A Quiz, some chocolate and a Ukulele!

This afternoon I attended an Over 50’s Club in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, with another SLT (Liz Panton) to talk about Giving Voice, and Speech and Language Therapy.  Before I got there I was a little nervous, as the prospect of talking to a group of pensioners was a little daunting. However, they welcomed us with open arms and I soon got into my stride!

I shared my Giving Voice poem (How would you feel?)  which everyone seemed to enjoy. I thought this was a nice introduction to what Speech and Language Therapy is about.  I asked the group (of about 40 people) if anyone had heard of Speech and Language Therapy before today and only 2 people raised their hands. I talked about the work we do and about why it is important.  I also talked about Giving Voice, my campaigning and the work of the campaign so far. I told them that two weeks today (!!) I will be talking to our MP Ian Lavery in Westminster as part of a mass mobilisation J I talked for about 10-15 minutes and then Liz very kindly played her ukulele song (fantastic!)

I gave everyone some chocolates to eat as they were completing the quiz, and everyone received a pen and a leaflet. The winning quiz team were rewarded in chocolate (which went down well!) I asked everyone to pass on the leaflet and tell someone one thing they learnt today to help Give Voice a little further!

I asked everyone to complete a speech bubble but not many people did. I asked one lady what communication means to her and she said “what does it mean to me? Well it’s everything!” Which I thought was very well said!

At the end of the talk one of the group members told us that her late husband had a stroke which left him with significant communication difficulties. Following his stroke he received speech and language therapy, which she says was fantastic.   For the last 8 and a half years of his life, she spent every afternoon using an old type writer to communicate with her husband, typing a message and patiently waiting for him to type his response.  

One of the people attending the group this afternoon works in a care home (and was accompanying one of the residents to the group). She took some leaflets and posters to take back to work with her and said she thinks the care home may be interested in me talking there. I gave her my email address in case she would like to get in touch (watch this space!)

I have contacted 2 local newspapers about this afternoon, so fingers crossed I will hear something back J

I had a lovely afternoon and would thoroughly recommend other people contacting local groups such as this to Give Voice!

Liz and I after the talk

Me and the Winning Quiz team

Talking is what I do best...

Yesterday afternoon I made a phone call and arranged to attend a local over 50’s club to talk to the members there about Giving Voice and Speech and Language Therapy.

Those of you who know me personally know how much I like to talk, and as you may be aware, I am passionate about the Giving Voice campaign and the profession, so being given the opportunity to go and talk about it for about an hour is almost a dream come true!

I have arranged the talk for Tuesday 4^th October at 1pm. This is slightly sooner than I would have liked but as the group only meets once a fortnight it would have been the beginning of November if I didn’t go on October 4^th (as I will be in London on October 18^th for Mass Mobilisation – it’s not too late to sign up, here!)

The prospect of keeping 60 people of the older generation interested and engaged in what I have to say, for up to an hour is slightly daunting and feels like a bit of a challenge. However, I am always up for a challenge and feel this is an opportunity not to be missed! Who knows who could be sitting in the audience or who they may know?!

I am planning on having a little Speech and Language related quiz towards the end of the session, to keep them entertained and to see if they’ve been listening :-) I am also hoping that some people will complete a speech bubble to show their support of the campaign.

If anyone has any ideas they’d like to share with me that they think will appeal to the older generation then please do get in touch with me J I want the session to be as interactive and as positive as possible in the hope that as least one person will go on to tell someone else about the campaign and the important work of a Speech and Language Therapist!

The lady I telephoned to arrange the talk was lovely and very keen to arrange for me to attend (she even invited me to stay for a game of bingo after my talk!) If you have some spare time on your hands and know of a group that welcome guest speakers, why not see if you can go along and Give Voice?