Congratulations to Evelyn Anne Riggs on passing her Music Teachers Board, Performance Keyboard Grade 1 examination, with Merit. Evelyn has been deaf since birth and struggled in early life due to a lack of suitable technology for her type of hearing loss and several failed operations from the age of 10. Then, 40 years ago in 1982, she became one of the first people in the UK to be fitted with a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) that she says transformed her life.

Evelyn has a deep passion for music and learned to play piano and keyboard. She has a beautiful singing voice and is a member of the voice choir at St Clements Church, Poole. Evelyn studied British Sign Language (BSL) part time, at Bournemouth and Poole College, achieving her Level 1 qualification taught by Paul Kirby and continues to develop her skills, attending workshops with WDDA. In 2011 she became one of the founding members of the WDDA Signing Choir, Significance and subsequently, St Clements Signs in Worship Group from 2015.
For both, she is always the first to arrive and last to leave at weekly practices and performances. Her determination, unruffled and stoical character makes her a wonderful role model for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people in performing songs and music in these diverse and expressive forms. Well done Evelyn and all good wishes for your continuing development and sharing of your passion.