chose to go mountain biking.

The parents that tackled the Go Ape! high ropes course thought it was amazing, and everyone survived torrential rain while being scared stuck high up in the trees!

Meanwhile, the leisure club supported by Sense volunteers had a packed day with a nature walk, toys, games, and arts and crafts activities.

They began by meeting up for lunch on a morning that promised to be the wettest of the year. The children were relaxed and happy after their fun day, and the parents were exhausted - a great excuse for delicious cake and hot drinks for everyone.

So despite the very wet weather the parents, grandparents and children all had a great time.

If would like more information about the North and Mid Wales Branch, please contact Jane Plant on 01978 754308 or email family_plant@yahoo.co.uk.

Kent fun at the farm!

On Saturday 2 July, the Sense Kent branch and a group of teachers from the Kent MSI steering group joined forces to organise a family fun day at Farm World in Faversham to coincide with Deafblind Awareness Week. 

More than 40 people enjoyed the opportunity to get up close and touch the owls, horses and small animals, take the tractor trail, join in the craft session and make their own souvenirs - and for those brave enough, the zip wire!

The event gave families the opportunity to socialise with each other, meet professionals from Sense, MSI teachers, Kent branch members and their children. From the photos it’s safe to say that everyone had a good time!

Sue Turner, Kent branch family contact, said: "The day was a great way to have fun and introduce families with young children to Sense and the Kent branch members.

"As usual at a Sense event, ideas and information were exchanged. All the families expressed a wish to hear more about the branch and have involvement in the future." A thank you note from one family said "We all had a lovely day. The boys loved stroking the animals and birds, and have a great love of owls."

If you live in the Kent area and would like more details about becoming a member of Sense Kent branch and future meetings, contact Sue Turner. Tel: 01622 831345 or email her at sgturner@talktalk.net.

HSI (Hearing Sight Impaired UK) visit to Buckingham Palace

This year’s social event was a trip to Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Queen's  Diamond Jubilee. It was the largest gathering organised so far and proved to be a most successful occasion.

Essex day club

The Essex branch host a day club for older deafblind adults. They meet once a month to drink tea, have a chat and a spot of lunch. The group is a valuable support for people who attend, allowing everyone to share problems or new tips, such as on technology that they have recently begun using and found helpful.

There’s always much to catch up on as well as discussing issues that affect them, such as changes to disability benefits.

Day club organiser Peggy said: "People get power from being able to talk about problems. Someone will usually come up with a solution."

Other activities include music, aromatherapy, walks, and visits out and about. In October the group all attended the Sense Belonging and Partipating event and Members Day together and enjoyed chatting about their experiences afterwards.

In early December the group shared a Christmas lunch together and invited guests and friends of the club. Councillor Teresa Higgins came along and brought some beautiful handmade tapestries.

If you live in the Essex area and are interested in attending the day club either as a member or a volunteer, do get in touch with Peggy Keeble on 01268 544593 or email sense_essex@hotmail.com.

South East branches family weekend

Kent and Essex branches hit it off (but no holes in one!)

Last May (2011) the Kent and Essex branches met at a new venue in Hertfordshire for their annual joint branches weekend.

Friday evening saw all the families coming together and inevitably ending up in the bar!

In the morning the leisure club, an activity club for deafblind people who wish to attend and any siblings, headed off for an exciting day with swimming, bowling, ice skating, and the cinema on offer, plus time spent at the shops.

Mums and dads caught up with the latest news from Sense with presentations from Steve Rose bringing us all up-to-date with Children’s Specialist Services, and Sue Brown informing us how we can all be involved in campaigning against the potential changes in the benefits system.

With all the brain work behind us, the afternoon was more relaxing. Some chose a stroll in the beautiful 200-acre grounds, but the braver of us opted for a golfing competition - and were useless!!!

Golf balls headed in all directions except towards the green, and a lot of fun was had. Eventually two champions were found whose valiant efforts actually made it onto the green. To reward our exertions there was a scrumptious cream tea and then back to an interesting information-sharing time with Sense’s Shaun Gibbons and Graham Nolan telling us about what was happening in Kent and Essex.

The day was not over yet and the evening saw us gathered for a quiz devised by Peggy, Essex branch family contact, with Graham reading the questions and attempting to keep order. The result was a tie, after some atrocious cheating! The winning team declared after a rendition of Walking on Sunshine.
As the weekend drew to a close the unanimous decision was that it had been the best Kent and Essex family weekend yet. Bring on the next one

For more information about our Sense Kent and Essex branches contact Sue Turner at sgturner@talktalk.net or Peggy Keeble at sense_essex@hotmail.com.

If you and your family live in the Kent or Essex area and are interested in finding out more about branch activities, then get in touch with Anya Rakoczi, Events and Groups Manager, Tel / text: 020 7014 9310 or email events&groups@sense.org.uk.

Or write to her at:
Sense
101 Pentonville Road
London
N1 9LG