Looking back: Eastbourne 1980

By Alison Coyle

I was fascinated to hear from volunteer Keith Corbett that he still has the letter Rosemary McColl wrote to him back in 1980 when he attended one of the earliest rehabilitation programmes down in Eastbourne. That’s 42 years ago! Keith is still an active volunteer, currently involved with the Helpdesk.

Keith has given me permission to share some of these documents with you to give you an idea of how it all started. Keith told me: “Rosemary asked me and my Mum to go back on to the next one she ran to help her with it, so I actually went to two of her programmes, albeit one as a helper.” Keith has been with us ever since, undertaking various roles including Volunteer Mentor, Community Support Volunteer and Helpdesk Responder.

From all of us at Hearing Link Services, a huge thank you to Keith, for sharing this and for all the support you have given to so many people over the years.