8-12 February, 2010

As part of Tinnitus Awareness Week, the Birmingham & District Tinnitus Group are supporting various events throughout the West Midlands to raise awareness of tinnitus and to offer, help, support and advice to sufferers. Due to the nature of tinnitus, the best help is information, advice and support from people who have experience of tinnitus and its impact.

If you would like to learn more about tinnitus, why not come and meet the professionals and our friendly and helpful team who will be available at the following locations:

Date             Time                          Venue

8 February    9:30 – 12 noon            Hearing Services Centre, Western Road, City Hospital

8 February    12.00 – 4:00pm           Heartlands Hospital Main Entrance

9 February    10.30 – 12 noon           Carrs Lane Church Centre Support Session

10 February    AM                           Heartlands Hospital, ENT/Audiology

11 February    10:00am – 12 noon    Selly Oak Hospital, Raddlebarn Road, Hearing, Assessment & Rehabilitation Centre
       
11 February    9.30am – 12.30          Social Care & Health Group, Memorial Hall, Hospital Street, Tamworth

8-12 February                                 Good Hope Hospital Treatment Centre

8-12 February                                 Heartlands Hospital Main Entrance

8-12 February                                 Lyng Centre for Health and Social Care, West Bromwich

Ribbon pins will be available for sale at some of the venues with all proceeds going to the Birmingham & District Tinnitus Group.

If you are unable to attend any of the sessions, then further information can be obtained by contacting the Birmingham & District Tinnitus Group at:

The Birmingham & District Tinnitus Group
c/o Birmingham Institute for the Deaf
Deaf Cultural Centre
Ladywood Road
Birmingham
B16 8SZ
info@tinnitusbham.org.uk

bid services are offering a Life Skills Programme for profoundly deaf people with additional learning needs.

Anyone over 19 years of age, who is deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, will be eligible to attend this motivating programme which will focus on a range of activities and learning that includes money management, independent living skills, healthy eating and much more.

There will be a very strong emphasis on social development and interaction with other profoundly deaf people and on empowering and supporting people to make their own decisions.

The twelve-month programme will be offered on Tuesday or Thursday and will start very soon.

Places are limited so if you are interested, or know anyone who would benefit from participating in this programme, please contact Lynda Leddington, as soon as possible.

Contact details:

Lynda Leddington
Tel: 0121 246 6100
Textphone: 0121 246 6101
Fax: 0121 246 6125
Email: Lynda.leddington@bid.org.uk

bid services are hosting a Palliative Care Conference on Thursday 11th March 2010 at the Deaf Cultural Centre, Ladywood Road, Birmingham. The conference, entitled ‘a deaf perspective’ is aimed at medical and care professionals and will provide invaluable information and advice to those who want to provide deaf patients with the dignity and respect they deserve during their end of life experience.

The conference will help medical professionals feel more confident when working with people with hearing loss  and  will focus on sharing information on how the end of life experience can be significantly improved. The conference includes deaf awareness taster and there will be opportunities to network, create support circles and raise the profile of palliative care services.   A panel of expert speakers include David Hyslop, OBE,  Robin Paijmans, Macmillan Clinical Psychologist, Tina Swani, Chief Executive, St. Mary’s Hospice, Karen McCarthy, Senior Palliative Care Social Worker, St. Mary’s Hospice, and Isabel Quinn, National End of Life Care Programme Manager.

Claire Wade, bid’s Palliative Care Coordinator said, “‘Hosting the Palliative care conference is specifically aimed at transforming how patients with hearing loss are treated during their end of life experience. When someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness, it can be a distressing time for both the patient and their family. Now consider how these fears may be magnified by a deaf patient, who is struggling not only to come to terms with his or her illness, but is also finding it hard to communicate with their care professionals.  The conference will provide a toolkit of information and advice that professionals can use to support their patients through their final journey in a dignified way”.

If you would like more information about the conference or our Palliative Care services, please contact Emma Snape: emma.snape@bid.org.uk, or phone 0121 246 6100 or fax 0121 246 6125.

On the 12th of December 2009 bid services organised a Christmas party for 30 children living in the Ladywood area. The party was organised to support local children as Ladywood is one of the most deprived areas in the UK and a large number of children live in poverty.

bid services organised the Christmas party with support from a group of local organisations and businesses.. The children’s party is in its 2nd year and local businesses have supported it success by giving cash donations and gifts for the children.

The Christmas party was enjoyed by all the children attending. There was a clown for entertainment and the children had the opportunity to have their faces painted. To complete the Christmas party, they all got the chance to see Father Christmas and receive a gift from him. The day was extremely successful and everyone went away with a big smile on their face and a number of presents. bid services is hopeful that the party was a day the children will all remember, and that it has brought a little cheer to them and their families during this festive period.

