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Norwich Passion Play to be signed for the deaf 

The Norwich Passion Play on April 16 will be accessible to the Norfolk deaf community thanks to the work of local charity Sign the Cross and local Methodist minister Rev Anne Richardson.


To enable deaf people who use BSL to access the Passion Play, Celebrate Norfolk have arranged for a BSL/ English interpreter to be present for the 3pm performance, which starts at Hay Hill in the city centre. The 11am performance will not be signed.
 
This has been facilitated by Sign the Cross, a specialised ministry for the deaf community, supported by the Methodist Church.
 
Rev Anne Richardson, the minister for the Deaf Church, and a Methodist Minister for the Central Norfolk Circuit based in Dereham, is been keen to make this happen. Anne has also interpreted for the well-known passion play staged at Trafalgar Square in London and knows the impact such a visual occasion has on the deaf community. 
 
“The Easter Story is at the heart of our faith and yet so many people do not have the opportunity to read it and understand it,” said Anne. “Deaf people often have a preference for the visual and having this event dramatized in Norwich will bring it alive in a new way.”
 
The Deaf Church meets in Norwich on the first Saturday of the month, and there are other Deaf Christian groups in the region including in Dereham and Downham Market.

www.signthecross.com
 
Pictured above is Rev Anne Richardson who will be interpreting the Norwich Passion Play for the deaf community.