Wayne Kenny has taken on the 365 Sea Swim Challenge. On Saturday 1^st August 2020, he waded out into the cool waters of Torbay from Brixham in Devon and joined six other swimmers, who have also taken the plunge.

The challenge, for this 47-year-old man from Loddiswell, is simple – swim once every day in the sea for a year and raise funds to support Cued Speech UK. Perhaps the word ‘simple’ is misleading, for this challenge is anything but! Come fair or foul weather, ardent Aquaman Wayne will immerse himself in the salty seas of South Devon once every 24 hours for 365 days – and he won’t even be wearing a wetsuit! Even when the cold north wind does its best to blow biting blizzards across the waves of huge winter seas, Wayne will be hoping to seize a moment for a safe submersion.

Tobin Broadbent from Cued Speech UK said “We are incredibly proud to be Wayne’s chosen charity and we will be following his progress throughout the year. We’re looking forward to the 365 individual and incredible swim stories he’ll be telling. As a charity that supports families with deaf children, the Kenny family is dear to us. Wayne’s daughter is deaf, and he and his wife Kathy Kenny have used Cued Speech successfully to support their family’s communication. Kathy is now our charities Lead Advisor for family’s like her own. I’m sure everyone will want to donate directly to Wayne’s GoFundMe fundraiser ‘The Cued Speech UK 365 Sea Swim Challenge’, to give him the incentive he needs to take his daily dip!”

All of the funds Wayne raises during his incredible year will go directly to Cued Speech UK, to help support families like his own, with deaf children.

To find out more about Cued Speech you can visit our website: www.cuedspeech.co.uk

Why not learn to use Cued Speech yourself – We would love to see what you’re saying!

Have you got 20/20 vision?

We at Cued Speech UK have! We’re declaring 2020 our year of Visible Spoken Language!

We understand that deaf people are profoundly visual and need spoken language that they can see – they need to see what people are saying!

Supporting deaf people with Cued Speech increases their ability to lip read from just 35% to at least 96% accuracy. It’s amazing! Families use Cued Speech to allow their deaf children to understand spoken language, become literate and positively thrive at school.

You too can support deaf people and learn how to make your speech visible, by studying our Online Foundation Course in Cued Speech. Just use this link: https://cuedspeechlearning.co.uk/

Or explore our website to learn more: https://www.cuedspeech.co.uk/

Share our 2020 vision, as a Year of Visible Spoken Language.

Cued Speech UK is delighted to welcome Dame Evelyn Glennie, as patron to our charity.

Dame Evelyn Glennie is known as the first person to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist. Evelyn performs internationally, with the finest orchestras, conductors and artists of our times. She reflects on having played the first percussion concerto in the history of The Proms at the Albert Hall in 1992: ‘Playing at an event like that was proof that music really affects all of us, connecting us in ways that the spoken word cannot.’ This paved the way for orchestras around the world to feature percussion concerti.

“My first experience with percussion was inspired by my school orchestra at the age of 12. I knew I needed something else to go alongside my piano playing, which was my main instrument at the time. It was an inexplicable feeling but as soon as I saw the percussion section I knew this was the family I belonged to”.

‘I still remember the smell of the tiny annexe room where my first ‘trial’ percussion lesson took place. I also remember the ecstatic feeling of holding a pair of drum sticks and striking a snare drum for the first time.’

Evelyn had the honour of playing a leading role in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games in collaboration with director, Danny Boyle. In 2018, Evelyn built upon this inter-disciplinary experience by composing the score for Gregory Doran/The Royal Shakespeare Company’s visionary new production of Troilus and Cressida and joined forces with Jazz Trio ‘HLK’ among a roll-call of other superb sound and performance artists.

Throughout her career, Evelyn has had the privilege of working with diverse artists, from Bjork to Fred Frith:
‘‘Working with Bjork allowed me to break away from the written page and fall into a completely different arena, audience-wise. Giving totally improvised performances with Fred Frith is always an exhilarating experience. In this situation, we are asking the audience to listen in a completely different way.’

