A deaf girl from Altrincham has made a new friend through a “pioneering” pen pal scheme that’s currently running across the UK.
10-year-old Emma Groves said that she decided to join the Pen Pals Project – which was initially set up by the National Deaf Children’s Society as a response to the isolation deaf young people were experiencing during lockdown – because she wanted to make friends with other deaf children who were going through similar experiences as her.
Since being set up back in 2020, the Pen Pals Project has helped more than 200 deaf children to create new friendships, feel less isolated, develop their communication skills, and most-importantly, view their deafness with more positivity.
The “pioneering” scheme is free for all deaf children and young people between six and 18, and youngsters who take part are matched with another person of a similar age, interests, and communication preference to them – whether that be through British Sign Language (BSL), Signed Supported English, or even speech.
While many of the youngsters either email their letters or record videos in BSL for each other, plenty of others have chosen to go down the traditional pen pal route and handwrite messages or draw pictures to send to their new friends.
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And this is exactly what Emma chose to do.
Emma – who lives in Altrincham with her parents Andreina and Mike, and her seven-year-old brother Sammie – was born deaf, but has always enjoyed reading and writing and has aspirations to become a writer when she is older, so it’s easy to see why she jumped at the opportunity to write to her new friend through the scheme.
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The Pen Pals Project has helped more than 200 deaf children to create new friendships / Credit: djupress
The keen writer says she was very excited to let her pen pal know about her school, her likes and dislikes, and how she had been taking part in after school sport activities with her deaf friends.
Emma’s mum Adreina said having a pen pal was especially useful because her daughter was concerned about what to expect at high school, and luckily, her pen pal already attends high school, and was able to lend a hand in reassuring her that it was less stressful than she might have imagined.
“Emma loves meeting new people,” Andreina said.
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“This project was an opportunity for her to connect with someone facing similar challenges, and she enthusiastically replied to every message, and at the end of the project, she asked for the communication with her pen pal to continue.”
Emma added: “My teacher suggested I might like to take part as she knows I like reading and writing and I’m always happy to meet other people. It was amazing because the letters were about things we love doing, and we found out the subjects we like and don’t like at school, and how we both like video games.
“I carried on with her because I really like making new friends, and hopefully one day we can meet in person.”
As mentioned, the National Deaf Children’s Society set up the Pen Pals Project during lockdown to help connect deaf young people, and they hadn’t intended on keeping it running past then, but after the demand for the scheme was so high, the charity has decided to carry it on.
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Speaking on the success of the scheme, project coordinator Amy New said: “It’s really taken off and deaf children are already telling us they feel more connected and more positive about their deafness [so] it’s become a really important service for lots of deaf children and it’s made a real difference.
“We’ll provide it for as long as they need it.”
Featured Image – National Deaf Children’s Society
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Met Office predicts UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer
Emily Sergeant
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year.
Fresh off-the-back of the news that 2025 is already the hottest spring on record, with a recorded 630 hours of sunshine from 1 March until 27 May, beating out the previous sunniest spring in 2020 by just four hours, the Met Office is now predicting that the UK is on the verge of a summer that’s ‘hotter than usual’.
According to its three-month outlook, the Met Office has predicted that it’s 2.3 times more-likely than ‘normal’ that it will be hot in the UK between 1 June and 31 August.
The average temperatures during those months are set to range from 10-17°C.
🌡️ ☀️ The UK has recorded its warmest and sunniest spring on record, according to provisional Met Office statistics.
Spring 2025 is now the 4th sunniest season overall for the UK, with only 3 summers sunnier since 1910.
Details in release below, or read this short thread 👇🧵
After it was revealed that this has also been the UK’s driest spring in more than a century, meteorologists are warning Brits that there could heatwave conditions could be reached at various times throughout the summer.
The release of the long-range forecast – which gives an indication of possible temperatures, rainfall, and wind speed over a period as a whole – comes after temperatures soared to 8°C (46F) above the average for this time of year this Saturday just gone (31 May).
It is important to note, however, that the Met Office thinks these predicted temperatures are similar to those in recent years, and it does not guarantee ‘prolonged’ hot weather.
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer this year / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)
The Met Office said in a statement: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.
“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.
“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”
Featured Image – Garry Knight (via Flickr)
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Doctor Who fans left scratching their heads over new star following ‘surprise’ regeneration
Danny Jones
Thousands of Doctor Who fans have been left scratching their heads following the most recent season finale and yet another regeneration that absolutely NO ONE was expecting.
Seriously, if you predicted this, then you’re just lying.
Following the series 15 conclusion – or rather the ‘second’ under the Disney+ umbrella – which saw Ncuti Gatwa vacate the moniker after just two series, showrunner Russell T Davies made his first real big splash since returning to the franchise.
If you’re looking for just one singular meme that sums up the general audience’s reaction to the episode, look no further:
Doctor Who remains one of the most iconic British TV shows of all time, but it’s fair to say it hasn’t been without its ups and downs over the years, and this latest turn has proved just as divisive.
After being first brought back from a 16-year hiatus following the sci-fi series’ original run from 1963 to 1989, the latest iteration is now two decades and six new Doctors in.
Or is that seven?…
Sex Education star Gatwa may be the 15th Doctor all told (with David Tennant’s own mini return marking number 14), but it looks like the latest might be former reboot star Rose Tyler herself, a.k.a. Billie Piper.
Remaining tight-lipped on social media, Billie has said little more than fans will have to “wait and see”, as well as her cryptic “a rose is a rose” post; as for the BBC themselves, they have only offered a press release, teasing that “just how and why she [Billie Piper] is back remains to be seen…”
In case you haven’t seen it yet, let’s all watch it together in real time, shall we?
What a surprise!
While there are plenty of clues and theories now being picked apart by so-called ‘Whovians’, we have little more evidence than the scene itself and the final line in the end credits of the episode, which read: “Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor. Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. And introducing Billie Piper”.
Plenty of fans are obviously over the moon to see the 42-year-old back on board, regardless of the circumstances, but it hasn’t stopped them from tying themselves up in knots of confusion, especially given the very obvious canon questions posed following the reveal.
For anyone not even remotely clued up on her connection to the show, Billie Piper previously played Rose Tyler – the first companion of the modern era, who has returned for a number of cameos in the past – but (no spoilers), having her return as not just a different character but THE Doctor seems rather complex.
Nevertheless, the speculation that has ensued online since the reveal has been enjoyable on both sides of the argument.
WHATTTTT
Billie Piper is the 16th Doctor
Billie Piper has played the famous Rose Tyler, the bad wolf and NOW the Doctor
I'm actually here for this. I'm sorry to anyone who's not.. but this is MAD.. and I'm here for it. genuinely am here. #DoctorWhopic.twitter.com/aFlGpoNP0g
Since the recent rebrand to make the show more palatable to American and global viewers, there has been a noticeable increase in the community’s presence online.
One overseas fan wrote X: “It’s been 20 years and Rose Tyler is still my favourite companion, she was my first after all. In whatever incarceration Billie Piper shows up as, it just reminds me of being a teen again, being introduced to this wild British TV show on the SciFi channel.
As far as our opinion, we’re only casual Doctor Who fans, but we can’t lie, we’re pretty excited to see whatever they have in store.
What do you make of the whole thing? Is Billie Piper really going to become the new Doctor and, if so, are you on board, or are you in the camp of it’s a bit of opportunistic lip service for fans?
Emily Sergeant -
7th July 2022 
