Rotarians in Newton Aycliffe were all fingers and thumbs at a recent meeting when they welcomed guest speaker Margaret (Mags) Bain, a local expert in sign language communication.
Club members were able to try out their signing skills after some basic instruction from Mags who owns the Silent Tea House in premises shared with Love Thy Cupcake at Beveridge Way in the town.
Her tea room is unique in the UK and provides a service for the deaf which is available in only two other cafes anywhere in the world.
Mags greets customers with sign language and is hoping that more deaf and hard-of-hearing locals will now come along with friends and family to learn how to sign.
Every Wednesday, between 6pm and 9pm, she organizes a coffee evening where for a modest £5 per person, she provides hot drinks and nibbles while teaching customers how to learn sign language and deaf-awareness skills.
One customer said this week: “The Silent Tea House is a wonderful place to relax with friends over coffee and a snack while enjoying the opportunity to learn a valuable communication skill.”
Mags has been an extremely competent user of sign language from a very young age because of deafness in her family.
President Denese Cartwright couldn’t resist the chance to try out her new signing skills at this week’s Rotary Club meeting and received a clear thumbs-up from Mags (pictured right).
Mags was introduced by Rtn Geoff Bachelor and thanked by Rtn John Burrows.
