My Visit to the Hull Open Day
By BSA Volunteer Rachel Albert

Rachel and members of the Hull and East Yorkshire Stammerers Self-Help Group at the Open Day.

Sixty-six people attended a very successful Open Day in Hull on Saturday 19 October 2002. Roy Tranckle and myself traveled to Hull from London the day before and spent a most enjoyable weekend in the company of the Hull & East Yorkshire Stammerers Self-Help Group. The venue was the Endsleigh Conference Centre which was once a convent and is now a pastoral retreat and conference centre run by nuns. The Centre is a very tranquil place and set in beautiful grounds.

Dave Burton, Chair of the Hull Self-Help Group and Peter Kissagizlis, Secretary, led the proceedings of the day. The day began at 10.00 am with refreshments and everyone introducing themselves to each other. The Self-Help Group had produced a video called "Speaking Out" which was shown on the day. Copies of this video can be bought at £3.00 each (at the time of writing) by contacting Peter - www.speakingout.org.uk.

A very lavish buffet lunch was served at about 12.30 pm with the compliments of the Self-Help Group after which the afternoon's proceedings began. Andrew Harding, editor of Speaking Out magazine gave a talk on the work of the BSA and later ran a workshop on "Employment". Ann Blight showed a video of her clients from the Starfish Programme and later ran a workshop on her course. People who had previously attended her course said a few words on how much their speech had improved since attending the course. Gail Smith, a local speech and language therapist, said a few words about speech and language provision in the Hull and East Yorkshire district, and later ran a workshop on therapy for Stammerers. I said a few words about the Phone Link Scheme which I run on behalf of the BSA and later enlisted many new members to the Scheme at my stand at the Open Day. Vic Bowden, BSA Trustee, had a stand selling BSA items together with other novelties. Later, Vic played the Jews Harp for us which was very enjoyable. Vic is the only woman who can play this instrument in Europe - so this was not to be missed.

Later, we were all treated to a show by Bob Adams who laid down on a bed of nails, walked on broken glass, ate fire and entertained us beautifully for about 45 minutes (with the help of Zippy!).

There was a train strike at that time so many people were unable to attend the Open Day but even so, sixty-six people filled the hall at The Endsleigh Centre. At the end of what was a very hard but rewarding day for the Committee, many of us were invited for a meal at The Old Grey Mare pub which gave us a chance to socialize and get to know each other better.

I would like to thank the Committee of the Hull Self-Help Group namely, David Burton, Peter Kissagizlis, Terry Turner, Mike Coates, Rob Hilton and Danny Habbershaw for their hospitality and for making the day so enjoyable for all of us.

The last Open Day (before Hull) was quite some time ago. Let's plan more Open Days for the future - it gives us all a chance to meet up more often and is a good excuse to spend a weekend away and make new friends.

December, 2002

See also:
Hull Open Day 2004
Self-Help Groups,
Events.