CEO Chat #33

Week commencing Monday 4th September saw the first of the regular Carlisle Hub coffee mornings. There was a great turn out from community members and CDA staff who popped in to say hello. 

The atmosphere in the Carlisle Hub is warm, friendly and the team is already adding ideas to the activity wish list. From practical support and advice through to creative and colourful. 

Barrow coffee mornings welcomed Janice back after her summer break. Becky has a really long list of varying craft activities planned between now and Christmas. 

Kendal Deaf Club will be back to their get togethers soon too. 

So, what next? Well, we are on the lookout for another hub, this time out on the west coast. It will be an office base for Rebecca Kiggins, who starts with us on 15th September, and a social space to hold coffee mornings. 

We call the regular drop in sessions coffee mornings because there is always tea, coffee and biscuits – sometimes there is soup or cake. As well as the refreshments we deliver a varied programme of activities or host guest speakers, to offer information about things that matter to all of us, but often aren’t accessible to the deaf community. 

In between the tea and cakes, I had time to do some ‘real work’ as some people call it. I had meetings with a local business about using them for photocopier service, a local domestic abuse charity and Cumbria Chamber of Commerce/Cumbria Growth Hub. 

The Growth Hub have packages available to support people who are interested in self-employment, especially in the Barrow area. We hope to have some discussions about encouraging people from the deaf community into becoming entrepreneurs. 

On Saturday 10th September we held our AGM, but no more of that here, it deserves its own article. Suffice to say, the sun shone and there were plenty of smiles.