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Previous Newsletters

At our AGM in our Golden Anniversary year we were delighted to have two guest speakers.  Bertie Ballinger, who previously cycled for Bromsgrove to Hereford to raise funds for HWDA. Bertie, dyslexic himself, talked candidly about his struggles and successes associated with being dyslexic. 

Alice Hubbard, our second guest speaker was part of the Association for many years and we were enthralled to learn about how the association came about. Her profession as a nurse teacher dealing with people who had a Neurological Deficit brought Alice in contact with Psychologists, she became aware of the struggle going on nationwide with dyslexia. Laterly teaching at Evesham College, working with Les Kewley who was managing a Unit for people with Acquired Brain injury. Alice’s son is severely Dyslexic and his school’s SENCO was Les Kewley. 

Alice shared how Herefordshire and Worcestershire were very lucky to have three knowledgeable and determined people who were prepared to keep pushing the Government of the day to recognise Dyslexia as a handicap to learning. Victor Booth was Chief Inspector of English.Margaret Newton an Educational Psychologist and Tim Miles who was The Professor of Psychology at Bangor University. Between them they submitted many Green Papers which were rejected until eventually their recommendations were accepted and became a white paper and passed into law in 1981. In the meantime Victor was instrumental in setting up 9 dyslexia units in schools across both counties these were managed by Les Kewley. In addition to all this he was instrumental in establishing the RSA Diploma SpLD for tutors and teachers who were working in the field. Margaret Newton was the Chief Assessor of the Diploma. The first cohort of students graduated in 1986. Val Martin (who set up and ran the Worcester Workshop) was one of these.The course was run at two centres Evesham College with Grace McQuaid as tutor and at Watford with Violet Brand as tutor. 

From here many workshops came into existence, but all these years later we still come up against barriers which allow Educational Authorities to refuse children the right to personalised teaching.  

Alice shared she thinks HWDA should stand for Victor, Tim and Margaret who made the all this happen.

HWDA exists due to its highly experienced, passionate tutors and volunteers
many giving years, even decades of their time, Val Martin aforementioned, others after their own retirement from the Learning Support Teams at the LA,  Victoria Crivelli and Linda Adey ( supported by her husband Geoff) who retired after 30 years, to return recently when the charity was in need.  Victoria Crivelli, set up the previous invaluable support group in Worcester , with Frances Browne, educating professionals and parents alike, with guest speakers and their own knowledge and expertise, providing support, alongside theory. 

By Katrina Kear-Wood, Honorary President HWDA

Previous Newsletters:

The post HWDA, CELEBRATING 50 YEARS: 1976 – 2026. WELCOME TO THE LATEST NEWSLETTER, OCTOBER 2026 appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

The ceremony took place on Wednesday, 7th October at Hereford Cathedral. The work Bev and the team do to support young people with dyslexia in Herefordshire is invaluable, helping children and young people build confidence, develop their skillsand reach their potential. We are very proud that Bev and her team were runners up for the Best Community Project or Group Award, a testimony to the dedication of our tutors. A wonderful achievement and a brilliant way to celebrate the impact of HWDA’s work during Dyslexia Awareness Week.

The post Hereford Workshop: Shortlisted Finalist in the Hereford Times Community Awards 2026 appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

The theme, Dyslexia in real life: At work, will look at how recruitment, communication, workplace systems, management and access to adjustments can affect dyslexic employees. 

Dyslexia is often associated with school, reading and spelling, but it is lifelong and can affect many parts of working life. This may include completing applications, processing information, managing workloads, using workplace systems and progressing in a career. 

For more information about what activities and events the British Dyslexia Association are running for this year’s DAW follow this link: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/support-us/awareness-events

As HWDA celebrates its 50th anniversary, we continue to share inspirational stories of students, friends and families past and present.

The theme of the 2024 Dyslexia Awareness Week was What’s Your Story? HWDA believes that sharing the personal stories of our students, families, friends and members of the wider community is an effective and inspirational way of raising awareness of dyslexia. We have already compiled a great selection of ‘stories’ but we will continue to add to the interesting and varied accounts as an ongoing, long-term project. We look forward to sharing as many My Story accounts as possible during HWDA’s celebrations for its 50th anniversary year in 2026 so please share yours if you can. We were delighted to share the stories so far on a presentation at the 2025 AGM. Follow this link to watch it: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGpSmAVw5E/nP_srt-92wYA8dCSImvPHQ/edit?utm_content=DAGpSmAVw5E&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

My Story: You can share your own story by sending us a photo of yourself doing something you enjoy / are good at doing or a picture or a model which represents your strengths. The possibilities are endless: Lego model, cake making, painting, sports achievements… Add a few sentences to explain what your story is. Please share your story by sending it to media@hwda.org.uk

As well as your own story, you might like to share those of dyslexic family members and friends. You might like to ‘interview’ them. If you would like to make a short video that would also be great.

HWDA Students: Ask your Senior Tutor for a form that can be signed to give permission for us to share any stories on our social media platforms.

