Film will be emotional for Rich (From Evesham Journal)

Film will be emotional for Rich

7:40am Thursday 3rd February 2011 in News

WHAT do Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Willis and Rowan Atkinson have in common? Give up?

The answer is that they have all struggled with a stutter or stammer during their life.

The condition has been brought firmly into the public eye recently thanks to the huge success of the film The King’s Speech.

Starring Colin Firth, the film tells the story of King George IV who was thought unfit to be king because of his stammer and how a speech therapist taught him to find his voice.

A similarly inspiring story about triumph over adversity and a man who battled to enjoy what millions of us take for granted every day – the ability to speak with confidence – can be found a lot closer to home.

Rich Whincup of Walton Cardiff, near Tewkesbury, had a chronic stammer from the minute he learned to talk, which made his schooling and personal life a mighty struggle, although he says he felt lucky to have huge support from family and friends.

“Some people can hide a stammer, but mine was so severe that I couldn’t do that. My friends, most of which I still know now, were always very understanding and the teachers were supportive. They afforded me extra time in French lessons and excused me from reading aloud in class. In registration I could just make I noise if I wanted,” he said.

Rich was head boy at the Cotswold School in Bourton and went on to marry his childhood sweetheart Vicki, who was head girl. However on the school’s speech day he was unable to fulfill one of the big roles of being head boy, making the big speech.

The stammer become worse and worse and Rich began thinking of coping strategies such as cue cards to help him order train and cinema tickets.

As he became more depressed at the situation he was faced with, at the age of 19, his life was changed dramatically after he spotted a business card in Stow, offering speech therapy classes.

Initially sceptical, Rich decided to give it a go. “I couldn’t talk about my stammer it was kind of a taboo subject.

“It is a very personal thing to do and some of the people on the course didnt even tell their wives they were going.”

The therapy was the McGuire Programme – a course which allows those with a stammer to control their speech.

Attendees are taken away from their family for an intensive four-day course and not allowed contact with their nearest and dearest during that time.

The course deals with breathing techniques and how to use the two sections of the diaphragm.

Strategies include expanding the chest to allow a more powerful breath and a louder voice and lowering the tone of the voice.

As I watched a video of the teenage Rich on his first day of the course trying desperately to voice something as seemingly simple as his name and address into a camera and struggling to get the words out, it was incredible to think this was the same confident and lucid speaker sitting across the table from me.

The course was life altering for the father of two and he is now a tutor on the course, helping others to overcome their stammers.

“There is no greater satisfaction that seeing a group of 16 to 20 young people, who have struggled to even say their name on a Wednesday; control their speech by the weekend,” he said.

He also has his own radio show on NCCR – North Cotswold Community Radio – fulfilling a life long ambition and one which he never though possible.

“After doing an interview on-air with Radio Gloucestershire I was told I was a natural and the advice was to get into community radio first. I spoke to NCCR who kinldy offered me my own show.

“It has been going well so far. I don’t think about my speech at all when I am on radio. It is huge for me and something I never thought possible.

“The course has also allowed me to read bedtime stories to my two sons Luke and Tom which is really incredible.”

Rich has not seen The Kings Speech yet but admits it will be an emotional journey for him as just watching the trailer had him ‘all choked up.’ There is hope that with the film bringing the stammer or stutter into the public eye will help educate people about the condition allowing them a clearer idea of the struggles it presents.

With an inspirational figure like Rich helping a new generation of young people to have the courage to overcome their problems and go on to lead happier and more fulsome lives there is a bright future ahead for everyone affected by a stammer.

l The Rich Whincup Show on the North Cotswold Community Radio can be heard by visiting northcotswoldonline.com on Wednesdays from 8pm-10pm.

l For more information on the McGuire Programme, visit mcguireprogramme.com