Little Hiccups trip to Cannon Hall Farm - Saturday 19th September 2015

Indoor Play Area

Due to popular demand, we re-visited Cannon Hall Farm and how it has grown! It's been about a year since I last went and about two years since Little Hiccups has visited. Since my last visit there is now a fantastic and interactive Soft Play area where the children spent a happy hour exhausting themselves. We spend at least another hour in the outdoor play area as the weather ended up being absolutely gorgeous (to the point where I regretted not packing suncream!). Exhausted but happy we finally managed to persuade the children that as this was a working farm we really ought to go see the animals and managed to drag them away from the slides and climbing frames. Cannon Hall Farm have also been hard at work updating the areas that the animals stayed in also and the walk way past them all was much easier to navigate in the crowds and we were able to see the very cute piglets and my personal favourite - the pygmy goats!

Sheep Racing

I was dragged by my daughter to see the Ferret Racing where my ferret decided to tease me by pretending to win then turning round and going back the way it came just before the end. We also visited the Sheep Racing twice and we managed to win the raffle one time. The sheep it seems, was much better behaved than the ferret!



We had a fabulous day and I know that all the families I bumped into too did. We certainly all came home very tired!

Enjoying the sun

Our tickets included farm admission, sheep racing, indoor play area, ferret racing, milking demonstrations, outdoor play area and tractor & trailer ride and Cannon Hall Farm also very kindly set aside some of the picnic area exclusively for Little Hiccups families as it can get busy in the cafe.

About the Farm:

Cannon Hall Farm opened to the public for the first time in 1989. Since that time we have added adventure playgrounds, gift shop, farm shop, two restaurants and an indoor playground. It is now one of the largest farm attractions in the UK and the winner of many awards.

Our new £1.5 million farmyard opened in July 2013. Seven new farm buildings designed with the visitor in mind. See the day to day workings of a modern farmyard including tractors and farm machinery during the working day.

Other attractions include a milking parlour with regular milking demonstrations and a Rare Breeds barn. This is the first visitor centre of it’s type in the world!

Cannon Hall Farm was winner of the Best Tourism Experience at The White Rose Awards 2011 and highly commended in the Visit England Awards 2012 in the same category. It was also a finalist in The Best Large Attraction Award at The White Rose Awards 2014 and won the The Innovation award for it’s new farmyard at the National Farms For Schools Awards 2015.

Website: http://www.cannonhallfarm.co.uk

Always time for a quick selfie

Start thinking outside of the box!

We all know about the budget cuts in the NHS but do you know about the positive changes in our Leeds area and how they affect you?

Services have had to take a hard look at their budget and get creative, whilst also ensuring they are meeting the criteria of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. This means that we can now be part of the consultation process and ensure we have a voice on how services work.

 

What does this mean to us as parents? 

We now have rights, control and choice for what our children need to help them be included and gain some independence.

We can personalise the care package around our children, what works for them and us as a family – because as we all know, every child is different.

Imagine having a blank page, and listing what your child needs for their physical, emotional and spiritual outcomes.

Nobody knows our children like we do, so working in partnership with professionals we can plan how to reach those outcomes and achieve the very best for our children. 

“My child is NOT a statistic, NOT a number, NOT a diagnosis, but a person with different abilities taking on a difficult world.”

What does this mean to me?

After dealing with the system for the last 9 years it has taken me a good while and a lot of deep thinking to get my head around the changes and what it means for Jack and I personally. Everything has turned upside down, instead of being ‘grateful’ for anything we can tap into, now its about “what does Jack need” and thinking about how we can achieve it.

Its radical, its new and its not what we are used to – but it’s a fantastic opportunity to get a better life for our children. We as parents, can be heard now. I’m not saying for one minute that all our battles are over, but this is change in the right direction and personally, when I look at how far society has come in the last 60 years with their views and treatment for disabilities, children included, I cant help but feel positive and encouraged.

As services are being reviewed, as a patient/parent you will be invited to give your thoughts and input to how it can be improved. If you want to help shape better services for your child, then take the opportunity to be heard.

Written by Linsay Medica, Founder of Little Hiccups

Contact us by emailing us on info@littlehiccups.co.uk if you want the opportunity to be heard.

Special Summer trip to Swithins Farm Soft Play

The Soft Play area

We hired out the Soft Play area at Swithens Farm just for the Little Hiccups families. It's is a lovely little Play area which has a bright and colourful indoor play area and the Barn offers a fantastic combination of ball pools and apparatus providing a safe environment to let off some steam - including a cushioned ball pool too for the younger ones and the less mobile.

Jack meeting the new arrival

It was a nice little catch up during the very hectic summer holidays and the kids played for two hours non-stop. We also got to meet up with a new member of our Little Hiccups family. Massive congratulations to Hiccups Committee member James and his wife Claire on the birth of their son - he's a cutie!