Terry Yarnall, Fundraising Manager said ‘It has been a great day for everyone involved, especially the children. It’s been such a pleasure to see their smiling faces. We have all enjoyed coming together with the local community and creating new friendships during this special time of the year. The staff and volunteers who came today and showed their support made this event possible. We were especially grateful for the donations and support from local organisations and businesses. It has made this day very special, not only for the children, but for all of us.’

bid services would like to thank the following list for their support:

    Evie and Barry Wilcox
    Aastudios Face Paints – Hall Green
    ADT
    City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
    Birmingham Christian Centre
    Birmingham Hippodrome
    Birmingham Stage Company
    Botanical Gardens
    Cineworld - Broad Street
    Deaf Cultural Centre
    Frank Dudley
    Greggs Foundation
    Huff and Puff Balloons
    Ladywood Taskforce (including St Patricks School)
    Mcdonalds - Bristol Road
    Marks and Spencer
    NEC Box Office
    Office Team
    Party Packs
    Puckator
    Quality Office Stationery Supplies
    Ross Office Supplies
    Snowdome
    Spencer Designs
    Swindales
    TAK!
    Tesco
    Xtreme Balloonz

The Volunteer Service at bid services has been awarded APS recognition. APS, the Approved Provider Standard, is a national quality standard which show evidence of a high quality of service in mentoring and befriending. This recognition will open further opportunities for the Volunteer Service to continue its excellent work.

The service was set up in March 2001, and since then it has gone from  strength to strength and currently  has 32 volunteers with a further 16 new volunteers expected to join shortly.  The service provides vital support to individuals with a range of hearing loss living in Birmingham and Solihull.  The volunteers visit people in their homes and can support them to access a variety of activities in the community, which helps reduce any feelings of isolation. There are also volunteering opportunities within the Deaf Cultural Centre.

Kathryn Dolby, Volunteer Co-ordinator, states ‘I am glad that we have been awarded APS for 3 more years as this gives the Volunteer Service the recognition it deserves for all the hard work that is put in regularly.  Without the support and commitment of the volunteers, this APS recognition would not have been achievable. Now that we have been given 3 more years of accreditation I would like to see the Volunteer Services grow, reaching more clients and continuing to provide excellent services.’

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please contact us on 0121 246 6100, or email jobs@bid.org.uk for more details or go to bid services website www.bid.org.uk.

A conference will be taking place detailing the innovative technologies available to those that work with individuals with learning disabilities or difficulties, such as dyslexia or sensory impairment or groups that are socially excluded. The conference will be held at the Nottingham Council House, Market Square in Nottingham on Tuesday 27th October 2009, with the conference exhibition open from 8.30am-5.00pm.

The conference will see a range of professionals including academics and practitioners who will not only showcase their practice, but use the forum to discuss their mainstream research ideas and outcomes.  The aim of the conference is to evidence the advancements in technology using interactive computer games as learning tools. This is a great opportunity for the academics involved to showcase their ideas and, in conjunction with practitioners, demonstrate that the interactive technologies are accessible to all.

Running alongside the conference will be an exhibition with various organisations represented.  Ideas will be presented along with practical demonstrations. There will be discussions on papers about touch screen, using equipment such as Wii consoles as well as many others. This conference is being organised by Nottingham Trent University who are involved with the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning programme which aims to include people from different countries and backgrounds. Academics and practitioners in attendance will be representing various backgrounds from the UK, Romania, Italy and many more in a bid to really to share ideas and feedback on their works.
If you are interested and would like to attend, please contact Karen Krelle.  Karen can be contacted either in writing to College of Science, Nottingham Trent University, CELS, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS or by email on: Karen.krelle@ntu.ac.uk.

A DVD called ‘Hands at Work has been launched’. The project was to collect “signed” history instead of oral history as the details are recorded on film by young deaf people filming the older generation instead of using a tape recorder. 10 older deaf people who had worked during 1920 to 1940 era explained about their work and what experiences they had during this period. One of the older deaf people, David Hyslop explained his experience as a deaf person looking for work and learning how to lip read. He also added that his experience as a jewellery maker had made him become more independent as he started to work as a Jeweller shortly after leaving school.

Braidwood School for the deaf were involved in the filming with the support of James McLean, project co-ordinator, Lisa Davies, Multimedia production officer from bid services and John Hay, MBE, Senior Lecturer from Wolverhampton University. The pupils from Braidwood School were involved in filming and interviewing the older deaf people and collecting information on their experiences. Students from Longwill School created the DVD cover.

