Our next meeting will be on 13 May. We will start with lipreading practice, and after the tea break, we will have a follow-up session on keeping safe online To see our full programme of events lined for 2024, click on the Events tab.

We started the meeting with a session on the “EE” vowel shape with plenty of discussion about Cream teas, and then a noisy tea break while everyone caught up with their friends. After their wonderful talk about cochlear implants last year, Vicki and Rebecca returned to talk about Bone Anchored Hearing Aids - the next step after hearing aids. For more information about these devices go to click here.

Our Beetle Drive on 8 April was a great success. It came after a lipreading session given by Liz, built around the “AW” mouth shape

There was a good turn out at our meeting on 25 March. Liz introduced the “o” mouth shape in a lipreading session on Spring and Insects. After the tea break, one of our members gave a talk on his experiences with hearing loss from an early childhood. While pictures of the first NHS hearing aids were fascinating, some aspects of living with hearing impairment never change!

On 11 March, Liz guided us through lipreading on the topic of Spring. After the tea break we held our AGM.

We had a good lipreading session put on by Liz on 26 February with lots of out-of-context examples to concentrate our minds. This was followed by an excellent talk from the Police about how best to contact them when we do not hear well.

Our meeting on 12 February was well attended with 27 members present. Liz took us down memory lane with a lipreading session about toys of our childhood. After the tea break, Jean showed slides of the geography, floers and animals to be found in Israel.

On 22 January we practiced lipreading words beginning with W - not to be confused with the Q shape. After the tea break we had a hilarious Beetle Drive organised by member Doreen.

We welcomed two new faces to our meeting on 8 January, which comprised the usual lipreading practice. The tea break that followed went on until 4pm while we caught up with each others’ news.

28 members of the group met at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre for a Christmas lunch. We were fortunate to host the Worshipful Mayor of Guildford, Councillor Masud Miah.

Our final meeting of the year on 27 November was a festive mixed bag of exercises in the lipreading practice conducted by Liz. After tea, which Doreen organised a Beetle Drive with the usual boisterous hilarity.

6 November - Liz, our lipreading tutor, took us through the mouth shape for ‘Sh’, ‘Ch’, ‘J’ and ‘Zh’ - totally indistinguishable, and ran exercises on Shampoo. To round the session off, the Mystery person turned out to be Alan Sugar. After the break the Chair talked about Dowsing to a rapt audience.

On 23 October, our resident Lipreading tutor took us through a practice session on the theme of Hallowe’en. After the tea break we enjoyed an exellent talk by Dr Judy Hill on Osborne House in the Isle of Wight, and it’s importance to Victoria and Albert.

After a delightful lipreading session based on Alice in Wonderland on 9 October, we had a lively talk given by Ella of Amplifon on developments in hearing aid technology. We were at pains to tell her we still need the tele-coil as well as Bluetooth in our hearing aids, otherwise we will be unable to hear any of the existing T-Loops in shops, banks, rail stations, theatres, places of worship meetings and all sorts of other places. Manufacturers need to recognise they can’t just ditch this very valuable facility. If it means our next hearing aids have to be a bit chunky, so what? Hearing impairment is nothing to be ashamed of, and if it gives other people a visual clue that we need help understanding what they are saying that will be very beneficial.

The meeting on 25 September was very well attended. Liz began the proceedings with lipreading practice centred around the Equinox, a shape easily confused with the W, and after the tea break, Claudio Attieh of GN Resound told us all about the hearing aids which are now supplied under contract to Audiology at Royal Surrey County, Frimley Park, St Peter’s and Ashford hospitals.

Our Autumn programme got off to a good start on 11 September. Despite the hot weather, there was a good turn out, including three new guests who came along to try us out. Liz ran a lipreading session on the mouth shape for the word “ice” - very tricky to understand - and followed it up with a de-voiced article on Ice Houses. Very appropriate given the weather conditions. After the tea break, The OutReach officer for Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, gave us a very useful talk on the specific services and equipment available for the Hard of Hearing, and more general home safety measures. The was a heated debate (no pun intended) on the dangers of over-charging battery-operated devices such as phones and laptops.

For our last meeting of the summer on 24 July, we had lipreading practice on the theme of Wimbledon Common, followed by a talk from a representative of Trading Standards on guarding against scams.