Website: http://www.swithensfarm.co.uk/

Little Hiccups trip to Skelton Grange - Tuesday 18th August 2015

Well despite it being glorious weather the day before and the day after - on the day of our visit to Skelton Grange it decided to pour with rain ALL day. That didn't stop us having a huge amount of fun though as we explored Skelton Grange and all that it had to offer. The lovely volunteers showing us around stuck out the rain with us and their enthusiasm was never dampened.

Skelton Grange is in South Leeds. It's a Charity run organisation that encourages play in the natural environment at their award winning eco-centre and nature area. Little Hiccups worked with Skelton Grange to organise a fun and sensory day out during the summer holidays for our families. We had the following fun activities:

We started off with a welcome to the centre and walk of the grounds to orient ourselves. We walked around the vegetable and herb garden and found interesting plants and herbs that smelt and looked beautiful. We were given some sticky paper and asked to find the most interesting leaves and flowers.

We built shelters in the woods including erecting hammocks. There was a variety of styles from canvas tents to a intrigate wooden wigwam. The children certainly enjoyed building in these and swinging in the hammocks after. We then had lunch in the shelters in the woods. It was pretty wet by this point so we were glad of whatever shelter we had! We think that the rain kept all the bears away.

After lunch we split into two groups. Some stayed outside and took a trip to the herb garden to make potions. The idea was to mix up nice smelling plants with a little water and make a 'potion'. My son took these one step further when he created an Invisibility potion, poured it over his head (yes really) and kept disappearing!

The other group went inside and started making Hapa Zome and/or God's Eyes. If you google these you will see exactly what they are. Hapa Zome is the process where you gather leaves or petals (the more colours the better) and on a cloth you hammer them in then peel them off. Depending on how detailed you do it, it leaves the shape and colour of the leaves or petals on the cloth and you can make patterns using this. Some children then made these into flags by attaching to long sticks.

God's Eyes (or Dragon Eye's as I also heard them called) is the process of putting two sticks in a cross shape then with wool, going around each stick to make a diamond shape which can be changed throughout with a variety of colours.

After this, to complete the day, we all returned outside where one of the volunteers had lit a fire for us. Using a special 'cage' like tool at the end of long pole, the children took it in turns to shake popcorn kernals over the fire to make popcorn. Sharing fresh warm popcorn around the campfire was a nice end to a lovely day. Many thanks to all the volunteers at Skelton Grange for looking after us so well!

Website: www.tcv.org.uk/skeltongrange

6 years

Little Hiccups was 6 this July and I got to thinking about how we started. I remember the first time that I came to Hiccups with my children. Both of my children had recently been diagnosed with hearing impairments. This wasn't a surprise to me as those of you that know me will also be aware that I also have a hearing loss. It's a genetic trait in our family and one that we are well used to living with. What I WAS struggling with however was getting my children to wear hearing aids and back in the day, Little Hiccups was sponsored by Leeds Deaf Blind. Myself and another mum who is also still with Hiccups as well (**waves to Zoe**) decided to give it a go.

I remember walking in and being met by Linsay and just being made to feel so welcome that I instantly felt like I belonged and it wasn't long before I became a committee member. Back then, Hiccups was only stay and play. And we stayed like this for a little while. We'd meet every two weeks for fun and games, craft session and singing sessions. We threw birthday, Halloween and Christmas parties and had a lot of fun, made a lot of new friends and found support with each other.

But then the inevitable started. Our kids grew up. They started school and although we stayed in touch and had lots of lovely new families joining us all the time we missed them. And they missed us. I know this because my own kids had started school and they often wanted to come with me to the sessions instead of school. By now we were doing our annual fundraising ball. We had a little bit of money in the kitty and were wondering how we could use it so that it would best benefit our families. So our monthly family fun days was born! Open to children of all ages we offered discount days out for families to a variety of places. Families could choose which events to come on and find support in a big group going to the same place. These turned out to be immensely popular and when you get an email from a family to say that they would never have gone to such a place by themselves as they were too worried it really does remind me what Hiccups is all about. One of our favourites has to be the cinema. As we have grown and been able to afford bigger and better events, we have started to hire out the cinema room to just hiccups. What this means for families was that they did not have to worry if their child called out or wanted to run around. I have this one memory of one little boy on our first trip running up and down the slope. We'd kept the lights on dim, it was safe and he was enjoying himself and bothering no one - so why not! And that to me is what these events are all about.

Since then we've continued to move onto new things. Wherever we see a gap we've endeavoured to fill it. We've started an Outreach Programme for those families not quite ready to meet a big group but who need the support and a listening ear. We've had a year of pain with a bunch of courageous and fantastic people who put themselves through an inordinate amount of torture to raise funds for a Kandoo Buggy - an all terrain wheelchair. A target that we not only reached but smashed due to the enthusiasm of the Hiccup Conquerors and sponsors and managed to purchase not one but two Kandoos.

