Deaf Café started at N Walsham Salvation Army

The Salvation Army in North Walsham is hosting a monthly café where members of the hearing and deaf communities can meet together to share their experiences and practise their signing skills.

The Deaf Café is run by Wendy Murphy, who has been running free beginners classes at North Walsham library for anyone interested in learning British Sign Language (BSL). There have been around seven courses in 2023, with another earlier this year. There is one booked for the library in September , plus four  follow up  sessions for previous attendees. Wendy pointed out that the library manager, Sandra Whitwood had been particularly supportive.
 
However, many of those who had attended those courses were keen to have an opportunity to continue practising their new-found skills, but did not necessarily wish to travel to Norwich, where a monthly Deaf Café took place in the Forum.
 
Wendy said “I have been very aware of the isolation of the profoundly deaf and of those with hearing impairments, so wondered if I could find a venue to hold a monthly Deaf Cafe along the lines of that held in Norwich, but with no charge, in order to help ease this isolation. My attendees could come along if North Walsham had its own café, and we could welcome others who use sign language. This is a way of keeping the practice of BSL going.”
 
Ms Murphy spoke to Territorial Envoy Ruth Morey, who leads The Salvation Army in the town, and she agreed to host the monthly café at the Salvation Army Hall on Hall Lane in the town. The café, which started in January, is already proving very popular, with around 20 people attending from 10am till 12 noon on the third Saturday of every month. North Norfolk MP Duncan Baker attended the cafe on March 16 and spent the morning learning BSL.
 
Wendy continued, “We are now attempting to learn a Christmas Carol as a thank you to the SA.  This is very much an experiment right now, but we are having fun trying it out!   I have run one BSL course for their congregation, free of course, which was very well attended, and I may run another in the Autumn if Ruth thinks there is enough interest.”
 
Ruth Morey said, “We have previously hosted a sign language course at our church which was well attended by people from other churches and Salvation Army members. We hope to run another later in the year. We also hold a coffee morning on a Thursday and have a conversational table for the deaf community where sign language users and sign language learners can have a chat over a cuppa and cake. It is a sign that the church is becoming more inclusive, and plans are already underway for a signed carol service at Christmas.”
 
The photo is courtesy of The Salvation Army.
 
This article is an update of the one we published on 10 May, which turned out to have a number of inaccuracies, for which we apologise.

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