Evelyn’s solo recordings, which now exceed 30 CDs releases, are as diverse as her career on-stage. Shadow Behind the Iron Sun, Sound Spirits and The Core-tet Project continues to be the bestselling albums that demonstrate her virtuosic improvisational skills. Evelyn recalls: ‘the freedom I had in choosing whichever instruments I wanted – playing what I wanted and how I wanted – was the most liberating experience I have ever had in a studio.’

Evelyn is a leading commissioner of over 200 new works for solo percussion from many of the world’s most eminent composers. ‘It’s important that I continue to commission and collaborate with diverse composers whilst recognising the young talent coming through’. A double GRAMMY award-winner and BAFTA nominee, Evelyn is in demand as a composer and is commissioned to write music for film, television and library companies such as Audio Network. The film ‘Touch the Sound’ and her enlightening TED speech remain key testimonies to her approach to sound-creation.

As a keen collector of percussion instruments, Evelyn has gathered a private collection of global instruments, consisting of over 2,000 items. “I realized as soon as my parents bought me my second pair of sticks that I was going to be a collector of something!”

Evelyn was awarded an OBE in 1993 and now has over 100 international awards to date, including the Polar Music Prize and the Companion of Honour. Evelyn continues to inspire and motivate people from all walks of life. Her masterclasses and consultations are designed to guide the next generation. ‘Listening is the backbone to every aspect of our lives. The challenges we face in business and at home can usually be overcome with better listening skills.’

Evelyn is currently embarking on the formation of The Evelyn Glennie Collection. The vision is to open a centre that embodies her mission to Teach the World to Listen. She aims to ‘improve communication and social cohesion by encouraging everyone to discover new ways of listening as proven in her book ‘Listen World!’. We want to inspire, to create, to engage and to empower’.

‘My career and my life have been about listening in the deepest possible sense. Losing my hearing meant learning how to listen differently, to discover features of sound I hadn’t realized existed. Losing my hearing made me a better listener.’

Evelyn lives in the beautiful countryside of Cambridgeshire in the East of England.

You can learn more about Evelyn’s work on her website: www.evelyn.co.uk

Cued Speech makes spoken language visible for deaf babies, children or adults. To find out more, visit our website: www.cuedspeech.co.uk. Why not learn to use Cued Speech yourself – We’d love to see what you’re saying!

It’s that time of year again! Like many of us, you might be feeling like you started January just as stuffed as the turkey that fed you during the Christmas banqueting season; that and all the trimmings, puddings, chocolates, cheeses, beer and… need I go on?

Now is the time to run off the goose fat and fulfil that New Year’s resolution to get fit for summer. Finding the incentive to drag yourself out of a nice warm bed to run down cold wet streets can be tough though, so you’re going to need something to help you maintain your motivation. The aim of raising money for Cued Speech UK will provide you with a focus for your efforts, knowing that you will be supporting our work and making a real difference to the lives of deaf children. Whether you’re planning to take part in your first 5K run, cycle in a 50-mile race, beat your ‘PB’ in a triathlon or even trek to Everest base camp – start 2019 in the most positive way by combining your personal challenge with supporting Cued Speech UK.

If you manage your training responsibly and ensure you’re following recommended exercise programmes, it won’t be long before you’re experiencing a whole host of life enhancing benefits!

One – lose weight 

You know this already, right? However, it’s still worth saying that burning off excessive fat and losing weight provides huge benefits to achieving fitness. Fast paced exercise with intervals, like doing circuits, is the best way to burn fat and aerobic exercises, like running, help to improve metabolism.

Two – Slow down aging 

Muscles and bones get heathier and stronger the more you use them. In addition, loss of muscle and bone due to natural process is delayed by exercise. Therefore, just by maintaining a fit and active lifestyle you can help circumvent the effects of osteoporosis. Staying active into your old age is achieved by maintaining your active lifestyle now!