Interested viewers exploring hisory

Volunteers from Black Country Living museum dressed up in the work clothes of this era and were happy to explain what the working environment was like in the past. They were on hand to give out hard sweets which were popular during 1920's-40’s and a complimentary copy of the DVD. There were presentations from John Hay explaining the difference between ‘Oral history’ and ‘Signed history’, Izzy Mohammed, Community Outreach and the Community Officer from Birmingham Central Library explained his experience of working with deaf people.

John Hay giving his talk

James McLean, Project Officer said ‘I am glad this project has been created and the people involved have worked hard to make this possible. The pupils from Braidwood School have been proactive in this project and I am glad to see them here at the launching of the DVD. We are grateful for the support of Izzy Mohammed who helped us to develop an understanding of how to archive the records and collect historical details and a representative from the Museum of Jewellery Quarter funded by Birmingham City Council demonstrated the jewellery making skills as explained by David Hyslop.’

David Hyslop explaining his experience

Complimentary copies of the DVD are available for everyone to view and to see what experience older deaf people had in their younger years when working during the era. For more information you can contact bid services, or check the website for details.

An event is to be held celebrating the successful completion of the Deaf Heritage Project at the Deaf Cultural Centre on Wednesday 30th September from 10.00am to 2.00pm. The main aim of the Deaf Heritage Project, which was funded by the Lottery Heritage fund, was to conduct a range of interviews with deaf people from the West Midlands who were at work during the period 1920 to 1940. The results are a fascinating collection of personal stories which have been collated to form a DVD and this will be launched for the first time at the event. The project was led by James Mclean who recruited deaf pupils from Braidwood School to participate in the interviews and filming material for the DVD.

Local leading deaf historian, John Hay, a lecturer from the University of Wolverhampton, offered his experience by guiding the pupils in methods of exploring and recording local history. Lisa Davies from bid services supported the project by teaching the pupils how to use the necessary video equipment. Izzy Mohammed from Birmingham Central Library was able to show the pupils a range of archived information and artefacts linked to industry in Birmingham during this period.

The Chosen Title of the DVD: Hands at Work appropriately describes Deaf people’s use of manual skill not only in terms of using gestures and hand shapes within their language; sign language, but within their place of work too.
The DVD Cover design includes pictures drawn by pupils from Longwill School.

James McLean said ‘I am glad that the project provided an opportunity to show what conditions were like for deaf people at work during this era. The lottery funding was invaluable as no research project has ever recorded material such as this in the West Midlands before. Without the support from the people involved, this project could not have been completed. The DVD covers have been designed by the pupils at Longwill School and the pupils from Braidwood School have been excellent in filming and interviewing older deaf people.’

The launch event was an opportunity for the project to showcase its work and celebrate deaf people’s working lives in the West Midlands.

There will be a Tinnitus Awareness day on Saturday 10th October at 10am to 4pm at Carrs Lane Church Centre in the Birmingham City Centre near Moor Street station. This is an opportunity for sufferers of tinnitus or those who know someone who has this condition, to learn more about it and be introduced to a support network.

The morning session will include a presentation by a Senior Audiologist on coping strategies and the afternoon session will be a discussion around the latest research into tinnitus. The day is open to all and there will be no admission charge.

Tinnitus (permanent head noises) is a condition which affects about 8% of the population. The Birmingham & District Tinnitus Group has been working in the local community for the past 28 years, aiming to support those with tinnitus and their families.  It is a registered charity and its membership has grown over the years.  Because of the increasing demands upon the service, in June of this year, it took a decision to join the umbrella of bid services. bid services is a UK registered charity working with deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and physically and sensory disabled people across the UK.

The website www.tinnitusbham.org.uk has full details of the group and its aims.
For more information or to discuss tinnitus, please contact any of the following people:

Eileen:       01384 831032,
Eric:           0121 355 1496,
Lorna:        0121 352 0671
Brenda:      0121 747 9369
Jennifer:     0121 355 2047

John and Bridget's plans and hard work came to fruition on the 13th February 2009 when they held a dance at St Anne’s parish Centre in Bosworth Drive Chelmsley Wood Birmingham.

Music was provided by “Little Jimmy”, and Karen, Amanda, Claire and Carole (bid services staff) all enjoyed getting up onto the floor with the crowd for a dance.

John and Bridget with bid services staff who attended the dance and Bryan Sheppard

John and Bridget organised a raffle to boost the takings and during the draw for prizes, a lovely couple Helen and Billy Martin approached Carole and presented her  with a further donation of £50 for the group.

The evening was enjoyed by all thanks to John and Bridget’s hard work.

John and Bridget came into bid services to meet Bryan Sheppard the CEO of bid services and were delighted to be able to hand over a cheque for the amount of £420.
 
Without  the dedication of people like John and Bridget some very valuable services would not be able to continue. bid services would like to extend its thanks to John and Bridget for all their hard work and to everyone who attended.

Bryan Sheppard, CEO of bid services with John and Bridget.