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In 1979 a group of hearing parents with deaf children got together to try and establish a link with the Deaf community in order to support their offspring. Bromley Chain was launched in 1980. From the start Bromley Chain felt that there was a need for a 'pop in parlour' to which deaf and hard of hearing people could come for information and advice. Unfortunately it took many years before that dream became reality even though the need for such a Centre never diminished.
When in 1993 services for hearing impaired people in the London Borough of Bromley were reduced, Bromley Chain campaigned for improvements, which included a Resource Centre. Finally the work to develop the Resource Centre became too much for a subgroup of the Bromley Chain and an independent organisation was set up. The Bromley Resource Centre for the Hearing Impaired was established as a charity with 4 members of Bromley Chain and 3 new Trustees. Bromley Chain remains an independent fundraising and campaigning organisation who speak on behalf of Deaf and hard of hearing people, and the two charities work very closely together. With funding from Bromley Social Services and Housing and going by the name of The Access Centre, a resource centre was established in Beckenham Hospital in January 1996. By the time it officially opened in June of that year it had three part-time members of staff and a team of volunteers developing the services which included an advice service, an equipment demonstration service, a job club, a parent and toddler group, a deaf women's group and a hard of hearing group. Bromley Deaf Club also used the premises for their meetings. Since then the services continued to develop with an increasing number of people looking to the Access Centre for their support. With over 450 new clients each year it quickly became apparent that the small Centre in Beckenham Hospital was not big enough for the demands made upon it. As the number of regular support groups increased with expanding membership and the visitors for our equipment and advice services increased the Access Centre was accepting over 2250 visitors a year into two small rooms in the Hospital. It was obvious to the Board of Trustees that the Access Centre had to expand. At that time Bromley Centre for Voluntary Services (now known as Community Links) was asking for Voluntary Organisations to join them in a community house in central Bromley. The Access Centre Trustees recognised the need to move out of the hospital environment (a location not favoured by the Deaf community who have been forced to visit hospitals all their lives) and the benefits of moving to a central location in the borough and joined Bromley CAB. Bromley Age Concern, Bromley Relate, and Community Links in a consortium to develop Community House. With funding from the National Lottery and support from Bromley Council, the Old Magistrates Court in Bromley slowly developed into the splendid building you see today. In October 2000 the organisations began to move in. The Access Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People moved to premises three times its original size in Community House in November 2000. With additional funding from Social Services and Housing and grants or donations from other sources, we have been able to expand our paid work force to four part time staff working eighty hours a week. Our Volunteer support has increased accordingly. In our first year in Community House we saw 800 new clients and had 4300 visitors to use the Centre and its services. Our Services for Deaf people who use British Sign Language as their preferred language has expanded to include a letter reading and form filling service, benefits advice and general support for living in the community. All our developments in services are led by client need and we continue to investigate ways to support the Deaf and hard of hearing communities in the London Borough of Bromley. |