LOVE was in the air as a singing group performed romantic songs – in sign language.
Children from Wallisdean Junior School and volunteers from specialist sign language group Signalong teamed up to raise money for charity.
Shoppers at Fareham shopping centre were treated to the greatest love songs of all time.
The groups were raising money for the mayor of Fareham’s charity Wessex Heartbeat with the Valentine’s Day event.
Anne Donohue from Signalong said: ‘It was good. We all enjoyed it. It was lovely to see the children signing as well.’
The signalong group, which aims to raise awareness of sign language, performed from 10am until 3pm. Children from Wallisdean Junior School took over at lunchtime so the group could take a break.
Wallisdean Juniors holds a weekly after-school club to teach its pupils sign language. Children can join in with a lunchtime club held at the school’s service for deaf children, known as the Ark.
Year 5 pupil Eathen Pinto, nine, was performing with his twin sister Kali. Eathen said his favourite song to perform was All You Need is Love by The Beatles.
He said: ‘We’ve been signing to 14 songs and we’ve been practising at school. I’ve got to say my best song goes “love, love, love”.’
Kali said: ‘It’s good because if somebody’s deaf, they will be able to see what the song is about.’
Christine Early, a communications support assistant who works at The Ark and is also part of Signalong, said: ‘The mayor visited our school and we thought it would be nice to do something to support his charity.
‘We’ve been teaching sign language at the school for the last two years. It enables the pupils to communicate with their friends and allows them to realise that being deaf is not a problem.’
For more information on Signalong, contact annedon@tiscali.co.uk.
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