And we don't intend to stop there. Our plans for the future are as exciting as our plans that we had in our past. You'll have to keep an eye on our blog for what these plans are...I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!

So 6 years. It's not long but wonderous things have happened in those six years and it is a privilege to meet every family that walks through our doors and we can only hope that they find what they need with us. If not, tell us - we like a challenge!

And many thanks to everyone who joined us for our 6th birthday party and the stunning Royal Armouries venue with the highly entertaining and colourful Shebang Theatre group who managed to keep every one of our children entertained with their theatrics. It was certainly a birthday to remember!

Here's to the next exciting year (and watch this spot as I KNOW that the next bit of exciting news is soon to be revealed!)

Miriam

Disability snowsport at Chill Factore

James modelling the Sitski

It all started when I ran across Disability Snowsports and contacted them to organise an event for Little Hiccups. It turns out that there are special skis for the less-abled (and the person that developed these is nothing short of genius). These skis are called Sitskis and they look exactly like their name suggests. The user sits down in a modified chair and are strapped in for safety. There is then an instructor that controls the skis from the back so the user gets the full experience of the snow, the speed and the sheer exhilaration of skiing down the hill.

We had four slots with two Sitskis and eight standing skis per slot and from the moment we arrived help was at hand. Steve from Disability Snowsports was on hand at all times helping organise, direct, put snowboots, gloves, hats, coats on, fill out forms and guide us all to our relevant places. How he remained calm on the face of our swirling chaos I don't know but he did!

Then, sweating heavily in our many layers, we went through the doors to the ski slope and was suddenly very, very glad of the extra warmth. I don't know if it is proper snow (something I'll have to look into) but it certainly felt like it. Especially when I repeatable fell over in it.   

The stand-up Skiers getting to grips with it all...

It took a while for the eight of us in our group to organise ourselves in the right positions and to get all our skis on. On my way to our very safe and sectioned off part (obviously they know how to deal with beginners!) I have this vivid memory of Oliver, one of our children, reaching the bottom of the slope in the Sitskis and frantically signing "more". That moment by itself made me smile and for it a worthwhile trip. 

But then it was our turn and our instructor who had a level of patience far beyond mine, showed us how to walk up hills in skis, brake, ski down and even bunny hop. It was an hilarious hour and I must have fallen several times and had to help my children up the slope while trying to keep my own balance for several more times. The children loved it however and were naturals and I had several requests afterwards for ski lessons. 

The hour flew by and it was suddenly the next groups turn all too quickly. My ankles and knees were glad of the break and after meeting and greeting the next chaotic group, again being guided by Steve, we sneaked off for an ice-cream break before returning home.

Sitski In Use

Visiting Chill Factore definately opened our eyes to just what we are capable of. To think that our Hiccups kid's were zooming down a snowy mountain is just amazing. As the group founder, Linsay quite aptly put it: "Our kids Rock! We refuse to let disabilities get in our way of having fun! ... Yet another fantastic day with our Little Hiccup families. Awesome kids and very proud parents ....my little dude lead the way down the slope.My incredible little boy. Bursting with pride."

We'll be back for definite next year.

Very proud! 

Disability Rocks - our Hiccups May event (from my viewpoint!)

I read today that Disability Rocks had to cancel their festival at Lambourne End Centre due to poor ticket sales.

I found this such a shame as Little Hiccups attended the Disability Rocks festival in the completely spellbinding surroundings of Nell Bank in the Wharfedale valley. The day even managed to throw in some glorious May sunshine and we had a truly fantastic day.

The gorgeous views

The Fireman Pole

The Yorkshire festival was certainly not short in attendees but it never felt overcrowded either. There was no waiting (except maybe for the ice-cream van!) and I felt that I was in a safe environment where my children could run around safely. In fact, I think I actually managed to get a rare sit-down in the sun when they had a very long play on the wooden area which was manned by two lovely attendees in the more 'dangerous' parts (Fireman's pole and a fast slide). I was in particular very proud of my very safety conscious daughter who, after several attempts and large queues behind her, finally plucked up the nerve to go down the Fireman's Pole. Of course, once she had done it, there was no stopping her after that and she even moved onto to attempting stunts whilst going down. Probably not the best idea! 

In fact, after watching Shebang at the theatre, dancing at the DJ centre to popular songs (the kids particularly appreciated Gangnam Style) and making musical sticks, painting a bird house and having our photograph taken in fancy dress I can safely say I think we got our money's worth.

Music Stick

Painted Bird House

Also lovely was bumping into the Little Hiccup families and other people that we knew for other groups. A lot of the children are now at school and I only get to see them at events like this. Some are growing up scary fast! 

A few of the Little Hiccups families that we bumped into to:

Written by Miriam Watson

You can view more photos on our website at: www.littlehiccups.co.uk/2015.htm