A Chatteris man who has hearing difficulties is able to keep fit and healthy thanks to celebrity personal trainer Joe Wicks’ fitness videos.

Matt Wheeler has been benefitting from the service after the Cambridgeshire Deaf Association teamed up with Wicks to add British sign language and subtitles to his videos.

Matt is now undertaking translation from home and, with the help of a transcriber, can follow along with subtitles.

The aim of this is to help more deaf people in Cambridgeshire and beyond to stay fit and active during the lockdown, whilst having fun at the same time.

Andy Palmer, from the Cambridgeshire Deaf Association said: “Matt Wheeler, from Chatteris, undertook the translation at home, with a green screen, and volunteer transcriber, Susan Williams, from Quick Brown Fox transcription service, provided the subtitles for free. I really cannot thank them enough.”

Personal trainer Wicks has been helping children keep up with their daily exercise by filming daily PE sessions live from his living room and posting them onto his YouTube channel ‘The Body Coach TV’.

Palmer added: “Joe was great about it and he immediately saw the benefit of it for the deaf and hard of hearing. It’s important for everyone to keep fit during this difficult time and this will give them access to Joe’s incredible workouts.

“Lots of online information is not accessible to sign language users and many deaf and hard of hearing people are feeling isolated during this lockdown, so we are delighted that the fitness coach is working with us on this.”

The CDA, established over 100 years ago, supports over 300 deaf and hard of hearing people in the county through advocacy, support, personal care and social and sports activities. They now have over 200 accessible British sign language videos on their website, on a range of topics.

The charity also works with other organisations to help make their services accessible to deaf people, as well as holding deaf drop-in events to provide support for those combatting isolation.

Like many charities at this time CDA are struggling for funding and would welcome any donations to allow them to carry on helping the deaf and hard of hearing in the county.

To donate, go to https://cambsdeaf.org/get-involved/give-now/.