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BSL tours run three times a year, Easter Saturday, August (usually Bank Holiday) and 29^th December.Ìý If you want to go as part of a deaf group, tours can be organised on request via the Cathedral.Ìý For details follow this link:

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On today's show Radha took a day-trip to Cardiff to check out some new technology aimed at improving access for Deaf visitors to Cardiff Castle. ÌýWith history at their fingertips, BSL users can do a personal tour around the Castle at their own pace holding their own BSL console. Ìý

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Cardiff Castle is one of Wales' leading historical attractions.Ìý During 2000 years of history, the Castle has been a Roman Garrison, a Norman stronghold and in Victorian times was transformed into a gothic fairytale fantasy.Ìý Excavations inside the boundary walls suggest that the Roman legions arrived in the area as early as the first half of the reign of the Emperor Nero (A.D. 54-68).Ìý The Normans concentrated their efforts into defensive works building a 'motte', or mound, 40 feet high, and surrounding it with a moat.Ìý A timber stockade built on top gave shelter and protection to the wooden buildings which housed the lord, his household and his garrison. ÌýIn 1865 Lord Bute invited architect William Burges to present a report on the state of the Castle; it was the beginning of a great partnership that was to last for sixteen years, and the Castle was transformed into a Neo Gothic dream palace.ÌýÌý For more information follow the link below:

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We also continued our journey tracing the development of British Sign Language, picking up the story just as sign language has been banned from the classroom.Ìý

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Following the Conference of Milan (1880), a Royal Commission was set up by the British government to investigate which teaching method was the best, sign language or oralism.ÌýÌýThe Commission travelled around Europe and Britain and met with deaf and hearing teachers.Ìý After much research the commission decided in favour of the oral method - it should be made available to every child in Britain and sign language banished from the classroom.Ìý As a direct result of the Royal Commission's decision, and in an attempt to defend the language and use of signing in education, The British Deaf and Dumb Assoc (BDDA) was set up in 1890.Ìý School culture also changed at this time.Ìý Deaf pupils were separated into those who might benefit from oralism and those who would not.Ìý Teaching methods involved the teacher every day painstakingly demonstrating the sounds through vibrations and the child arduously copying them again and again.Ìý For many the classroom became a daily struggle to understand and there's evidence to suggest that deaf literacy declined as a result.

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Although sign language was frowned upon in schools, outside of education sign language thrived via deaf clubs and the missions set up in the 19^th Century.Ìý Thanks to them sign language continued to flourish.ÌýÌý The BDDA developed strong links through sports, and with new and easy transport links, a deaf network began to form as deaf people sought to spend time together.Ìý It's though these deaf clubs that deaf culture went from strength to strength.

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Next week Clark Denmark concludes his journey bringing the story of BSL right up to date with the campaign for BSL recognition.

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On today's programme we visit the RoyalAcademy for Deaf Education in Exeter. The school has long been synonymous with deaf cultural heritage and now, with plans in the pipeline for cutting-edge new premises, it's all set for to become a model for deaf schools of the future too. See Hear takes a look at the academy - past, present and future.

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And, as the way deaf children are taught in schools has changed over the years so has the way British Sign Language has evolved. In the second of a four-part series we pick up the BSL story from the early 18^th century onwards.

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Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, wrote a story with a deaf character: The History and the Life and Adventures of Mr Duncan Campbell and illustrated it with a 2 handed alphabet.Ìý It was so modern that a person today could easily converse with a deaf person from the 1720s without any problem.

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The mid 18^th Century brought the Industrial Revolution and great change.Ìý People flocked to towns from outlying rural areas to find work in the new large factories. This rapid expansion also brought deaf people from the rural areas, often for the first time, who started the first deaf communities. The dense urban population meant overcrowded conditions and disease epidemics, such as measles and mumps which can cause deafness, were rife.Ìý This meant deaf communities in towns grew rapidly.ÌýÌý

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As deaf communities grew there was a need for education. Thomas Braidwood founded the first school for the deaf in 1760 in Edinburgh.Ìý The school's success became a model for many later schools across the UK.Ìý These newer schools were established under Braidwood's influence as he trained his sons and nephews to spread his methods, and were kept a closely guarded family secret.Ìý Braidwood used different communication methods to suit each individual child depending on their ability, either finger spelling, signing, lip reading or speech.

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The use of sign language in schools spread, but during the Victorian era people started to criticise the flagging standards in deaf schools.Ìý Teaching methods had remained the same for 100 years and now new teaching methods were wanted, amongst them oralism.Ìý Oralism had been used since the 16^th Century but the real push towards oralism began in 1858 in Manchester, when a Dutchman came over and gave a demonstration of lessons conducted entirely orally which impressed many and so the method spread.Ìý Germany had developed an oral system, France a sign system and Britain was somewhere in the middle.Ìý Pressure was growing until finally in 1880 sign language was put on trial in Milan at a Conference for teachers of the deaf and from then on everything changed.

