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The Sunday Socials group at Hull
Partying into the evening.
"The weekend in Hull helped to partly lift the veil on stammering for me - a mother of a pre-teenage daughter who has recently started to stammer. Mary is not alone. There is a parallel world of people who stammer out there and I knew nothing about them. People who sing, laugh, know how to have fun, like a drink and good food have become real and close friends, Hull was, for me, about sharing meals, sharing in each other's life stories and spending time in excellent company. As for Mary, she loved the Disco the best!"
Jeannine
"I had a great time and enjoyed all the events. Being together as a group for two and a half days gave us the opportunity to develop relationships that will last a lifetime. Rachel Albert did an amazing job with the organising, putting on a great party and bringing everyone together like a family. If my family saw me singing Karaoke at the party, they would have died of embarrassment! At the train station, it was sad saying goodbye to all my new friends."
Paul
"I was really impressed with how everybody pulled together and got on - which helped to create an open, challenging and enjoyable atmosphere. I also thought the train journeys were a lot of fun and to top it all, we were treated to plenty of Karaoke, dancing and pink wafers! (Our Hull people will understand the reference to 'pink wafers')"
Charlie
"I am so happy for having experienced such a memorable weekend. I am thankful to everyone who was there and for making it very special for me. People were so open and accepting and sharing our experiences made me learn so much, especially about myself. I know it might sound strange but sometimes I feel glad to have a stammer - to be part of this wonderful 'family' and going through so much growth."
Aline
"For me, Hull was a great weekend in terms of 'communication' and how paradoxical is that when we're talking about people who stammer getting together? We were a group of stammerers supposedly 'unable' to communicate effectively but what we did in Hull was to communicate in the most effective of ways: taking our time to speak, respecting each other's time to speak, being interested in each other and talking about our speech. And the amazing thing is that we did all that with a great sense of humour, a great sense of belonging and a lot of socialising. We didn't just talk, we ended up singing out loud! Literally. Just fantastic! I guess Hull has been another good lesson for me to learn on my journey to better speech"
Nara |
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To Hull and back - a heavenly experience!
By Rachel Albert
The first Sunday Socials Weekend took place from Friday, 15 - Sunday, 17 October 2004. Twenty-five members went to Hull to Support the Hull and East Yorkshire Self-Help Group and take part in the Hull Open Day on 16 October. We stayed at the Endsleigh Centre - a convent and conference centre set in beautiful grounds and run by nuns. We were very well looked after - the food was excellent, the rooms extremely comfortable and warm and our members were made to feel very welcome.
After supper on the Friday evening, some of us went to a local pub to socialise, whilst others stayed at the Centre to relax and chat in one of the lounges. The following day we shared in the activities at the Hull Open Day and in the evening, some members of the Self-Help group joined us for a meal at The Old Grey Mare Pub and then we went back to the Centre for a Disco and Karaoke party till almost 1.00 am.
Lots of new friendships were made at this weekend as we had much time to relax together, chat together, dance and sing together and have lots of fun together. Group emails are still being sent to each other as we want to keep the contact and keep alive the wonderful experience of caring and sharing that was born out of this amazing weekend.
As many of you will remember from the Sheffield Conference in 2000, Karaoke is very much a part of our members' talents and there were no shortage of people queuing up to perform. We brought our own drinks to the party, so not too many inhibited people at this event. If Gareth Gates was there, he would have had some competition!
On the Sunday afternoon after lunch, we all gathered in the garden lounge to relive some of the memories of the weekend and took a group photo in the garden. We then went into Hull town for a spot of sight-seeing before making our way home on the Sunday evening.
 A farewell to the Sunday Socials
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