Mike and I are cycling from London to Paris this July in aid of the National Deaf Children’s Society.

We are of course asking for your support.. Both financially and in the form of active encouragement (yes..ok.. We realise that the encouragement will mainly involve falling about laughing at the fact the Mike "I don't ride bikes" Smith is going to be pedalling 300 miles with his non-stop chatterbox wife !)

Financially - it's simple. We want a fiver. That's it.. Just a fiver.. There are a million charities out there that are equally as worthwhile as the one we have chosen, and these days, times are tight. So a fiver Please. If everyone we know can find a spare fiver -we can reach our target. Simples...

But I guess we had better explain what we are asking to you to give these fivers for....

The NDCS is the leading charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and young people.

There are more than 45000 deaf children in the UK

4 more children are born deaf every day

90% of these children are born to hearing parents without any firsthand experience of deafness...

 

Without the right support deaf children (and their families) are vulnerable to isolation, abuse, bullying, poor self esteem and low levels of achievement

 

Currently only 37% of deaf children achieve 5 good GCSEs (compared to 69% for hearing children).Deafness is not a learning disability and there is no reason why , with the right support, deaf children should not be doing as well as the rest!!

£30 raised will help to give 2 schools the tools they need to help ensure deaf pupils get the education that hearing children take for granted

£500 allows 35 families and professionals a day to get the vital support from the NDCS helpline

And why do we know all these facts .....

Because we are the very proud parents of a deaf child born into a hearing family...

Thank you