Durham Stammering Support News

On the 6th August, members of the Durham Stammer Support group, Speech and Language Therapists and Bob Adams, from the Doncaster Stammer Support group braved the inclement weather in Durham city centre to raise awareness of stammering and promote the forthcoming BSA Conference.

We combined raising awareness with fund raising and our group members and Speech and Language Therapists from across the region generously donated tombola prizes.

Bob Adams is well known in stammering circles for his street performances which are geared towards getting people talking about stammering. He demonstrates how we can all do far more than we think we can and that much can be achieved when we decide to face our fears. His street entertainment included fire eating, glass walking, and hammering a very long nail into his nose!

Bob spent much of the day communicating with his audience about stammering, explaining what it is, stammering on purpose, and describing the impact that having a stammer can have.

He encouraged members of the group and Speech and Language Therapists to face their public speaking fears by reading aloud on the microphone from a wonderful book entitled, "When the words won't come". This is a powerful anthology of poems and sketches written by people who stammer.

We were joined on the day by the Mayor and his wife, Mr and Mrs Thomson. They had not been aware of the work of The British Stammering Association and were pleased to meet support group members and joined in with the entertainment.

On the information stall, we were approached by a number of parents and grandparents who had concerns about their childrens' fluency and requested information and advice on how to refer. There were also a few adults who stammered who came to talk to us and bought tombola tickets.

Despite the truly awful weather that day, we had great fun and we did achieve our aim of raising awareness and made £170 on the day. More importantly though, it was an opportunity for the Durham group to work together on something that they feel passionately about.

Special thanks to Colin Wilkes, manager of Durham Outdoor market for the free use of a stall and thanks also to Gillian Parsons, Communications team, for her support.

Barbara Harnett
Clinical Lead in Stammering