Let’s start where we left off at the previous AGM 30/4/19.

First things first we had to celebrate 40 years of GDCS! A huge pat on the back to all that were involved in organising this party @ Peninsula Hotel. Special mention to Tracy & Aija who organised the games, decorations and a special cake with our logo on it. There was a magician ( a huge hit with the children) face painter, balloons, food and a disco to finish off the evening. Old and new members were invited and we even had a lady travel from the UK especially to join us. It was lovely to see everyone celebrate together. The Guernsey Press joined us and wrote a feature on the charity.

June 28/29/30

Camping at Fauquets Valley.

Approx 50 people including a couple of new families that haven’t camped before, we made a few changes to the previous years camp, the bouncy castle was hired for the BBQ in Sat only for insurance reasons, instead we had a large box full of toys and games which the children loved. Again thanks to Tracy who had prepared lots of fun games for the children. Pizza Fri night, BBQ Sat night, we had glorious weather and the children stayed up late playing because of the heat. In some ways, I think this was our most successful camp to date, I feel that this is the event that the children really get to properly socialise and get to know each other. It was lovely watching them swim and play together.

Committee had a well earned rest over the summer.

Sept we offered sailing on the model yacht pond for smaller members & kayaking for older children. The sailing unfortunately didn’t go ahead due to lack of interest and kayaking was also cancelled due to bad weather- we had 13 people put their names down for this event so it was a shame to miss out.

Nov, busy month

4/11 Bonfire party, again thankyou to Healthspan for kindly inviting us to join them again, 47 people came which is a record number ( we usually have around 30) Again it was nice to welcome a new family. A well organised event with entertainment for the children, food and drinks, thankfully the rain held off just long enough for most of the fireworks display.

17/11 Round table Xmas Fayre @ Beau Sejour.

Great fun but hard work. This year we were lucky to receive 3 large boxes of Xmas goodies donated by Sigma, this combined with the lucky dip kept us very busy on the table. We made £311.75.

Dec Ice Skating

Thank you to Emma for organising this, we decided to do a morning session, it wasn’t very crowded so plenty of room on the ice. 14 children & 8 adults put their skates on. Plus we arranged a chocolate treat to hand out to the children at the end. Very enjoyable session & again, thankfully, no broken bones.

Feb climbing at Up Climb

Bit of a last minute event for half term but so glad we organised this as it was the last time we could get together for sometime due to covid-19. We had 15 children split into to an older and a younger group. This was lots of fun and the staff did a great job and had all the children playing together. I think there were a few blisters on fingers by the end of the session.

Covid 19 Struck.

The committee was forced to take a break from organising things, swimming and AGM were cancelled. We acknowledge that as a charity we still wanted to play a part in supporting the children and their families through this. So we made a point of posting ideas, things to do, challenges, positive words on our Facebook page offering support and encouragement through these strange times.

Once again- the charity is not just about organising fun and games, there is still a lot going on in the background.

MSG - our audiologists received his equipment that the charity paid for and was very keen to show us what they do (a bit like a kid with a new toy) he was very appreciative of our help purchasing these items.

We applied for the Waitrose green token community matters grant. Which took place over Christmas time. We received £360.00

Leaflets we had some quickly made up in time for the Xmas fayre but still need to make some small changes before printing some more.

We had 15 minutes of fame for Denise, Elliot, Chris and I @ radio Guernsey in November. Jenny Kendall - Tobias interviewed us about our 40th celebration, how the charity started and growing up in Guernsey with a hearing loss.

Dealing with requests for equipment, we purchased a laptop and a compilot for 2 local children.

Constitution - where do we start. Thank you to Jon who I know spent a lot of time writing a new one for the charity, and thank you to Redwood for their suggestions and for validating the constitution.

My highlights -

1. looking across the field at the camp and seeing so many children playing and enjoying each other’s company.
2. During lockdown I posted ‘Roar’ by Katie Perry with BSL one of the children had practiced the song and his mum posted a video of him signing along. I had tears in my eyes when watching him.

To the committee - another successful year, we had 2 big events, the camp and 40th celebrations. Plus the Xmas fayre is a lot of work wrapping hundreds of presents.

Thank you to Elliot for keeping an eye on the accounts. I couldn’t do any of this without the team by my side, I know we have been tested this year so a heartfelt thank you from me.

Quick mention

Thankyou to Sigma for donating the Xmas goods.

To Redwood for their help with the constitution, and to the Villette Hotel for allowing us to hold our AGM here.

Finally, thankyou to the parents for attending our events and for getting involved.

Thankyou for listening.

Leonie Burrows.