Community Outreach

Our monthly Hearing Support sessions, held in communities in England and Scotland, are going from strength to strength.  Alison updates us on their progress and introduces our newest venues.

Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire 

Charles and May welcomed volunteer Margaret (all pictured above right) to her first session at the Newton Mearns drop-in which has been successfully running outside of Glasgow for several months.

Thanks to Charles for making the original contact with Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire, and introducing Hearing Link Services, which resulted in this session at being held in their venue in Newton Mearns. 

This session runs on alternative weekdays each month – see our webpage for more details.

Mycenae House, London

We are grateful to Alison (pictured right) for her foundation work with these sessions which have been running in London for nearly three years.

Volunteer Mary stepped in to man the table at Mycenae House in London recently when regular volunteer Alison was unable to attend. Thank you to her for her willing support

The sessions run on the second Thursday of every month.

Worcestershire Hospital, Worcester 

And in true Oscars style – the appreciation for this one goes to Merleen!  You can see more photos of her and her husband Paul in the LinkUp support volunteers article.  We do like to keep you all busy if we can! 

This drop-in came about when Merleen had a spell in hospital. She realised all was not as it could be for people with hearing loss in their setting. So, she set about seeing what could be done to address this. 

After a time of negotiations, this drop-in now takes place on the third Thursday of every month.  Merleen and her husband Paul have been supported by fellow volunteer Shona.  We’re lucky this information stand is situated right at the entrance to the hospital so there’s plenty of footfall. 

Drumbrae Library, Edinburgh 

Catherine and Elaine have worked really hard to continue the success of the Hearing Support Sessions in Edinburgh. This session was set up in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support. 

Having got settled at Blackhall Library, unfortunately the drop-in had to move to nearby Drumbrae Library.

Determined and stoical, Catherine and Elaine kept the project running and are able to continue to welcome and support visitors to their table at the library.  You can see Catherine doing just that in the picture above (Elaine is hiding out of shot!).

This drop-in runs on the second Tuesday of every month.

Audiology Department, Edinburgh 

Lauriston Audiology was our original prototype for the hearing support drop-in model, starting as the HALO project in 2018.

It began life in partnership with Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership, and NHS Lothian. The sessions run on the third Friday of every month.

None of this would have happened if it had not been for the pioneering work of volunteers Ann, Margaret, Kirsty, Elaine and Catherine; and to the other wonderful volunteers who helped get the project off the ground. So there’s yet another accolade to give out!

And last, but not at all least, we have… 

Nuffield Health Hub, London 

So, the standing ovation goes to Maxine who has been successful in her negotiations to set up our latest drop-in service at Nuffield Health Hub in Hendon, London. 

Not only has she pledged her time for each session for the next six months, on the fourth Wednesday of the month, but she has also recruited a happy bunch of volunteers who are really looking forward to being involved. 

They are: Maxine’s partner, David; her mum, Evelyn; her son, David; and friends Eleni; Jenny and Cecelia.  A warm welcome to the Peer Support team to all of you.