CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF WALSALL DEAF HISTORY!

Thanks to National Lottery players!

We are very pleased to announce that Zebra Access has been awarded a £87,952 grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund for our exciting 2-year project ‘100 Year Heritage of Walsall Deaf Community’! This would not have been made possible without the National Lottery players and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, so a MASSIVE thank you to you ALL! 

The 2-year project aims to carry out comprehensive research, studies, one-to-one and group interviews within the local Deaf community to gather and create a fully accessible and digitised insight into the evolving heritage of the Walsall Deaf community from 1919 to 2019, which will be captured and made into an informative digital film with subtitles and in-vision BSL interpreter. 

Commenting on the award, Bob Marsh, Fundraising Officer for Zebra Access said: “We are delighted to receive this support, with thanks to National Lottery players. This will no doubt touch into the heart and preserving the history of Walsall Deaf community, and beyond and I am sure many people will love to get involved in the project. Deaf heritage is part of life’s rich tapestry and with the number of people registered with hearing loss in the UK set to rise by some 3 million to 15.6 million by 2035, this project sets out all the more reason why it is needed now to preserve the history of the community of Walsall, before time allows recollection to fade”.

Chris Beech, Project Development Manager added “I am absolutely delighted that Walsall Deaf Community has been given this opportunity to capture its history in a digital format for the foreseeable future. With BSL being a visual language, many of the stories and achievements are in real danger of being erased from history if they are not captured and stored digitally. This is an excellent opportunity to capture, showcase and preserve all the marvellous stories, successes, photos, video reels and so on to celebrate Deaf people and its community. I am excited and looking forward to seeing the final video clip capturing the 100 years of Walsall Deaf History before the Deaf Centre’s demise in 2019. Hopefully it will revive the Deaf community to come together and thrive once again “

We are looking forward to commencing the project very soon, you can keep up to date, including recruitment of a new Walsall Deaf Heritage Officer and eventual project launch date on our social media platforms: 

Website: www.zebra-access.com X: @ZebraAccess  Instagram: @Zebra_Access  LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/5742295 Facebook: @ZebraAccess  

Notes to editors

About Zebra Access

Zebra Access is a truly Deaf-led charity recognised by the Deaf community as dedicated to developing opportunities for Deaf, Deafblind and Hard of Hearing people to have better chances in life and enjoy equal participation and access without communication barriers, providing access to a range of activities enabling Deaf people to have self-belief and confidence to achieve their aspirations by breaking down perceived barriers. Zebra Access aims to promote and advocate healthier lifestyles by raising and improving awareness of available activities and other health choices. We have pioneered effective ways of working with Deaf people providing fully accessible services to provide Deaf customers with holistic and empathetic support via our experts-through-experience members of staff and volunteers.

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033.  

Over the next ten years, the Heritage Fund aims to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.   

The Heritage Fund helps protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.  

The Heritage Fund is passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy. 

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund  www.heritagefund.org.uk.

Further information

For further information, images and interviews, please contact Project Development Manager, Chris Beech at Zebra Access on chris@zebra-access.com