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History of Place – St Saviour’s Deaf Church, Acton from Screen South on Vimeo.
Stanley Hayward (age 99) and Jovita Bodamer-MacGregor (age 13) are at the heart of this short film created by Deaf people about St Saviour’s Deaf Church. They reflect both on the history of the church itself, which flourished from the 1920s until 2014 at a purpose built site in Acton, and about the changing landscape of clubs for Deaf people and whether these have become harder to sustain.
Jovita Bodamer-MacGregor, aged 13
Stanley was a longstanding member of the St Saviour’s congregation. He signs “what I really liked about the services was that it was signed and you could understand it, it was really wonderful… I’d love to go back to my young days when it was busy.”
Jovita appreciates and uses social media, “but I think we’re using it a bit too much now”. “When I was growing up, I was very isolated, I was going to a mainstream school, but there were no Deaf clubs locally. I started to go to the Deaf club and it was really nice to meet and socialise with people.”