12 July was the day for our Summer Outing. We took a boat trip on the Wey & Arun Canal at Loxwood. Despite the weather, we had a lovely time on their electric boat. Several people had a go at steering. It is not as easy as it looks….

After our lipreading practice session on 26 June we had a very well-received session in our occasional series on technology. Our member Martyn, who is very technically savvy took us through some useful gadgets which help us hear a mobile phone, and some apps for planning travel.

Despite the heat on 12 June we had a lively lipreading session focussing on the “AW” mouth shape. The talk on poisonous plants after the tea break was even more lively!

Our meeting on 22 May started off well with an hours lipreading based around the vowel sound “AW”, and lots of practice about holiday destinations. But after the tea break, the speaker from the police was a last minute no show, and while we could have run a Beetle Drive, people were so busy chatting it seemed a shame to break up the party.

Six hardy souls turned up for the Sponsored Walk organised by the Rotary on 21 May. Thank you to all the very generous souls who pledged donations.

Would you have a cochlear implant (CI) if you were offered it? Course you would. That was the message given to 17 of our members on 24 April by Rebecca, Vicky and Elizabeth of Cochlear UK Ltd. Hearing aids do a lot for us, but there comes a time when a CI is the next step on your journey. The consensus is that it makes your hearing almost normal and transforms your life, and everyone around you benefits too! Find out more about CI and the work that these ladies and their colleagues do to support people as they go through assessment and surgery to a great new life click here . That came after a lipreading session about books and their authors and a mystery person quiz given by Liz.

On 13 April (avoiding the Easter Bank holiday) we saw the final part of our in-house Managing Hearing Loss course with the conclusion of of the basics of lipreading given by Liz, followed by a lively discussion on coping with social occasion lead by Kay.

Sight for Surrey visited on 27 March to demonstrate examples of equipment that is available to help those of us who wear hearing aids.

13 March was our AGM. We paid tribute to Kay who has been our lipreading tutor for over 25 years, and is stepping aside. The Mayor was indisposed, but his wife, Mrs Mary Booth stepped in to make a presentation, and we celebrated with a delicious cake made by Jean. Kay is remaining a member of the group and was voted in as Vice Chair, allowing Julian to give that up after five years. Julian is still on the Committee as programme planner for the time being.

On 13 February, Liz revised the major vowel shapes, and followed that up with details of the various organisations that exist to help people with hearing loss. At the second meeting in February we had more lipreading practice, and Kay lead a lively discussion on how to manage various forms of travel.

January stared with a sociable meeting on the 9th, and two weeks later we held part three of our in-house Managing Hearing Loss course. Lipreading tutor Liz reviewed the main consonant groups and after the tea break, Kay, also lipreading tutor, took us through the conditions which mae lipreading most effective.

Twenty-five of us enjoyed our annual Christmas Lunch on 15 December at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. This is an ideal venue for us as the carpeted floor makes it easier to hear each other.

The second meeting for November on 28, covered a detailed look at distinguishing the consonants p, b,and m. After tea, Chris Shaw took us through an entertaining overview of the different sorts of codes that we encounter in our daily lives, from road signs to the plant pots on our window sills.

November 14 was Part Two of our Managing Hearing Loss course starting off with how to deal with groups of mouth shapes that look identical. After tea we embarked on the basics of the hsapes of vowel sounds. In terms of lipreading there are over 40 different vowel sounds to recognise!

The meeting on 24 October began as usual with lipreading practice. After the tea break, Jenny Nickolds talked to us about her trip to Macchu Pichu. Her pictures of the walking trail were brilliant, and quite a few of us have added this to our bucket lists!

The meeting on 10 October was Part One of our Managing Hearing Loss Course which is being run in-house by our trainee lipreading tutor, Liz. We were introduced to the lip shapes for consonants, and, after the tea break we looked at the finger spelling alphabet.

Our meeting on 26 September began with a session on the mouth shapes for the sounds “f” and “v”, and comparing them with those for “p”, “b” and “m”. After the tea break, Dr Judy Hill treated us to one of her beautiful illustrated lectures - this time, her subject matter was the Kill or Cure nature of the Victorian Pharmacy. It is a miracle anyone survived the nineteenth century at all.

The Autumn began with our meeting on 12 September. Lipreading concentrated on the shape of p, b, and m which are notoriously difficult to distinguish. To mark the new inclusive models, Liz gave us a de-voiced presentation of Barbie and her hearing aid. After the tea break, Martyn and Julian introduced some useful things to be found on smartphones. This was an introduction to technology, and we hope will be followed up with further sessions in forthcoming months.

