November 2012
HDSSG’er Ruben sings at the Albert Hall
In his own words Ruben Reuter, 12, a pupil at Royds Hall High School tells us about his experience singing with his school’s choir at the Royal Albert Hall –
Ruben is pictured in the top tier, middle row, 7th singer from the left!
My Visit to Albert Hall for The Schools Prom by Ruben.
I sang with Huddersfield Fusion Choir at the Albert Hall, London. There were 600 people in my choir. I travelled down in a coach with Royds Hall High School and ate my lunch in the coach. We wore special t-shirts. The colours were red, green and blue. Mine was red. We had to practise our songs. They are called Don’t Stop and Flame. The Albert Hall is amazing! It is houmungus . The Hall is round and at the top the roof is a dome .We had LED lights that shone in the dark and they looked like stars. I saw other singers and rappers, African drummers, bell ringers and orchestras. When it was our turn I felt excited and cheerful. At the end we all sang Land of Hope and Glory and thousands of balloons fell from the roof and fireworks went off. I felt like a rock star!
Next time I will be a rapper called Little Red Rubester.
HDSSG excel at the Special Olympics Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Swimming Gala
Huddersfield Down Syndrome Support Group would like to congratulate our swimmers who took part in the Special Olympics Yorkshire & Humberside Regional Swimming Gala that took place in Harrogate this weekend.
Aisling Connelly, Ruben Reuter, Rebekah Hill, Zoe Rank, Lily Baird, Alwi Flaye, Archie Bailey, Kai Watson, Jack Drennan all achieved brilliant results including 3 Gold, 2 Silver, 6 Bronze, 1 Speeding Ticket and several personal bests!
Well done all of you!
Kirklees swimmers Joanne & Ben at the DSISO Championships
Team GB arrived in Loano, Italy, late last week for the World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships. Two Borough of Kirklees swimmers Joanne Kempley and Ben Sweeney are taking part in the competitions. (Pictured left along with coach Gemma Ripley)
The swimming kicked off today after an exciting opening ceremony where teams from 21 countries paraded the sports hall with their national flags.
Ben stormed through his 50 metre Backstroke to a personal best of 39.00 and taking a full second off his entry time and giving him his first gold of the Championships.
Joanne was next and her task looked formidable as she had the slowest entry time in her heat amazingly she pulled out all the stops finishing 4th and knocking an unbelievable 6 seconds off her 100 metres Backstroke time.
Ben rounded off the morning with a 3rd place and European record in the 400m Individual Medley which secured him another gold in the Mosaic category.
HDSSG wish Joanne & Ben along with the rest of Team GB all the very best for the rest of the competition, we will be tweeting updates as we receive them! follow us @hdssg1
You can keep up to date with all the news from Loano by following a blog written by Joanne’s family who are out there with the team: http://kempley.webnode.com/blog/
HDSSG support BoK swimmers target of Special Olympics
Join us for a FUNdrasing evening at the Watershed, Slaithwaite. You will be able to order exclusive Body Shop products for yourself or to give as gifts this Christmas. A percentage of the sales will be donated back to HDSSG to help our swim team fund their trip to the Special Olympics in 2013!
We are also holding a raffle and have some AMAZING prizes….
We would like to give a HUGE thank you to all the local businesses that have donated prizes for our raffle. These include a Spa Experience for 2 at Titanic Spa, a 3 month gym membership at Kirklees Active Leisure for 2 people. Hampers from Costa coffee and WH Smiths, a 12 month magazine subscription, a voucher from a high street shoe retailer plus much much more!
DSE launches new reading and language intervention
DSE has announced that a new reading and language intervention for children with Down syndrome will be available from the end of November.
The Reading and Language Intervention for Children with Down Syndrome (RLI) teaches language and literacy skills following evidence-based principles adapted to meet the specific learning needs of children with Down syndrome aged 5 to 11 years. To coincide with the launch, they have published a web site offering detailed information about the intervention and its evaluation.
They have also launched an email discussion forum for families and educators interested in the teaching program and are hosting a series of online information events.
Find out more by clicking the DSE logo above.