HRH The Princess Royal attends Hearing Link reception at Tower of London

News Release: 17^th June 2015

HRH The Princess Royal was the guest of honour at a reception hosted by UK charity Hearing Link in London recently.

Princess Anne, who is Royal Patron of the organisation, met the charity’s volunteers, trustees, staff and invited guests during the afternoon event held in the beautiful surroundings of the Tower of London.

It was an opportunity for the charity to raise awareness of the social and psychological effects of hearing loss and highlight how its peer-led personalised support is making a lasting difference to the lives of individuals, their families and friends in every country of the UK.

Guests heard the emotional and remarkable stories of Shona, Emmanuelle and Tony and Sue who have all been supported by the charity in recent years. There was also a chance to meet Hearing Link’s valued volunteers and trustees to find out how their experiences of hearing loss assist the organisation day-to-day.

At the close of the reception, HRH The Princess Royal congratulated the charity, its volunteers and supporters for the vital role they played in helping Hearing Link to reach more people across the UK in the past year.

HRH Princess Anne said: “Hearing Link, as it now is, is making a greater impact.  You can all take enormous pride in your achievements in delivering a quite extraordinary benefit to the well-being of individuals and to society.

“In the past year [Hearing Link] has been extremely busy, expanding and extending its reach, to thousands of people across all four countries of the UK.   The sooner people find Hearing Link, the sooner they get the benefit of their support.  Your volunteers offer unique peer support that provides opportunities to meet with others, bringing [them] together so that they can share mutual concerns.

“Sometimes we can feel powerless to make a difference.  Other times it is all too clear that we have a part to play.  I hope you all feel encouraged by the impact you are having as individuals, but also to the commitment you can make to an organisation like Hearing Link because your support will result in a much wider impact, across the UK.”

Dr Lorraine Gailey, Chief Executive of Hearing Link, added: “We were extremely honoured to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to our reception at the Tower of London, and also those volunteers and supporters who gave up their time to attend.

“We were also proud to share the remarkable journeys of our volunteers Shona, Emmanuelle, Tony and Sue; who spoke so eloquently about the challenges they face in managing hearing loss day-to-day.

“We hope their stories and those of the volunteers who attended on the day have inspired our guest to continue to support our charity in reaching more people living with hearing loss and sooner; and has also provided a strong insight to how our charity is working towards a world where everyone can participate fully and confidently, whatever their level of hearing.”

Hearing Link’s reception was generously supported by ReSound UK, Cochlear UK and The Tinnitus Clinic. Live Speech-to-Text-Reporting was provided by Ai-Media.   Jane Garvey, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, hosted the event.

A number of representatives from the healthcare sector and audiology fields also attended the event and were encouraged by the stories that were shared.

Professor Adrian Davis OBE, Public Health England’s Director of Population Health Science, said: “Prior to attending Hearing Link’s event, I had a good understanding of how the charity has been supporting adults with hearing loss today.  However, as a result of being at this reception, and hearing the remarkable stories of those it has supported, I have a deeper understanding of the valuable work it does. 

“The narratives from the films that were presented were absolutely what is needed to raise the profile of the issues that people have in respect to hearing problems and hearing loss. These films should be used widely to demonstrate what a key issue hearing problems are in the community, the impact that they have on lives and how Hearing Link and other professionals and experts can support people to find solutions for their communication problems arising from hearing loss.”

Hearing Link is a UK-wide charity active in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for people with hearing loss, their family and friends.  The organisation is working towards a world where everyone can participate fully and confidently whatever their level of hearing.