Our final meeting before the August break began as usual with lipreading practice given by Liz and following on from Kay’s lesson the previous month. After the break Doreen ran a Beetle Drive. The first since before Covid which was hilarious as usual.

On 13 July, 16 of our members met for tea at Winkworth Arboretum. The catering staff at the kiosk made us very welcome, proving a shay spot for us to sit, and an excellent cream tea! We also collected £17.25 for our favourite Charity - Hearing Dogs for Deaf People Click hear for more details

Our regular meeting on 27 June began with the usual lipreading practice. Kay continued working on the OA and OW sounds and rounded it off with exercises using the words House and Home. After the tea break, Dr Anna Pepler of the Audiology department of the Royal Surrey County Hospital brought us up to date with the current arrangements for hearing tests and repairs to hearing aids. The discussion in the question and answer session was vigorous!

Our Jubilee Party on 13 June was enjoyed by 20 members. Particular thanks go to Vanessa, Jean and Martyn for organising the food, and to Kay for the Right Royal Quiz which went down very well.

Lipreading on 23 May was all about the sounds “OA” and “OW”. In practicing these shapes we also identified the mystery object - a tin of cocoa powder. Later on Louise Camby treated us to a terrific talk all about the natural history of bees - honey or otherwise, and the wonderful properties of honey, royal jelly, propolis and beeswax.

Three of us turned out for the Annual Rotary/Surrey Advertise sponsored walk on 15 May, and raised over "£200 for Group funds.

On 9 May, Kay compared the shapes “ee” and “oo” in the lipreading session, ending up with a list of the rules for playing Pooh sticks! Members of Sight for Surrey demonstrated gadgets that can help around the home and talked about their assessment service.

On 25 April, train tutor Liz gave us a session about St George concentrating on the “aw” shape. After the tea break, Group member Jean gave us a slide show of her travels in Israel.

Lipreading on 11 April was devoted to the “ee” shape with exercises about Easter and Easter island. Afterwards, local historian David Rose showed how the arrival of the train line caused Guildford to expand rapidly with new housing development. A process which seems to be never-ending.

On 28 March lipreading was followed by a presentation given by member Ted who showed us the website. He uses it a lot to document how accessibale places are to those who use wheelchairs or have to manage buggies.

The theme of the lipreading on 14 March was colours, practising phrases with colours in them, and comparing the lookalikes red/grey/green which are difficult to tell apart. The AGM followed.

After lipreading on 28 February, Paul Whitle made a very welcome return visit with a talk about Gibraltar.

St Valentine’s Day was the theme of our lipreading session on 14 February. Afterwards we spent time catching up with our news, batteries and tube repairs.

2022 With the number of Covid infections soaring, the meeting on 11 January was cancelled. But on 24 January we met as usual with a general chatter and news swapping after the lipreading.

Just before the Covid lockdown set in again, we had our Christmas lunch on 13 December at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. We were very pleased to welcome the Mayor of Guildford.

Lipreading on 25 November continued looking at “th” and was followed by Jonathathon Jones’ Anthology of Christmas poetry and prose.

The meeting on 8 November began with a lipreading session on the “th” shape and how it changes depending on whether it is soft or loud in the word. Afterwards Group member Martyn gave an illustrated talk on the history of transport between London and Portsmouth starting with pre-historical times, through byways, canals and railways to the present A road.

Our lipreading session on 25 October was devoted to observing facial expressions and body language as part of the process. Sophie Fryer, of Hats Off to Millinery demonstrated the basic features of hat making. She brought along lots of different examples for us to try on.

11 October continued with lipreading practice recapping the “f “ and “v” shapes and lookoing at “fr” and “fl” shapes. Our trainee lipreading tutor Liz made her debut appearance during this session. This was also the first meeting back with a visiting speaker. Joanna Foate gave us a talk about the work (very hard, physical, work) undertaken by the women of the Forestry Volunteers during WWII, who came to be known as “Lumberjills”. To add colour to her talk Joanna came dressed in their original uniform.

Our meeting on 27 September was great fun. Our lipreading session looked at the shapes for “p”, “b” and “m” which can cause a lot of confusions. After a break for our refreshments, we held an informal Bingo Session compered by John. Much more successful than the online version at Christmas!