Have a look at some of the stories we have so far. These include those of current and former students, family and friends. There are also updates on what past students are doing now and how HWDA helped them achieve their goals.

At the 2026 AGM, tribute was paid to two former parents with long-term associations at Bromsgrove Workshop.

The post Dyslexia Awareness Week 5-11 October HWDA Students, Friends and Families Share Their Stories appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

Bromsgrove Dyslexia Workshop is celebrating 40 years of supporting children with dyslexia through specialist multi-sensory teaching.

80 pupils, their families and tutors from the past and present, reunited to celebrate.

Why dyslexia awareness matters

More than one in ten people have dyslexia, often without others realising. In school, dyslexic pupils may disengage to avoid attention, sit quietly at the back, or struggle to write down answers they already know.

In 1976, 50 years ago, a group of concerned parents, teachers and eminent professionals founded Hereford and Worcester Dyslexia Association  (HWDA) to spread awareness about this little-known condition, which affected so many people.  HWDA decided that dyslexic children should be taught in a way that suited their learning style and so our teaching workshops were born. 

The Bromsgrove workshop started in 1986. It is one of three HWDA – workshops – Bromsgrove, Hereford and Worcester.

What do we do that’s so different?

Our lessons are fun, structured and multi-sensory. Because dyslexic learners often benefit from repetition and varied activities, we use games and practical approaches to reinforce learning without making practise feel repetitive. We teach children 6 – 18 years of age, in matched pairs or very small groups, taught by the same tutor each week, in a relaxed friendly atmosphere of camaraderie. Students can see they are not the only ones struggling. Self-confidence is often first to improve, and parents find a supportive ear. 

We have no catchment area, if you can reach us, we can teach you. We want to expand the Bromsgrove Dyslexia Workshop to accommodate all the pupils who need our help, so we are looking for new tutors who have an interest and experience in supporting children with dyslexia.  

You can get help and information from the HWDA website https://hwda.org.uk/  and by emailing Linda Adey, Bromsgrove’s Senior Tutor at: seniortutorbromsgrove@hwda.org.uk

Caitlyn Kennedy-Lockwood and Mark Hadley, who attended the workshop together in their childhood, met up again and now bring more family and children to HWDA for help with dyslexia. Successful in their chosen careers, Caitlyn is a nurse at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and you might recognise Mark as he appeared on TV Master Chef 2016.

The post HWDA 50th Anniversary Celebrations: Bromsgrove Workshop’s Double Anniversaries appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

The weather was glorious and everyone had a great time. Thank you to all who supported the event.

Families brought their own picnics and played games in the beautiful grounds of the Countryside Park.

The post HWDA 50th Anniversary Celebrations: Family Picnic and Treasure Hunt at the Worcester Workshop Site, Saturday 11th July 2026 appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

Hereford Senior Tutor, Bev and her team had decorated the room beautifully to reflect the golden element of the celebration and food was prepared by tutors and friends of HWDA as well as staff at the centre. Everyone was treated to a delicious buffet, cakes, desserts and coffee whilst they worked their way through the questions on a golden-themed quiz which Bev had devised.

Bev’s daughter, Rhiannon serenaded us on her flute during a break in the quiz which was eventually won (after three attempts at a tiebreaker), by one very happy family.

Some wonderful raffle prizes had been donated by friends of the association as well as local businesses. Special thanks go to Asda, The Matrix and Flip Out for their support and sponsorship. Four holders of “Golden Tickets” were able to select some very special golden prizes.

As you can see from the photographs, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was a fitting start to HWDA’s 50th Anniversary celebrations. Thank you HWS!

The post HWDA 50th Anniversary Celebrations: Family Quiz Night at Hereford Workshop appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

Alice was one of the early founders of HWDA in the late 1970s and gave a talk on the origins and history of our association.

Bertie has raised money for our charity through sponsored cycle rides and shared his family’s story on how dyslexia has impacted them – a story that will be very familiar to our families too.

There was a slideshow of some of the wonderful things HWDA has been up to since the last HWDA – a small snapshot of the work, fundraising and networking we do alongside the fun and learning! Click on the link to see the slideshow.

Linda Adey, Bromsgrove’s Senior Tutor, gave a moving tribute to Grace Shepherd who sadly died on April 1st this year. Grace, pictured with her family, (second from left) had been the Parent Rep and a stalwart of Bromsgrove Workshop for many years. This is Linda’s tribute:

There is a lot I don’t know about Grace, when she was born, a middle name. But what I do know has made me want to stand here today to celebrate the part of her life I did know about. 

Grace was a wonderful woman who was always at her husband John’s side. She would do anything to support her two sons who were severely dyslexic. Indeed, it was an anecdote about her eldest son that I included in my many talks about dyslexia (of course with Grace’s permission) – the clever boy, who at the age of nine, couldn’t spell his own name … and his name was Tim. This would always make the audience gasp, but I would always conclude that both he and his younger brother Will went to Loughborough university and gained first class honours degrees in Civil engineering. 

