Worthing Deaf 50+ Club celebrates 70th anniversary

The committee feels lucky the club is still running, as many similar clubs have closed down. There are 45 members, who are profoundly deaf, deaf blind, hard of hearing or have become deafened, with some hearing people whose parents were deaf.

Lana Senchal, a committee member, comes from a family of deaf people and remembers how different things were in the early days. She said: "We didn't have cars, there were no phones and the clubs were the only places deaf people could meet. People would gather and everyone could socialise. Now people prefer to go to the pub. There used to be a lot more deaf clubs but many have now closed. I think we are very, very lucky to have this going for 70 years, and extremely rare now."

Originally known as Worthing Deaf Darby and Joan Club, it was set up by in a couple's lounge before moving to a hall in Southey Road. It is now based at West Worthing Baptist Church, in South Street, Tarring.

Darren Jensen, chairman, said when the club started, it was only churches that were interested in helping out deaf people and there were no interpreters. He said: "The deaf community in Worthing really fought for it. We are lucky we still have this. It prevents people from feeling isolated. It is a social club. It is a huge challenge day to day for us in life so here, there are no barriers and we can just relax."

Everyone uses sign language, which most learned at school. Sarah Granger, 66, is a coda (child of a deaf adult) who has been going to the club since she was a baby. She was the only child of Jesse and Sibbie Gilbert from Storrington and was born hearing, so would often have to act as their interpreter.

Sarah said both her parents were deaf and when her dad Jesse remarried, her step-mother June was also deaf. Sign language was something she just picked up, she said, and they had their own family signs. Sarah recalled: "I remember interpreting and signing news items on the TV as a child, for example Winston Churchill's funeral when the cranes were bowing on the Thames."

She recalled one conversation in a shop where there was a high counter, and she as a child was having to pass information from the shopkeeper to her dad. "Being a coda, you end up with more power than you should have, making decisions," she pointed out. Her parents would go to different clubs, including the one in Worthing twice a week. It was the only time they did not feel at a disadvantage, Sarah said.

Among the guests at the party on Thursday was Helen Smith, operational support at Action for Deafness. The charitable organisation was set up in 1994 and delivers an adult audiology service on behalf of the NHS in Sussex. Helen said: "It was set up by and for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. We are just starting to reopen again after Covid. We run four audiology centres, in Worthing, Haywards Heath, Steyning and Hailsham."

For more information about Worthing Deaf 50+ Club, email [email protected]