Hello to all readers! I am presenting my first monthly report. I hope I can make a habit of writing updates every month which will inform you the ongoing news of Alban Neve Centre in Luton and of course ANDA especially when we are serving the whole of Bedfordshire.July was the time for the children and teachers to break up for a long summer holiday and everyone else planning for a well deserved holiday, let it be in hot sunny climate abroad or in nice warm soaking Britain(!). But for us, we have been busy! We saw the clean up of the campus, all overgrown shrubs has been pruned right down. Now people will know where to find the Deaf Centre! This was organised by Ruth Wooster, in her capacity as Security Chair, who had been in touch with the Probation Services under the Community Pay Back Scheme.

We have been making plans to improve the kitchen in the Deaf Centre. Work will start in early August and we hope to finish by the end of August. I hope to have more news about the new kitchen in my next monthly report!

iTeens Project has been proved successful after a slow start when it was difficult to recruit deaf youngsters between 14 & 19 years due to various reasons, like some were at boarding schools and others already had family commitments at weekends. It was resolved by having four separate days of workshops throughout July during the week when the youngsters were at school. With big help from Bedfordshire Deaf Children Society, the youngsters were able to enjoy their activities (Wall Climbing, Crate Stacking, Canoeing & Water Sports session, Horse Riding) following by IT fun lessons. The funding was provided by the Learning Partnership in association with LSC. Many thanks to Osborn Ballantine for being an excellent tutor/coordinator and Karen Vine from BDCS for her big help to make the project a successful one!

There have been some changes amongst the Board members. Jonathan Farthing has been appointed as Admin Director and Paul Ballantyne as Finance Director. We welcome our new trustees, Ruth Wooster, Paul Ballantyne and Shirley Farthing. We are in the process of rubber-stamping the appointment of Kevina Mugwe as our Fund Raising Consultant and we look forward to welcoming her on board!