Grace was so very proud. 

I hope that as an adult Tim would take pleasure from knowing that those few words gave hope to thousands of families over the decades. 

I remember well when Will came back to the Workshop to give an inspiring talk to our study skills groups about Life After School, where (amongst other things) he remembered strategies he had learned at the workshop which had been so helpful. 

They say that a friend comes into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime! The first two describe my friendship with Grace. 

I think I first met Grace in 1990 across a table at an HWDA committee meeting. I do not recall her having a specific role on the Committee but she was proactive, full of ideas and always offering her time. She stayed on the committee long after her boys had left the Workshop and, even when she did retire from the committee, she would always support our special events and fundraisers.

Grace was my mentor.  In those early days, I was like many of you, a young mum with a dyslexic son. I was so worried.

I had just become Senior Tutor at our Bromsgrove Workshop. Grace’s boys were a few years older than mine so whenever I reached a hurdle, Grace had already mastered it and was happy to share her knowledge. This is something I have always tried to emulate. When talking to parents I remember well my search for someone with knowledge and a sympathetic ear. I would like to think that I have followed in Grace’s footsteps in this respect. 

I wish I could say that I had been Grace’s friend for a lifetime but our paths parted and life got in the way, but we continued to exchange Christmas cards and hers would always contain some encouraging words about my continued life with dyslexia. 

I was very sad to hear of Grace’s passing but not at all surprised that, even at the end, she remembered us by asking for donations for HWDA. 

Thank you Grace, and Rest in Peace. 

Linda has also paid tribute to Grace McQuaid, another key contributor to the development of the HWDA. Grace died last year but her legacy will live on in all she achieved.

This is Linda’s tribute:

Sadly, a very great lady in the world of dyslexia died last year. 

It is over a hundred years since the word dyslexia was coined to describe the difficulties experienced by those people who struggle with literacy. But still, in the early 1970s, there was no mention of it when I trained as a teacher. 

In 1976, a group of concerned professionals and parents formed the Hereford and Worcester Dyslexia Association to raise awareness, stand up to conventional thinking and improve the lot of dyslexics. 

Grace McQuaid was there. 

In her classroom she pioneered new strategies like Words in Colour, but realised that not all dyslexics were helped by the same methods. She came to understand that dyslexics were all different and needed different strategies to help them thrive. 

She also realised that there was no framework for training teachers how to teach these vulnerable children. And what’s more there seemed to be no one even looking at how this could be achieved!

So, encouraged by fellow HWDA committee member, Victor Booth who worked for Worcestershire LEA, Grace spent five years of her life putting together a training course for teachers, which became the RSA Diploma course for teachers of SpLD. 

In 1985 there were three pilot centres at Evesham, Harrow and Watford – the first courses of their kind in the UK, the gold standard. Over the decades, thousands of teachers (myself included) will have gone on to support hundreds of thousands of dyslexics, giving them  the chance of a better future. They all owe such a lot to Grace McQuaid. 

One of Grace’s students, Margaret Newton, went on to devise the Aston Portfolio and the Aston Index, a tool for teachers to assess their dyslexic pupils. Margaret too was instrumental in the growth and success of the young HWDA. 

Another of her students was Keith Holland. He founded the UK’s first in-house visual therapy clinic in Cheltenham, and also  the British Association of Behavioural Optometrists. He attended Grace’s course so that he would understand dyslexia and the children he was aiming to help.

Peter Blythe, who founded the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP) in Chester in 1975, which assessed the links between early movement, primitive reflexes, and learning difficulties, also worked with Grace in Worcester forming assessment and support materials. 

As an Association, we will always be eternally grateful to Grace and her fellow pioneers who, only half a century ago, battled against convention to get some kind of justice for dyslexics. 

Grace’s legacy was phenomenal. 

Thank you to Ian, Grace’s son, and Frances, Grace’s friend and HWDA tutor, for filling in the gaps. 

Gallery of pictures from the AGM

The post HWDA 2026 Annual General Meeting appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

We are very proud of her efforts to support other children and if you would like to make a donation there is a Just Giving link to the Little Princess Trust via the QR code on the poster below:

We will update you with Chloe’s new hairstyle in the autumn term…

The post HWDA Student Chloe Supports the Little Princess Trust appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

The post Tutor Vacancies at Bromsgrove and Worcester Workshops appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.

The Dyscalculia Network are holding many events over the week including this webinar for parents. There is a small cost – tickets can be bought via the link below:

Understanding Maths Learning Difficulties: Supporting Secondary Learners Tickets, Wednesday, Mar 4 from 7 pm to 8 pm GMT | Eventbrite

Further information about the Dyscalculia Network can be found here:

Dyscalculia Network | Leading Support Network for Dyscalculia

The post Dyscalculia Day: Parent Webinar 4th March 2026 appeared first on Hereford & Worcester Dyslexia Association.