We resumed our regular meetings on 13 September observing anti-Covid precautions. We began with a gentle lipreading session, designed by our tutor Kay to ease us gently back into the habit. We all all brought our own refreshments, and the tea break break was quite extended. People were catching up in a very relaxed way, and were able to get batteries from Doreen and hearing aid repairs done by John. We also had a visitor from HealthWatch Surrey, and quite a few people sat with her to talk about their experiences of the health and social care services during the pandemic.

Our last online lipreading session in this series was held on 25 July. We looked at the shapes for “sh/ch/j and jh”. Discussed the benefits of practicing lipreading using the website at www.storiesforlipreading.org.uk.

On 14 July, a dozen of our most intrepid members met up at Winkworth Arboretum for tea and a chat, and a few even made it down to the lake. Between us we raised £80 to donate to Hearing Dogs for Deaf people.

Lipreading on 28 June was devoted to “s/z/ks” mouth shapes which are difficult to tell apart. Discussion on asking speakers to remove their sunglasses so we can read their whole faces.

On 24 May the session looked at recognising numbers, the pitfalls, and techniques for checking accuracy

(Covid Restrictions beginning to be lifted so fewer people were signing up for lipreading online. )

Lipreading sessions on 12 and 26 April concentrated on the tongue movement of the letter L. We practiced “laugh” phrases, and words ending in “ly”

Our AGM was held online on 15 March 2021. All votes were made by proxy. 21 members sent in proxy forms, thereby securing a quorum, and 14 of them even made it to the online session.

The online lipreading sessions for March worked on the “r” shape again - especially where it falls in the middle of the word.

Another historic first for the Group on 15 February. Paul Whittle gave an online presentation entitled Burmese Days, brought bang up to date with current events in Myanmar. It was very good to have an overview of how this country has got where it has.

8 and 22 February online lipreading sessions were devoted to the “f” and “v” shapes. Again very similar comparing fast with vast and figure with vicar for example.

2021 our online lipreading sessions on 11 and 25 January looked at the “w” and “kw” shapes. Very difficult to tell them apart as in water/quarter , white/quite where the context of the sentence is crucial.

Our online Christmas meeting on 14 December was great fun. 14 people joined in and we enjoyed lipreading Christmas Cracker jokes. The Bingo session would probably work better in face to face setting.

9 November saw the first of our online lipreading sessions. For practical reasons we have to limit the number of participants to 6. This was experimental, but the session went well. Kay introduced the lip-shape “r” and we practiced reading phrases including words like room. This was a success, and bodes well for future sessions. The plan is to hold them on second and fourth Mondays in the month at 2 pm in the New Year.

Monday 12 October was a historic date for the Group. The Committee met online using GoogleMeet, to plan how to use the pandemic as an opportunity to try new ways of keeping in touch with our members. The meeting included a taster lipreading session, as a result of which , two pilot sessions would be run before Christmas.

Some of us got out in the countryside on 6 September to walk the six mile route of the Surrey Advertiser/Rotary sponsored walk that normally runs in May. We had with us a member of Guildford Natural History Group who kept us entertained with all sorts of nature notes, including how badgers mark their territory! Along the way we raised £245 towards Group funds.

The Committee met in a beautiful garden on 13 July, observing the “Rule of 6”, and wearing visors so that we could lipread each other. It was wonderful to get together in the flesh!

24 March - activities suspended during Covid lockdown

Feb 24 - 23 members attended. The lip reading session covered the letter "L" not so much a lip shape as a tongue movement. This was followed by a talk on special images of Sri Lanka.

Feb 10 - 23 members attended the meeting which showed great dedication as storm Caira was in attendance. The lip reading covered the shapes of "sh"."ch" and "g". This was followed by a slide show talk covering the Pyrennees; Land of the Lammergeyer

27 Jan - 22 people attended the meeting. The lip reading lesson this time covered finger spelling both practise and examples of how it can assist. This was followed by a talk on scams that members are likely to experience and how to avoid them. 

2020 13 Jan This was our first meeting of the year. The weather was really wet but still 22 people attended which included 4 new members. Kay's lip reading session concentrated on the lip shape of the letter "w". This was followed by a social gathering over a cup of tea as because of the time of year the Group does not have a speaker or formal activity after the first meeting..