Comedian presents student with award for campaign to highlight plight of fellow stammerers

STUDENT Georgie Simpson-Silo has been presented with an award by comedian Michael Palin for her work highlighting the plight of young people with a stammer.

The 18-year-old, a student at Richard Taunton Sixth Form College in Southampton, has stammered her whole life and said the condition has affected her confidence since she was at primary school.

For the last two years she has been a member of the Action For Stammering Children Youth Panel, which aims to raise awareness of stammering. “We have run media campaigns, helped schools become stammer aware and all sorts,” she said.

“The charity gives a voice to young people who stammer. I created some hold up stammering cards for children and I also created a piano composition for ASC too which raised over £500.”

Georgie, who lives in the New Forest and attended The Gregg School in Southampton before college, has been having private speech therapy since she was ten but also went on courses at the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering in London. The centre has annual awards for young people and, after being nominated by her regular speech therapist, she was invited along.

She said: “The award was a huge surprise, I never expected to win an award ever so it was honestly very lovely that my speech and language therapist nominated me.

“I think a lot of us who stammer sometimes don’t realise how much we have achieved so it was really nice to have recognition of that. I just do my work for the love of helping others and wanting to give back to the therapists that have helped me.”

The centre was set up by the NHS and the Association for Research into Stammering Childhood in 1993. The comedian lent his name to the centre after playing Ken, an assassin with a stammer, in the comedy film A Fish Called Wanda.

“He has a very kind and warm presence, I didn’t really feel nervous around him either which is a first because I was so nervous before going,” said Georgie. “He had great humour as well, he cares truly about the centre and everyone’s achievements. It was lovely.”

She said growing up with a stammer had been difficult. “My stammer personally from a young age was very noticeable and a few times in primary school people would copy my stammer or think I was nervous when I wasn’t,” she said.

“Even a teacher once laughed and copied me. I never wanted to put my hand up in class and I always kind of hid myself away and liked my alone time.”

She has just finished her last year of a health and social care level 3 NVQ course at Richard Taunton and will be going to Leeds Beckett University in September to study BSc Speech and Language Therapy.

She said she is grateful for the support staff and students have given her at Richard Taunton Sixth Form College.

“I felt at ease at college when stammering because the class were very patient as well as the teachers which really helped,” she said. “College enabled me to improve my confidence and come out of that shell that I hid in at secondary school.

“Also, the canteen staff saw that I stammered and were always patient with me and, as I order the same thing at break time, they helped me out sometimes by pointing to it to make life easier. Saying ‘could I have a flapjack please’ can be a real challenge sometimes.”

Richard Taunton principal Paul Swindale said Georgie’s courage and determination has been an inspiration to staff and fellow students. “We are all really delighted that her selfless work for others has been rewarded in this way.

“Georgie has been an exemplary student and made a real contribution to college life. We shall all miss her and we wish her the very best in the next step in her career journey.”