Support for summer holiday

A mother is raising money towards the cost of an annual holiday for the group her deaf son attends.

Jordan Andrews (4) who was born 12-weeks premature, is profoundly deaf.

He has two hearing aids and a radio aid, which amplifies sound.

He can only hear background noise and uses sign language and lip reading to communicate.

His mother, Miss Helen Wheeler (32) of Churchill Drive, Newark, takes him once a month to the North Nottinghamshire Deaf Children’s Group in Mansfield, which is where he learned to sign.

The group, which is run on a voluntary basis, takes the children on an annual holiday to Skegness.

Miss Wheeler said she wanted to help raise money towards the £5,000 cost of the trip so her sister, Mrs Sarah Ash (25) organised a medium night at the Rutland pub in Newark that raised £375.

Mrs Ash works for Vodafone and the company agreed to donate £350 to the group.

Miss Wheeler said Jordan, a pupil at Bowbridge Primary School, Newark, enjoyed attending the group, which meets on Saturdays.

She said it was a shame there was not one closer to Newark.

“It’s the nearest place for him to communicate with other deaf children. He needs one-to-one help,” she said.

Miss Wheeler said at first volunteers visited Jordan at home but then said he would benefit more if he attended workshops with other children. They paint, draw and play games together.

“He has come on leaps and bounds,” she said. “He knows he has got to look at them to talk to them. He absolutely loves it.”

Miss Wheeler said the sessions gave adults a chance to practice their signing.

“Knowing how other people have coped with it really has helped,” she said.

Miss Wheeler said she was lucky because she had taken a sign language course several years before Jordan was born so it had been easier to pick up.

She plans to hold a garden party at her home early next year in aid of the holiday in June.