Three – Lower blood pressure

Your arteries get just as much of a workout as the rest of your body when you exercise. When you are putting in the miles on your training run or lifting those weights in the gym, your cardiovascular system is keeping up with you and getting a good work-out to ensure your arteries are wide and flexed; exercise actually lowers your risk of developing high blood pressure.

Four – Boost brain power

Indulging in a sedentary lifestyle can put you at risk of dementia, which may be avoided by just taking part in a little exercise every day. Findings from research has shown that people who run or spend a minimum of 25 minutes a day on aerobic exercise can significantly improve their mental skills as they get older, helping them reduce the risk of developing problems with memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem solving or language.

Five – Improve mood

Endorphins! Endorphins! Endorphins! If you get it right, who doesn’t feel great after going for a run and releasing all those endorphins into your system, which in turn boost your mood and make you feel really positive. Just what you need to get you through a dark winter’s day in January. It’s a cycle of positivity – putting in a great training session; knowing you are getting stronger and heathier; raising money for Cued Speech UK and feeling brilliant in 2019!

So, you now have five additional reasons to help you raise money for Cued Speech UK, while also achieving your personal goal; all the motivation you need to get out there and take on the challenge of your life and feel great all year!

Pledge your support for Cued Speech UK and tell us about the personal challenge you have chosen to help you raise funds for our work. You can use our contact page on our website to get in touch. We would love to share your achievements.

You can make donations to Cued Speech UK by using our Support Us page on our website

If you have a deaf child or want to learn more about Cued Speech, you can contact Cued Speech UK by phone (01803 712853), you can use our contact page or you can send an email to [email protected]. Cued Speech UK would love to see what you have to say!

We are delighted to announce that the Garfield Western Foundation have awarded Cued Speech UK a grant of £40,000 towards our core costs over two years.

The Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded charitable grant-making trust which supports a wide range of charitable activities across the UK. Established in 1958 by Willard Garfield Weston, the Foundation has donated over £960 million, becoming one of the largest and most respected charitable institutions in the UK. In the last financial year, the Foundation has donated over £62 million. The Trustees are descendants of the founder and the Weston Family takes a highly active and hands-on approach. Over 1900 charities across the UK benefit each year from the Foundation’s grants.

Find out more about the Garfield Weston Foundation here: https://garfieldweston.org/

The Garfield Weston Foundation are celebrating their 60- year anniversary. Find out about some of the special grants, activities and partnerships they have planned during the year here: https://anniversary.garfieldweston.org/

Cued Speech UK has been featured in this year’s BBC Children in Need appeal, in a heart-warming short film by BBC Spotlight. The BBC Children in Need Appeal Night takes place every year in November and raises money to support projects all over the UK which focus on disadvantaged children and young people.

The film features Megan and Will who have both been successfully brought up in families using Cued Speech. We see Megan taking a riding lesson, where all the instructions are given in Cued Speech and we see Will chatting to his Cued Speech transliterator Bev, who between them provide a fascinating glimpse into the experience of Cued Speech users.

BBC Spotlight is a regional news programme for the South West of England, where this film was originally shown, and you can help both BBC Children in Need and Cued Speech UK by sharing it with your friends and family. Why not post it on your favourite social media profiles and help others to see what Cued Speech is saying!

You can also support BBC Children in Need by visiting their website where you will be able to find out all about their appeals and how to provide donations.

You can also give donations directly to Cued Speech UK by visiting our website and following the instruction on our ‘Support Us’ page. Your donations help directly to support us with our work; helping families with deaf children receive free tuition in Cued speech.

If you have a deaf child or want to learn more about Cued Speech, you can contact Cued Speech UK by phone (01803 712853) or by email ([email protected]). Cued Speech UK would love to see what you have to say!