Miss-Delectable
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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=641836
Marlene Rayner talks about her chat with the Queen in the same matter-of-fact way she speaks of her many deaf friends.
Marlene, who was awarded the MBE last year for her work as private secretary to Chris Woodhead when he was head of Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education), told me she was entranced by the manner in which the Queen spoke to her.
"I had an interpreter with me for the palace ceremony," she says. "But the Queen ignored her and kept her eyes on me all the way through the little talk.
"It's not the first time I've met her and we chatted for five minutes at a recent garden party, but she has that wonderful knack of ignoring your deafness and making you feel she really enjoys meeting you."
Promotion to private secretary is not easy and Marlene told me that as the only deaf person in the Ofsted office she had to learn not to play on her disability but to be positive and assertive in the nicest way.
Chris Woodhead was good to her and very supportive, but she had to demonstrate that her deafness was no reason to stop her doing the job to the best of her ability.
She explains: "I made it clear from the start that I wanted to be treated the same as everyone else and that I could do the job as well as they. I helped some of the other staff learn sign language, but I also felt that there is more than enough talk about deaf awareness and that it's time for deaf people who want to make a success in business and life to talk more about hearing awareness and how we can fit in".
Marlene now lives in London and called to see us while visiting her mother in the Ballymena area, as well as meeting up with friends in Belfast.
We have known her since schooldays at Jordanstown and she was one of the many lovely young deaf girls from the province snapped up by English admirers.
She married David and made new friends across the water but never forgot her Northern Ireland roots.
The couple's 30 years of marriage were very happy and both were active in the emerging Deaf Christian Fellowship, but seven years ago and without any warning, David collapsed and died on the way home from work. "It was some genetic flaw in the family," says Marlene. "David was only 57. We had arranged for him to meet me at Sainsbury's to pick up the weekly shopping and in those days before mobiles became prevalent I suffered a whole evening of torment before the police came to the door at midnight to tell me David had been found unconscious and died a few minutes after entering hospital."
Marlene is candid about the pain of her loss but says her Christian faith has been a great comfort. "I miss David's presence and help not just in the daily chores such as washing the dishes and mowing the lawn, but also in those endearing little demonstrations of love, such as bringing me a cup of tea after a tiring day at work."
Marlene Rayner talks about her chat with the Queen in the same matter-of-fact way she speaks of her many deaf friends.
Marlene, who was awarded the MBE last year for her work as private secretary to Chris Woodhead when he was head of Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education), told me she was entranced by the manner in which the Queen spoke to her.
"I had an interpreter with me for the palace ceremony," she says. "But the Queen ignored her and kept her eyes on me all the way through the little talk.
"It's not the first time I've met her and we chatted for five minutes at a recent garden party, but she has that wonderful knack of ignoring your deafness and making you feel she really enjoys meeting you."
Promotion to private secretary is not easy and Marlene told me that as the only deaf person in the Ofsted office she had to learn not to play on her disability but to be positive and assertive in the nicest way.
Chris Woodhead was good to her and very supportive, but she had to demonstrate that her deafness was no reason to stop her doing the job to the best of her ability.
She explains: "I made it clear from the start that I wanted to be treated the same as everyone else and that I could do the job as well as they. I helped some of the other staff learn sign language, but I also felt that there is more than enough talk about deaf awareness and that it's time for deaf people who want to make a success in business and life to talk more about hearing awareness and how we can fit in".
Marlene now lives in London and called to see us while visiting her mother in the Ballymena area, as well as meeting up with friends in Belfast.
We have known her since schooldays at Jordanstown and she was one of the many lovely young deaf girls from the province snapped up by English admirers.
She married David and made new friends across the water but never forgot her Northern Ireland roots.
The couple's 30 years of marriage were very happy and both were active in the emerging Deaf Christian Fellowship, but seven years ago and without any warning, David collapsed and died on the way home from work. "It was some genetic flaw in the family," says Marlene. "David was only 57. We had arranged for him to meet me at Sainsbury's to pick up the weekly shopping and in those days before mobiles became prevalent I suffered a whole evening of torment before the police came to the door at midnight to tell me David had been found unconscious and died a few minutes after entering hospital."
Marlene is candid about the pain of her loss but says her Christian faith has been a great comfort. "I miss David's presence and help not just in the daily chores such as washing the dishes and mowing the lawn, but also in those endearing little demonstrations of love, such as bringing me a cup of tea after a tiring day at work."