IT'S been 10 years since mum-of-two Yinka Dolan created The Warrington Stammering Support Group to help those struggling with the same speech disorder which held her back for years.

The support group which started in July 2007 with just two members now has a total of 28 travelling from all over Warrington and further afield to attend regular meetings at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Yinka, 51, Paddington, said: “I had a lot of issues with my own speech growing up.

"I had therapists and went on a lot of courses so I decided to start a support group to help others with the same problem.

“One of our many achievements is the help the group and I provided to a young man whose stammer and social anxiety were preventing him from applying to university where he would have to give a lot of presentations.

“With the help of myself and the group he went on to gain a degree in business studies and teach English for six weeks in Thailand.”

On top of the regular meetings the group host social events and have attended the last three British Stammering Association conferences where they are able to meet people from the stammering community across the world.

To mark their ten-year anniversary the support group will be holding a telephone skills course on Saturday, October 7, provided by two specialist speech and language therapists from the award-winning City Lit in London.

Yinka added: “We asked our members what they would like to do with the remaining money we received from the lottery last year and a telephone speech course was the most popular choice.

“It’s hard to talk on the phone when you stammer because you haven’t got anyone to see and bounce off, so this workshop will give members the confidence along with the tools and techniques to speak on the phone.

“We have recently managed to secure extra funding from the lottery for the course.”

For more information visit warringtonstammeringsupportgroup.co.uk/ or citylit.ac.uk/courses/specialist-learning/speech-therapy