CELST is a small charity based in central England. We run free lipreading and managing hearing loss courses for people with hearing loss in the region. Our courses teach people the skill of reading lip shapes, as well as other communication and coping skills to enable them to cope in a hearing world, thus reducing loneliness and isolation. From an initial course in 2013, we have expanded to 10 courses in 2019. We are the only provider of Lipreading courses in the areas we cover, without which people with hearing loss would have no access to such support. The trust is managed by a team of 6 volunteer trustees and one paid part-time administrator and is looking to expand over the coming years. Two of our trustees are standing down due to health issues and we urgently need replacement trustees in order to move the charity forward.
Our charity raises funds each year in order to be able to provide courses which are free to attend. This means that anyone with hearing loss can attend, regardless of means. We ensure that our level of funding is such that we can provide the services of an accredited Lipreading tutor to teach our courses and pay room hire charges and expenses. To do this, we attend local events each summer, to raise our profile in order to attract funders. We also regularly support trainee lipreading tutors, so that we can expand our offering to new areas and for succession planning purposes.