History of the Society
Established 1947
The founder of our Society was Miss Enid Le Feuvre, MBE and it was originally called The Jersey Society for the Deaf. She will always be remembered by the deaf community, as she not only helped deaf and hard of hearing people, but also the hearing children of deaf parents by teaching elocution.
Miss Le Feuvre was a Deputy of the States of Jersey and this brought her into contact with a great many people who had different needs. It was her desire to help as many people as she could and she saw that there was a need for a group to help deaf and hard of hearing people. The Society was thus formed in 1947.
The Society is very different from those early beginnings but the object, according to the Constitution, has always been the same:
This can take one of many forms but the most usual is to provide financial assistance for someone to buy a much needed piece of equipment. This equipment may be something as simple as a flashing alarm clock but it will make the quality of life for someone who is hearing impaired so much better."To relieve the distress and suffering experienced by persons who are hard of hearing or deaf and their families in the Island of Jersey".
Often, just being able to talk about a problem with someone else who faces the same difficulties receives stress and tension.
Being in existence for nearly 60 years is an achievement for any organisation, but for a small charity it is rather special. The Jersey Society for the Deaf was one of the first members of the Jersey Association of Charities, which was founded in 1971. The Association has over 200 members and the Jersey Society for the Deaf is number 4!
The role of the Society has changed dramatically over the years but the aim, or object, remains the same and to achieve this, the Society's main activities are the following:
Social
- Drop In Club every Thursday 9.45am to 11.15am at the Hearing Resource Centre.
- Club for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people and their friends every Wednesday from 8.30pm at the Jersey Arts Centre (This is mainly for BSL users. Those learning or practising BSL meet on the last Thursday of every month at the Arts Centre).
- Occasional group events - Sunday lunches, barbecues, outings.
- Annual Dinner at Christmas.
Funds are raised in various and many ways: Flag days, Christmas Fairs held at the Hearing Resource Centre, stalls at car boot sales, flag days and sale of Christmas cards and from donations.
Assistance
Among the ways we have helped people include:
- Financial help towards training and related costs.
- Purchase of environmental aids, such as fax machines, visual door bells, flashing alarm clocks and so on.
- Paying for a spouse to accompany a deafened person to visit the LINK rehabilitation centre in England.
- Flights and accommodation for a deaf person to attend a one year course in London, to become a qualified Lip Reading Teacher for Adults.
- Training for Dear Awareness Tutors.
- Shared equipment costs for the BSL & Deaf Awareness Tutors.
- Providing £10,000 towards the setting up of the Hearing Resource Centre.
- Photocopy machine for the Hearing Resource Centre.
- Helping to set up a Teletext page (CTV 275) for the Deaf and supplying information regularly.
- Donation of £75,000 to the States of Jersey to enable the Audiology Department to prescribe Digital Hearing Aids.
Newsletter
The Society publishes a quarterly Newsletter for members.
Volunteers
Some of the Society members are volunteers at the Hearing Resource Centre, using their own experiences of a hearing loss to help others in the same situation.
New Developments
The Committee aims to be aware of matters which could affect Deaf or Hard of Hearing people in Jersey, particularly regarding access in public buildings through loop systems at enquiry desks and "deaf awareness". We look for ways to improve our support and are always glad to receive suggestions of ways in which we can offer assistance and help towards activities of members' choice.
In 1995, the Society helped establish the Hearing Resource Centre at Overdale Hospital (see below).
In 1998, to celebrate our 50th Anniversary, we organised a Concert featuring Evelyn Glennie, OBE (a year late, but never mind!). It ran for 2 nights at the Arts Centre and was a sellout. We were able to do this because of the generousity of AirTours and CitiBank, who both sponsored the Concert.
In 2003, we received a large legacy from the Estate of John Jarman, which helped secure the financial future of the Society. We also resolved that when an opportunity presented itself, we would use this legacy for a worthwhile project.
The Evelyn Glennie Concert was so successful we ran another in 2000 and a third in 2004, both of which were entirely sponsored by CitiBank. The Concerts helped raise our profile and we began to receive donations from people we hadn't heard from before.
In 2005, with information from the Audiology Department, we tried to pressure the Health Department to install equipment to be able to phase in the use of Digital Hearing Aids instead of Analogue Aids. Digital Aids are the latest technology and give the wearer much clearer hearing of speech, because each Aid can be individually tuned. Unfortunately, although the Health Department recognised the need, they didn't have the budget to do this for several years.
So, in 2006, using the Jarman Legacy, the Society donated a total of £75,000 to enable the Audiology Department at the Hospital install computer hardware and software to enable Digital Hearing Aids to be given to adults, for the first time. The donation included the first year's increase in the cost of supplying of Digital Aids over Analogue Aids.
The photo shows the presentation from the Society to the Health Department. From left to right: Russell Butler, Treasurer JSD&HoH, Joan Freeman (then Chair JSD&HoH), Mike Pollard Chief Officer, Health & Social Services, Jenny Wilkinson Chief Audiologist.
Also in 2006, the Society was Incorporated in the Royal Court, under the name of The Jersey Society for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. This enables us to receive gifts of property, amongst other things. This was originally started more than 10 years previously and we are grateful to Benest & Syvret Solicitors, for their help and assistance in helping us do this.
We have representation on the dDeaf Partnership Board. This is the Forum where multi-agency, including voluntary organisations and service users, work together across all ages to look at services and developments for dDeaf and hard of hearing people on the Island.
The former Chair, Joan Freeman and the Secretary, Sonia Walker, both relinquished their positions at the 2006 AGM, after many long years of service. The Society is most grateful to them for all their hard work.