Leicester Deaf community update

For your information - Citizens Eye was informed of the AGM on Thursday 7th January. I shall be attending. I also posted the change in venue and timings this morning!

The Carol Sevice was wonderful (if tinged with a little sadness). It was truely a community event with 70 people (including a whole bunch of signing kids!) The youngest person was just a toddler and the eldest 96 years old. Thankyou so much Deaf Community for coming together to support each other and to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace

The story didn't add up then and it certainly doesn't now. The announcement last week and the accounts given show the perilous state of finances in the hands of the current management.
There was a small deficit but a healthy set of reserves when the current CEO took over, now the organisation is in dire straights - are the trustees asking why?

Please show your support. The way this is going this will be the last Christmas you can spend at The Church of the Good Shepherd. By Christmas 2010 the Good Shepherd will have been eaten by the Wolf and the Tigers will have built a car park on the site.

And both before the AGM in January. What a strange coincidence.

As I understand it the Diocese has made a committment to continue to support the Deaf Church/Chaplaincy.
Whatever happens you will have a church - our Loughborough Church is still meeting but within another building, and the Chaplain continues to support the Hard of Hearing group services in their new Loughborough venue.
If you lose your Deaf church building there is little the Diocese can do at this stage - that would be down to management decisions at Action Deafness - but it will continue to offer services, wherever they may be based.

As usual people are upset about things that are happening in AD.
The problem is that the building is run for the deaf but there is no information about the changes and the AD staff seem to think that they know what best for the deaf community. Without asking us they think they know best and are very surprise at why is every project they set up, suposing to be for the deaf benefit, is a flop.
Why? l thought the staff know what we want and until they ask us it will carry on the same way.

The LDCS knew nothing about this. Our young people will be extremely disappointed we used the minibus for lots of trips etc.

Its also the end of an era - its good free advertising!!! just like the Vista buses and age concern buses!!! thats it the end!

We will just have to pool together and buy our own! we could set up our own little charity and i'm sure we could get plenty volunteers to drive it!

Very disapointed I must say!

Thank you John Coster - Citizens Eye

www.citizenseye.org

I've created a link to your blog under the existing link to the Leicester Deaf Club website. Hope this link helps people to continue finding out the information you guys are keeping in the public domain.

I was really appalled to hear about the mini bus going. What is going to happen to those who do need the mini bus? I do feel for over 50 club, Special Needs and Hard of Hearidng who do rely on this important transport. It is very important for the Deaf Community to get together and need communications among them.

it get worse and worse. why is no one stopping them or him? i don't understand how they can do it. they all not from deaf history in leicester. trustees must be drugged or bribed. what next for the community? more protest i hope?

Hope he dont think he can sell the deaf club stuff aswell!
How has he got away with everything so far. He talks a good job to the idiots well placed to help him, thats why!
I wouldnt trust him in charge of my dog! He would probrably lose it.

Of course why do you need a receptionist if you're not going to have a building? Won't be long now before we get some more guff from Colin Henson along the lines of 'Having conducted a due diligence report into the feasibility of continuing to provide facilities at the current site of Action Deafness we have decided that it is no longer financially viable to maintain said services to which end the centre will close in 30 days time.'

And then they'll try and persuade us that they are just as shocked as we are. ' we didn't know it would come to this, we had no plans to sell but then suddenly I looked in the bank and realised we were skint!'

Methinks we won't believe them.

AD must know that the AGM will be a farce so I suspect we won't see an AGM before the announcement to sell. He'll hold the AGM (if he holds one at all) in his new offices somewhere and with the changes to the constitution he won't need to invite deaf people. Wait a minute, what am I thinking, with the changes to the constitution he won't need to hold an AGM. It's just a matter of growing a pair of balls and telling the deaf community. Something he seems pathologically unable to do.

And yet they persist in telling us that there are no plans to sell!!! They really must think we are stupid. Get rid of staff, sell minibus, hmmmm wonder where this is heading. He'll be flogging the church silver on eBay soon. More business minded people might call this asset stripping. After all I bet be doesn't have room at his new offices for a minibus and half the stuff stored at AD. Best get rid of it now eh? Wonder how much of the community's culture in the form of archives and photos will find their way to a rubbish tip. This is a scorched earth policy by someone who thinks the deaf community are his 'sworn adversaries'. His words. He really really despises the Leicester Deaf Community.

Unfortunately you are quite right! The answers were typed up by Craig Crowley (at least using his log in), the trustee Colin Henson appears to have spent under 5 minutes reviewing them before they were sent.

This point was noted when the document was received.

I thought those questions were to the trustee's.
So why is the reply from Craig Crowley?
Last I heard he was the CEO not a trustee.
No real answers there!
What are they playing at?

Looks like that's all you will be able to do!
There's no chance of a lifeboat! They have been filled with the board, the CEO and the new business's.
The community will be left to sink or swim!

Typical. The Deaf community are always the last to know. And this is from people that are supposed to know how hard it is for Deaf people to access information. Pathetic. Looks like no one is brave enough to actually tell the truth anymore.

Will the last person to leave the sinking ship please turn the lights off.