In 2004 Robin Ash, Jessica Wilde and Tina Dhunday decided to set up a Playscheme for deaf children. This was because some kids were telling them that they had nothing to do in the summer holidays when they got 6 to 8 weeks off school.
Jessica and Robin started to work hard to find some money from people to pay for the Playscheme. This means they had to write letters and fill in forms to get money. Jessica also had to look at the rule books to see what we needed to know for the Playscheme as they had to make sure we follow the laws. After a fantastic summer the children all begged to carry on for every half term. It was hard work but we decided it was worth it to do this.
Really the Playscheme was supposed to be for deaf children only. We decided to change this because some deaf adults had hearing children who were very good at signing and would be good friends for deaf children to have. They can also improve their sign language and make life easier for their parents to communicate with them.
All the staff at the Playscheme are deaf because this gives you all a good chance to see deaf adults. This is because some of you thought that you will become hearing when you grow up. This was because many of you had not seen deaf grown ups before. We think it is important for you to see that being deaf is OK. When you grow up you can become like the Playscheme staff. The staff are all confident and can manage their lives easily.
At the moment the playshcme is in James Woolfe primary school. It used to be in the Potteries and also in the Forum in Trafalgar Road. We moved because James Wolfe is easy for everyone to get to.