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Women's Fellowship Events at
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St Peter's Women's Fellowship
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We welcomed Cherry as our speaker and also Mark Fellows to sign during the meeting and John Wilson with his dog Quazer and his friend Steve. Before the talk Chris welcomed all the ladies, our speaker and Lawrence Woodcock who was assisting with the technical side of showing pictures on the wall. After worship, including a hymn with signing and a bible reading and prayer led by Yvonne Hayden,Cherry started by telling us that the first hearing dog was a rescue one called Favour in 1982. Now the dogs are breed especially at the centre or are rescue dogs. Hearing Dogs for the Deaf:- Their Mission To offer great independence, confidence and security to deaf people by providing dogs trained to alert them to chosen everyday sounds. The headquarters are The Grange in Oxfordshire and on a Thursday visitors are welcomed if they have booked. There is also a centre in Selby North Yorkshire. Nearly nine million people in the UK experience some hearing loss. This represents one in seven of the adult UK population. Learning to live with deafness can be a devastating experience. Many people say they lost their sense of security, confidence and independence when they lost their hearing. Deafness is an invisible disability and can lead to isolation and loneliness as people withdraw, finding it increasingly hard to communicate. Since 1982, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People have trained over 1400 hearing dogs. From small beginnings they now work to fulfil a growing demand for these specially trained dogs. The dogs themselves vary from the largest, scruffiest mongrel to the smallest pedigree but they are all easily recognisable by their distinctive burgundy jacket and lead slips, which also helps to identify the recipient’s otherwise ‘invisible’ disability. The principles of training dogs for any given task are straightforward: break the task down into easily achievable steps and encourage the dog to make gradual progress, rewarding him or her when he gets it right. All hearing dogs are trained by forming positive associations with sounds, using food, praise or toys as rewards. These are sounds that hearing people often take for granted such as: alarm clock, cooker timer, doorbell, telephone & baby cry. The dogs are first taught by a ‘puppy socialiser’ in a home and taught obedience, handling, attend puppy classes for up to a year. Then advanced training is at the centre. The recipient will stay at the centre to get to know the dog and to be trained together. When they go home to live with the deaf person a trainer will still visit and the ‘Hearing Dogs’ still have ownership of the dog. A hearing dog is a registered assistance dog and as such should be allowed access to public places under the new Disability Discrimination Act. Their vision Companionship for an independent life. Seeing John with Quaser it was obvious there is a great bond between him and the dog. John has had this dog for 10 years and he had one before that too. It was a very good talk by Cherry, made more interesting with watching Mark sign for John and at the end we had a question time and John and Steve answered a few questions with Mark signing and telling us the answers. If you want to know more about hearing dogs they have a good website http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/index.php Please come along to our next meeting on Wednesday May 26th, when we have Gerald Howarth MP and his wife Lizzie coming to speak on 'Faith and Politics' Although it is Women's Fellowship we do welcome men!! You are invited to join us to celebrate 60 years of St Peter's Women's Fellowship and Guild. There will be a short service of thanksgiving in the Church on Wednesday 30th June 2010 at 2.30pm followed by tea in the Parish Centre.
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