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The Milan Conference of 1880 was meant to be a discussion on many topics and all methods used to teach deaf children. ÌýBut oralists dominated - demonstrating the success of oralism with a group of deaf speaking children giving recitals and answering questions.Ìý In those days travelling long distances was not easy so only a few people attended, with a few representatives from Germany, France, the UK and Italy.Ìý Discussions at the conference concluded that oralism was the best teaching method because of the evidence provided e.g. Italian schools with deaf Italian children pronouncing Italian well.Ìý ÌýFor British and American children, English is harder to speak as so many words are difficult to pronounce, but the conference was impressed as the Italian children were fluent.Ìý When it was voted upon at the end of the conference the hammer fell heavily - 10-1 in favour of oralism.Ìý Oralism was in and sign was out.Ìý

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After the conference the media had a field day reporting that "deafness was abolished".Ìý This was the Victorian era, a time of new ideas and advancements, a time of strict decorum and it was felt that sign language just didn't fit in.Ìý Signing was banned from the classroom.

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Next time we continue our journey following the History of Sign Language and its struggle for survival as it went underground

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Also, this coming weekend (17^th - 19^th March 2010), is Sport Relief Weekend when people all over the UK will be taking part in a wide variety of sporting events to raise cash to help transform the lives of people both here and across the world. We visit the Deaf Connections project in Glasgow to see how it has benefitted from Sport Relief funding in the past.Ìý

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Ten years ago Graham Moxon lost the hearing in his right ear as a result of a virus.Ìý At the time it didn't impact on his life too radically.Ìý But last summer overnight, Graham totally lost his hearing.Ìý He shared his story with See Hear and told us how he'd adapted his life to accommodate his sudden deafness.Ìý Our cameras were there at the pivotal moment when Graham discovered whether or not he was suitable for a cochlear implant, an operation on which he was pinning his hopes.Ìý Graham started writing a blog to document his own story:

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We find out how young jockey, Philip Prince, overcame the hurdles in his way to win his battle with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and become officially recognised as an amateur competitor.Ìý Philip was born with a condition that caused him to have only one ear.Ìý Sound could get in and though he had a hearing aid in his younger years he coped better without.Ìý He then got into pony riding and racing.Ìý Racing was something that he could do the same as anybody else.Ìý After a promising career in pony racing Philip suffered a massive blow.Ìý The BHA denied him a jockey's licence as they felt his poor hearing could make him unsafe in a race.Ìý He appealed and after a long fightÌýhe made his debut as an amateur jockey inÌýDecember 2009.

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Also, there's another chance to explore the fascinating story of British Sign Language in the first of a four-part series with Clark Denmark.

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Research into the history of British Sign Language is difficult as it has no written form.Ìý Evidence of its early use was reported by hearing observers who came across signing and recorded their impressions. ÌýThe first factual evidence emerges in the 8^th Century when scholarly monk the Venerable Bede left records. ÌýIt's thought that monks may have developed signing to communicate with each other having taken a vow of silence. ÌýThe signs were nothing like those used today.Ìý

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Fast forward to 1576 and the first ever written record showing evidence of sign language connected to deaf people is in the Leicester Parish Archives.Ìý Deaf man Thomas Tilsye, used signs at his wedding to Ursula Russell.Ìý Back then signing was accepted in law and by the church just like the spoken and written word.Ìý The records show that Tilsye used gestures such as the tolling of the bell for 'til death us do part' in the wedding vows.

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1595 is the next written evidence of signing.Ìý Richard Carew details in a history of Cornwall how a deaf man Edward Bone, servant to an MP, signed to his boss and to his deaf friend John Kempe.Ìý Carew writes that Bone communicated in different styles with each man.Ìý This was the first description of natural deaf language.Ìý

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From roughly the 1640s most of the evidence of sign seems to be in the form of finger spelling. ÌýA possible reason for this is that finger spelling is related to English which meant it was easier for hearing people to access and to record.Ìý One of the most intriguing records is in a book from 1641 - "Mercury the Secret and Swift Messenger" - which has some of the earliest records of finger spelling.Ìý But these records are not about deaf people but its use by spies during the English Civil War.Ìý The military realised that finger spelling could be used by spies to communicate secret messages to each other. ÌýÌýOne particularly ancient method described in the book is Arthrologie - the first form of finger spelling. ÌýÌýThis guide for spies clearly showed the roots of the modern BSL alphabet using the same vowels as today.

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Next week we continue our journey with the establishment of the first deaf schools and we see whenÌýSign Language went on trial for its very existence.

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