Summer is finally here! Take a look at how we’ve been enjoying the sunny weather here at FCDC in the past couple of months…

  Family BSL Course

We kickstarted June by beginning our family BSL course. We welcomed 4 families along to our first face to face session, where we were all able to meet each other and discuss what we would be covering over the next 6 weeks. It was lovely to share everyone’s different stories and their own experiences surrounding hearing loss. We then covered many topics over the next 4 zoom sessions, our teacher Clare provided the families with lots of information and new signs, played games using flashcards and told a BSL story. We then finished off the course another face to face session. Covering a few more topics whilst playing some BSL bingo. All of our families went home with their own certificates of achievement for all trying so hard and completing the course.

Sustainable craft fair

This one was particularly special. The Deaf community came together to put on a sustainable craft fair at Elmfield school. The cause is extremely dear to the community’s heart as the money raised from the fair is going towards a memorial garden built in memory of Sara Hetherington. ‘Sara’s garden’ will be grown in the middle of Elmfield school’s playground, and is planned to be filled with wild flowers to commemorate the love she had for the outdoors. Lead by Hilary Sutherland, and the Sewing n Signing Crochet group, the fair opened their doors to the community. There were plenty of stalls from plants, to sea glass jewellery, to beautiful embroidery and crochet. There was also lots of lovely homemade cakes and tea/coffee for everyone to enjoy. We set up a craft corner where the children came and created their own junk model robots, there were some truly brilliant creations!

Father’s day BBQ

We then celebrated Father’s day in the best way we know how. A BBQ at Windmill Hill City farm. Whilst our families went around the farm to explore, we got the burgers on the BBQ. We had our own private space to enjoy, where the families were able to catch up over some food. The children got busy with making their special father’s day presents, including personalised mugs, cards, colouring and a bag of sweet treats. It was a lovely morning to catch up with our families in the sunshine!

YP Airhop

Our youth group meet up of the month was at Air hop. Our group arrived and got their air hop socks on then went for a quick safety briefing before enjoying everything Air hop had to offer. They jumped on the trampolines, raced each other on the obstacle course, took a leap of faith, competed against one another in the basket ball, on the battle beams and braved the slides too. After our session was over we grabbed some pizza before heading home.

Lancaster University / NDCS Focus groups

Family boat ride

Our first event of the summer holidays took us to Bath Boating Station. Where our family’s split off into groups and took an hour-long ride up and down the river Avon. Each boat had people responsible for steering and rowing. It was lovely to see different families teamed up and working together to navigate along the river. Once our time on the water was finished, we pulled into the bank and carefully docked our boats. We then all gathered for some tea/coffees, the families enjoyed their packed lunches and the children played games of tag on the green.

Lunch at the farm

Our next event of the summer holidays was Lunch at Lawrence Weston Community farm. We were funded by the HAF programme to provide our families with a healthy lunch alongside a day of fun activities. We put together a summer menu of jacket potatoes and salads to enjoy.  It was a busy day! Our parents/carers were able to catch up with each other whilst the children made their own fairy gardens from items they had to find around the farm, and took part in a cookery class where they made their own fruit scones. We also lucked out with the weather, the sun was shining which meant our families were able to head out and meet all the animals at the farm including some very cute piglets who were only just a few days old!