THE amazing Redditch ensemble ‘It’s A Sign’ have won through to the final of the Redditch Has Talent competition.
Formed just three years ago, the group for intellectually disabled has blazed a trail around the borough and beyond, winning plaudits wherever they have gone.
And leader Lorraine Hidderley says the passion and dedication of It’s A Sign members has totally humbled her.
“I thought when I first went to work with adults that here was an opportunity to make an impact and I could help change them and instead it’s them who have changed me,” she said.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to work with them.”
It’s A Sign use sign language to ‘sing’ the words of hit songs, while performing their dance routines.
“I started to learn sign language years ago after my husband died,” said Lorraine, from Astwood Bank.
“Ken Boyce was the deaf community vicar then and we were taught these simple songs. I then went on to college to learn more – it was inspiring.”
Lorraine frequently found herself at the front of the congregation, signing hymns and discovered people were moved by the experience.
She started working with adults with learning disabilities and after leaving the local authority set up It’s A Sign.
“Without a doubt it’s the most amazing thing I do,” she said.
Two years ago the group entered Redditch Has Talent without success, although they were asked to perform at the interval. Undaunted, they tried again for 2018 and to their utter delight have made the final. “They performed a modern version of ‘Amazing Grace’ and Bruno Mars’s ‘Just The Way You Are’ and the judges loved it,” said Lorraine.
It’s A Sign meet at St Benedict’s Hall in Rowan Road, 6.30pm to 7.30pm every Thursday.
Lorraine is also starting a ‘Sign + Dance’ session for all children to learn to sign songs at 360 Play in the Kingfisher Centre. It starts on Thursday, April 12 from 4.30pm to 5.30pm.
The final of Redditch Has Talent will be on Thursday, June 28 at the Palace Theatre.
