Swansea Hard of Hearing Group

SWANSEA HARD OF HEARING GROUP

Newsletter

August 2016

Hello again. The next meeting will be on

Date: Friday 5th August Time: 3.30p.m. to 5.30 p.m.

Venue: Discovery Room in the Central Library in the Civic Centre.

For those who haven’t been there before, the room is at the far end of the first floor – there is access by both lift and stairs. Parking is free and the Metro bus stops outside.

An important date

Friday 9 th December – Christmas lunch and party. Lottery funded so will not cost much! Details nearer the time – just keep that date free.

Last meeting

Lee Bateman, the new Digital Skills Officer for Action on Hearing Loss Cymru, brought us up to date on some of the technology that can make a real difference to our every- day lives.

In particular he showed how versatile smart mobile phones were. An application (‘app’) called Pedius gives instant speech to text conversion. One use might be when you can’t hear the person on the supermarket checkout till, get them to tell your phone and just read it! Sounds too good to be true but Lee showed that it worked. You can get 20 minutes free a month or 100 minutes for £4.

One of Lee’s jobs is to provide short one-to-one sessions on use of technology – whether Skype, Facetime, Facebook, on-line shopping or just email. Since he covers the whole of Wales, any such session will have to be booked well in advance. If any- one is interested, there is a form – ask Doug. Next meeting

A speaker is coming from the Fire Service to talk about fire safety and how they can help by supplying various alarms and gadgets. Well worth while.

Subtitles Action on Hearing Loss’s efforts to persuade TV companies to improve this service are beginning to show results. A big player in the broadcasting industry – BT TV – has launched a major project and made a large financial investment into new technology to improve its on-demand service for people with hearing loss. They are now inviting BT TV customers to take part in subtitle trials.

Outings

The next will be on Wednesday 31st August to the National Botanic Gardens with a lunch before in the Butcher’s Arms, Llandarrog. Apart from the glass house, the gardens have recently opened a butterfly house which is well worth the trip on its own, we are told.

As is becoming usual, the Briggs coach will leave Wellington Street (behind Tesco’s) at 11 and opposite Morriston Fire Station at 11.15. We should be back by about 5 p.m.

As is also usual, the bus is free to members but £5 each for friends, wives etc. There will be a £5 contribution towards lunch for members, entry to the Gardens will also be free for members – the cost for others will be £6.

If you would like to come, please let Jean, Alison or Doug know as soon as you can. Most importantly, please choose what you would like for lunch from the attached menu and let us know ‘asap’ but certainly by Monday 22nd August at the latest.

Lip reading

Grace’s classes are continuing on a fortnightly basis. For the intermediate weeks, she will be providing some exercises that will help to consolidate and practice what was learnt in her last lesson.

Goodbye ‘Hear to Help’, Hello ‘Live Well with Hearing Loss’ Funding for the Hear to Help scheme run by Action on Hearing Loss ran out a few months ago, though some health boards have continued to maintain the funds. How- ever, a new and more comprehensive scheme has been made possible by funding from the Welsh Government for the next three years. The Live Well with Hearing Loss project recently started in April 2016 and aims to support people who are deaf or have hearing loss to get access to good quality advice, and support to get the most out of hearing assistive equipment and services. There are two parts:

 The first is through home visits, to make sure people have the equipment they need in their homes and that they understand how to use it, whilst providing advice, information and signposting to services in their community.

 The second is through monthly drop in HUBs: these are centres which will provide a one-stop source of support. The aim is to have at least one HUB in each county and these will be rolled out from September. The HUBS will have capacity to include mul- tiple services and we aim to include the following: information and signposting to services, equipment demonstration, hearing-aid maintenance, and communication strategies such as lip reading, whilst creating a place for inclusive, social gatherings. If you are interested in volunteering for any part of this new project please could you let one of us know. Training specific to the project will be provided by Action on Hearing Loss and you will find it very rewarding – ask Jean if she has enjoyed Hear to Help.

Lottery funding

All the cost of the lip reading classes and most of the cost of the outings is thanks to the grant we had from the Awards for All scheme of the Big Lottery. The Lottery is keen that their input is fully acknowledged and publicised as much as possible. We will need some more photos on the next trip!

Finally

We look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it on Friday 5th August.

Doug 07866 191179 (text or phone) [email protected] .uk

Jean (01792) 290769 [email protected]

Alison 07974 120996 (text or phone) [email protected]

Butchers mouth-watering salads

Home boiled Ham Salad £9.95 Hot Chicken & Bacon Salad £10.95 Prawn Salad with Mary Rose sauce £10.95 Hot Fishcake Salad drizzled with sweet chilli sauce £9.95 Home-made Hot Tomato, Onion & Basil tart sprinkled with molten Cheddar Cheese £10.95

Hot Baguettes

Hot crusty French baguette filled with two thick pork sausages covered in fried onions £7.95 Hot crusty French baguette filled with hot grilled chicken breast & lashings of mayonnaise £9.95 Above baguettes are served with chips

sandwiches

Cheese £4.50 Prawn £5.50 Salad £3.60 Ham £5.50 All sandwiches served with a salad garnish & crisps

** Please ask to see the vegetarian menu of the day ** Extras

Homemade garlic bread £3.00 Home-made garlic bread with cheese £4.00

Cauliflower cheese £3.50 Seasonal vegetables £3.50 Homemade Onion rings £3.50 Au poivre sauce £3.50 Butchers special red wine sauce £3.50 Garlic & Mushroom sauce £3.50

** Food allergies & intolerances – a summary of the key allergens in our food is available in printed form, please ask your server if required. **

Vegetarian menu

To Start: Home-made garlic bread £3.00 Home-made garlic bread with cheese £4.00 Lashings of garlic mushrooms on a bed of toast £5.95 A Pot of olives in olive oil & balsamic vinegar with chunks of crusty French bread £3.50

For the main:

Home-made mushroom stroganoff £12.95

Home-made stir fry vegetables with chilli £11.95

Home-made stir fry vegetables with sweet and sour sauce £11.95

Home-made tomato, onion and basil tart topped with cheddar cheese £10.95

Home-made 5 bean and chilli vegetable bake topped with mozzarella cheese on a bed of green vegetables £12.95

Home-made Goats cheese spinach potato tart served with salad garnish and our home made chutney £10.95

All the above meals are served with a choice of potatoes

Lunch Time Menu

Starters & Snacks

Home-made soup & crusty roll £4.65 Prawn Cocktail with Mary Rose sauce served with brown bread & butter £6.95 Pan-fried cockles and laver bread served with brown bread & butter £7.95 A pot of olives in olive oil & balsamic vinegar with chunks of crusty French bread £3.50

Traditional country favourites

Home boiled ham & chips £9.95 Beef & ale pie with chips £10.95 Skinless & boneless cod in our own crispy batter served with mushy peas & chips £10.95 Highwayman’s platter – grilled 8oz gammon, pork sausages, eggs, onion rings & chips £10.95 Three pork sausages, two eggs & chips £7.95

Tasty lunch time specials

8oz Gammon steak with egg or pineapple £8.95 10oz Sirloin steak with all the trimmings £19.95 10oz Fillet steak with all the trimmings £21.95 Strips of chicken breast fillet in our own rustic chasseur sauce £9.95 Breaded whole tail scampi in natural crumb £9.95

All the above meals are served with a choice of chips, jacket potato, sautéed potatoes, creamy garlic potatoes, rice or salad