Archives for February 2011

Workplace’s very own action man Rod Hogg is off on his adventures again, in the name of BBC Children in Need. This time, he faces the challenge of a lifetime - to climb Mount Everest and put ‘Pudsey on top of the World!’

Rod, who is an experienced mountaineer, will be part of an independent expedition team of ten climbers who will attempt to climb Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, at the end of March.

Climbing Everest has long been a personal ambition of Rod’s and he sees it as the ultimate challenge. He’s been training for it for the last five years and fully appreciates it will push him, both physically and mentally, to his limit.

As an advocate of BBC Children in Need, this is the latest in a series of remarkable and gruelling mountaineering challenges Rod has faced in aid of the charity, and I’m in awe of his bravery and commitment.

Rod was one of the team who completed the Three Peaks Challenge in August 2010.

In May 2009, Rod travelled to Alaska for an ascent of Denali, North America's highest mountain. It is often said that climbing Everest is good preparation for climbing Denali, so Rod should have no trouble in getting Pudsey to the top of Everest!

The team will journey via the North East Ridge, following the George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine 1924 British expedition route. The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, is patron of the expedition and it’s being led by David Hempleman-Adams, one of the most accomplished British explorers to date.

The Everest expedition will be fully funded by money raised from corporate and individual sponsorship and a minimum of £40,000 is needed to get the challenge off the ground. For details of sponsorship packages and to get a fundraising pack, email [email protected].

ONE Workplace has already raised around £115,000 for this year’s BBC Children in Need appeal, and with funds from the Everest expedition it’s hoped we can take our total to more than £150,000. Every penny will go towards changing the lives of some of the most disadvantaged children in the UK.

You can support Rod by visiting www.justgiving.com/PudseyOnEverest2011.

To track his progress during the expedition visit www.rodhogg.co.uk.

We will bring you more news in the coming weeks. But for now I’m sure you will join me in wishing Rod and the rest of the climbing team every success and a safe journey.

I recently had the fantastic opportunity of attending a Deaf Awareness session at our White City office. The session was hosted by Marcel Hirshman, a deaf freelance trainer, who has delivered training to a wide range of clients from the arts, private sector, government and universities.

With nearly nine million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, Marcel’s aim was to help us realise how we those who can hear can communicate more confidently with deaf people.

Marcel conducted the session with no interpreter and did a great job teaching us about what deafness means in practice and gave us hints and practical tips on what works best. It was particularly relevant to members of BBC Workplace as one of our colleagues Meera Modi is deaf and I was struck by how she approaches life as she says “I just communicate differently!”

The presentation also made me appreciate the obstacles and challenges encountered by a deaf person that those who are able to hear might not always consider, for example, here are a few tips for how to have better communication:

 - Keep eye contact - when talking, and when the deaf person is signing, face the deaf person not the interpreter
 - Speak one at a time
 - If demonstrating something with actions, don’t talk at the same time
 - Speak clearly but not loud and not too slowly
 - Don’t talk over the deaf person as if they weren’t there

Above all, don’t give up! If you are finding it difficult to communicate a word or sentence, persevere and use other communication support if needed, for example, if you are stuck over communicating one word, write it down.

For more information, Marcel can be contacted by email - [email protected].