Charley and Chloe's Special Evening

Louis and Charley (left) and Chloe

PDDCS Members and multiple medal winning gymnasts, Charley Stokes and Chloe Peacock had the time of their lives on Thursday as they helped Louis Smith turn on the Christmas lights at Peterborough's Serpentine Green shopping centre.

Louis, making a rare public appearance in the city, is currently among the favourites to win BBC TV's Strictly Come Dancing after becoming a household name when he narrowly missed out on Olympic gold on the pommel horse.

In one of the most memorable moments of the Olympics, Louis played a key role in the team event when, in the presence of Prince William, the team thought they'd got silver only for the judges to reconsider and demote the team to bronze. Despite the controversy, it remains an awe inspiring sporting achievement.

The size of the crowd reflected Louis' popularity in his home town as hundreds waited for his arrival, while in the management suite of the shopping centre, Louis met exclusively with a beaming Chloe and Charley and three other local gymnasts.

Amid a frenzied atmosphere and thousands of camera flashes, Louis took to the stage with Chloe and Charley and turned on the lights. Louis was then faced with surging crowds as he attempted to shake as many hands as possible. A live TV interview, broadcast on ITV1 in the Anglia region was also conducted from the stage as our thrilled members looked on.

Louis and BSL communicator Caroline Richardson

Charley and Chloe were nominated for the chance to meet Louis on the shopping centre's Facebook page for their gymnastic achievements, but both Charley and Chloe have inspired others with their determination to succeed at their sport while also overcoming the barriers that hearing loss can present. Chloe has also faced multiple hospital visits and Charley forced to move from the family home following a devastating fire in February.

Chloe also has achieved the status of becoming a squad level gymnast and has been competing for a number of years.

PDDCS arranged with Serpentine Green to have a sign language communicator on stage to make the event accessible to the many deaf people who were there to see Charley and Chloe's big moment. A big thanks to Serpentine Green for being accommodating and to Caroline Richardson for volunteering to provide the communication for the event.

It was an amazing evening that Chloe and Charley will remember for a long time to come. Well done and we're all proud of you!

More stories and pictures:
Serpentine Green's Facebook Photo Gallery
Heart FM's photo gallery
ITV Live interview
Peterborough Today's coverage

Ayesha Quraishy meets Liza Minelli!

Ayesha (far right) and Liza Minelli (Left)

On a school trip to the Holocaust Memorial Centre near Newark in Nottinghamshire, one of our members and friends, Ayesha Quraishy, ends up chatting to the global megastar Liza Minelli and also gets on BBC News!

Liza is famous for being a star of stage and screen.

Although this is not the first time our star Ayesha made the news! And she's good at poetry too!

You can see her on TV from about 14 minutes in the programme..

Can we have an autograph please, Ayesha?

East Enders Star and mum of deaf child talks of struggle to cope

East Enders Star, Rita Simons who plays Roxy Mitchell, revealed this week how she has been suffering from panic attacks since the birth of her children, one of whom is deaf, in an interview with 'What's on TV'

Known to millions across the UK for her role as a feisty barmaid in the long-running soap opera, Rita has also been a campaigner for deaf charity Action on Hearing Loss, formerly known as RNID. 

The Daily Mail reported last year that it was thought Rita's daughter Maiya's deafness was due to a condition called Mondini Dysplasia, which causes changes to the shape of the cochlear. The cochlear is the organ responsible for converting the vibrations made by sound waves in to signals that the brain understands as sound. 

About the panic attacks that followed, Rita says: “When Theo [her husband] and I went for our first night out after the kids were born, we were having a subdued dinner with friends and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.

“My heart was in my mouth and I was sweating and shaking. I didn’t tell anyone because you feel stupid and weak, like you are going insane.”

The NDCS, (National Deaf Children's Society) has a freephone helpline and parent support forum for parents who would like to share their feelings or ask questions about their child's hearing loss.

What's on TV have the full interview here.

'Cheryl Cole' TV star reveals how her deaf father inspired her to learn sign language

The Daily Mail reports today that Rachel Shenton, star of long running British TV show Hollyoaks, was inspired by her father to learn the art of sign language.

Rachel, who plays a character in the show, thought to be based on Cheryl Cole, watched her father lose his hearing as he fought cancer in the final years of his life. The hearing loss was thought to be due to the drugs used in chemotherapy.

Rachel was then inspired to learn sign language, studying for six years and qualifying as an interpreter before landing a role in the hit show. The Daily Mail has the full story:

See Action on Hearing Loss' fact sheet on 'Drugs and Hearing Loss' for more information on drugs which can cause hearing loss.