by Ross Trotter

Ann Hebblethwaite, who died aged 70 in 2008, was one of the best known and most loved lipspeakers in the country. I first got to know her when my job with the British Library moved from London to Yorkshire at the end of the 80s and I needed a lipspeaker to help me with meetings. At that time she was the only Level 3 lipspeaker in the region, so it was not surprising that she became my regular support. From the start she showed what a professional she was, tackling new terminology and technical issues with confidence, as well as making sure she increased the deaf awareness of all my colleagues. Over the ten years until my early retirement she became a firm favourite not just with me but with all the people at the Library. She supported me at meetings, site inspections, training courses and much else besides. And she did not just lipspeak for me at the Library either – together we travelled to various meetings and events in Dublin, Frankfurt, Oslo and even Washington in the USA – very much a case of “Have lipspeaker, will travel”.

As time passed Ann became more than just a professional support – she also became a firm friend, and I got to know her family as well. Most people think of Ann as a Yorkshire Rose, and are surprised that she was actually a Lancashire lass, born and bred in the Manchester area, where she first worked in a computing laboratory. She moved with her husband, Harold, and her two sons, Andrew and Paul, to Yorkshire, where they bought a beautiful but run-down house called Thornton Manor, between York and Thirsk. Harold and Ann restored it themselves, and also made it into a bed & breakfast for guests from all over the world. Paul was born deaf and went to St John’s School for the Deaf in Boston Spa, near Wetherby. This is what gave Ann her interest in deaf people. In the 70s she was Welfare Secretary for the National Deaf Children’s Society, helping families with newly diagnosed deaf children face the same challenges she and Harold had faced with Paul. She was one of the founders of NDCS York Branch and influenced the establishment of branches in Harrogate and Richmond.

When Bob Peckford became North Yorkshire County Advisor on Social Services for Deaf People in 1974 he set up courses for potential lip-reading tutors and Ann attended one of those. It was through the lip-reading classes, and the fact that Paul was educated orally (though he uses sign to supplement his lip-reading), that Ann developed her interest in helping deafened and hard of hearing adults that led her to become a lipspeaker, and one of the most respected members of the profession. She was not only one of the most experienced lipspeakers, but she also acted as a support tutor on lipspeaking courses and as a hearing examiner.

Ann never lost a single opportunity to act as an advocate for deaf people, and she was tireless in raising awareness and challenging bad practice wherever she found it. As I got to know her better I found myself taken to task by her for not doing as much as I should to point out where people were not practising clear communication – Ann brooked no excuse for not doing as much as possible, and led by example. She was well known throughout Yorkshire and beyond for her unwillingness to accept second best, and would make officials quake if they did not come up to her high standards. But she was no mere authoritarian – she had huge empathy and understanding and an innate ability to see where the other person was coming from and so engage with them. She would strike up a conversation with anyone, and nearly always used the opportunity to promote the needs of deaf people. I remember once we were in a pavement café in Frankfurt when Ann saw a group of German deaf people using sign language – that was all she needed and in a few moments she was signing away to them herself finding out all about them. That was absolutely typical of her.

Sadly she was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in her early sixties, at about the same time as her husband Harold was starting to suffer increasingly from Parkinsons Disease. With bone marrow cancer the best prognosis is usually a maximum of five years, during which your bones become increasingly brittle. Ann lived on for nearly eight years, during which she underwent several bouts of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, had metal rods put in her arms and various other things. Not once did she complain or think of herself – all her attention was devoted to caring for Harold, who was increasingly frail, looking after her family, and continuing to further the cause of deaf people. She continued to work as a lipspeaker, giving her usual professional service, though she was obviously in pain at times. Sadly Harold died early in 2008, and Ann only survived him by a couple of months. Her funeral at the parish church in the village where they lived, Helperby, was absolutely jam packed with people – many standing at the back or even unable to get inside – a measure of the affection and respect in which she was so rightly held.

It is impossible in a short space to cover all Ann’s activities and her immense influence. I am proud to have known her and to have been able to call her a friend. The lipspeaking profession has benefitted from her experience and wisdom. Her advocacy has done a huge amount for deaf people in Yorkshire and elsewhere. She is greatly missed by us all.