Thursday 21 August 2014

A bit of news.... two in fact!

This has been a busy week for me but more about the really busy parts in a later post. Today I'm concentrating on the news relating to Hearing Dogs and BSL and the progress on both of those fronts.

Hearing Dogs news


Last week I had been wondering when I would hear from the Hearing Dogs people about the next stage in the process following my visit to The Grange at the end of June.

Well, they must've somehow received my thoughts because, on Friday evening (15th Aug) I received the following email (names changed as normal) :
Hello Mike,

I hope you are well and having a good Summer.

We would like to invite you for an on-site assessment at The Grange training centre in Buckinghamshire on Wednesday <snip> & Thursday <snip> September (2 days). This would be an overnight stay and give you a chance to work with some of our demonstration dogs and get a feel for what it’s like to have a hearing dog.

You would need to arrive at 11.00am on the Wednesday and you can depart on the Thursday at approximately 3.00pm.

We would also like to arrange a visit to your home on Monday <snip> October at 10.00am – 1.00pm. Our Partnership Support Officer will visit you in your home first and also look at the area you work from at home. Our Partnership Support Officer will look at the general layout of your home, look to see if your garden is secure and visit a local park/walk i.e. a suitable place for you to exercise your dog each day.

Thank you for sending me the details for your employers, I will contact them before we visit and advise them we will be visiting you at home and also ask if we will need to visit them at the work place.

I am away on annual leave for 2 weeks now and return to work on 1st September, but if you can let me know as soon as possible if the dates above are convenient, I will get them booked in.

With many thanks and kind regards,

Freda

So, without hesitation, despite being in Hull (more on that another time) and miles from Home I dashed off a reply saying that I would be only too glad to attend and be available for the home visit.

Once again things are moving forwards... I'm so looking forward to the visit to the Grange again.

BSL News


Following last week's news I received a further piece of news this morning.

Some of you will be aware that I am currently learning BSL to help out at the, increasingly frequent, times when I'm unable to wear my hearing aids due to discomfort or irritated ears.

I have been learning BSL Level 1 since January with a great bunch of people and have thoroughly enjoyed getting out on Monday evenings to join them.

The BSL courses are split into three modules and BSL Level 1 is split into BSL101, BSL102 and BSL103 which is the final module after which you are awarded accredition as a BSL Level 1 signer.

Anyway, with all that in mind, I passed BSL101 in April and today I learnt that I have passed BSL Level 102 which is externally assessed!

Roll on December and taking the BSL103 exam :)

And finally....


Hearing Dogs have their late Summer Show on Sunday 14th Sept at their Princes Risborough site... If you're able to get to Princes Risborough please do go along and support them!

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