About Hearing Concern
about Hearing Concern >> history
Half a centuary of self-help
Hearing Concern, formerly the British Association of the Hard of Hearing (BAHOH), is a registered charity. Our patron is HRH The Princess Royal.
Founded in 1947, Hearing Concern is an organisation built on the principles of self-help.
Hearing Concern is aimed at people who are deaf or hard of hearing and use lipreading and speech as their main means of communication. It also has a section for younger people, called HC Active! which started in 1948 when it's first rally took place in Newcastle.
Hearing Concern's history
After the First World War many soldiers returned home deafened by the effects artillery fire. Lipreading classes were set up, with one of the first appearing in Edinburgh (1918). A hard of hearing club was formed, followed by other clubs in Glasgow (1922) Birmingham (1929) and London (1937). Soon there were clubs in many major cities.
After the Second World War many more clubs were set up, largely for the benefit of men and women returning from the armed forces. Captain Richard Annand, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross, realised the need for a national organisation. Capt. Annand wrote to a newspaper appealing for help and received hundreds of replies.
One of those people was Madeleine de Soyres. Madeleine was a French-Canadian who had already worked with hard of hearing people in Canada. After to moving to England she started a hard of hearing club in Welwyn Garden City. The letter gave her an idea.
In 1946, she started an association of hard of hearing clubs in Hertfordshire. Having contacted the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) for supoprt she went on to organise a conference with the aim of establishing a national association for hard of hearing people.
A conference took place September 1946 and there was overwhelming support. A working committee was soon in place and during the winter of 1946 a constitution was established.
And on Saturday the 28th of June 1947 the first meeting of the British Association of the Hard of Hearing took place.
Read more about Hearing Concern's History & Achievements, written by Honary Life Member Marie Nobbs MBE.