CLUBHOUSE FOR DEAF

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29767, 9 March 1962, Page 19

CLUBHOUSE FOR DEAF

A house-to-house collection will be started in one sector of the city on Saturday towards the building fund for the clubhouse of the Christchurch Deaf Club. To be built on a section opposite the Winter Garden in Armagh street, the £14.000 building will be on land bought for £4OOO. The collection was envisaged by the Friends of the Deaf. The Christchurch Round Table has done the organising and students from Christchurch Teachers’ College will do the collecting. Other sectors of the city will be visited in later weeks.

The Government has promised a £ for £ subsidy to a limit of £B5OO for the scheme. The club will be permitted to start building when it has raised £7500. The clubhouse has been planned for many years. In recent years the Friends of the Deaf have helped towards the project and the deaf club have raised £5OOO towards the project themselves. The floor area of the building will be 2650 sq. ft. It will have a lounge, a kitchen and other amenities. The architects are Messrs Griffiths and Moffat. Mr G. D. Griffiths is a member of the Friends of the Deaf.

“In a world in which we complain of noise it is extremely difficult to contemplate the absolute silence in which deaf persons live.’’ said the chairman of the Friends of the Deaf (Mr H. P. Smith).

"I find it amazing that by their own efforts in various ways, members of the club have raised £5OOO towards the clubhouse. They must find it a strain to be continually in the presence of hearing persons. Their capacity for keeping on towards their objective is a tribute to them and an inspiration to all those who can hear and speak.” Mr Smith said.