Newsletter for Autumn/Winter 2009

This information is also available in Braille, on tape or, if you prefer, by e-mail. If you wish to receive your newsletter in any of these formats, give us a call on 01495 763650 and speak to Sam.

Thank you to all of you who have sent in donations or agreed to sign up to our regular giving campaign. As you know we are NOT part of the RNIB or other large organisation and are entirely responsible for our own funding. It is only with your generosity that we remain able to give the services that we do.

Those services include: Rehabilitation (teaching you how to get on with your life despite some of the problems sight loss creates), training (computer, Braille and talking book training amongst other things), Ringaround service where we phone people for a chat on a regular basis, our activities and various clubs, events such as our big technology event, conferences, counselling for those who have just lost their sight and much more besides. We open 10 – 3 Monday to Friday (note not Saturdays). The office is open for phone calls, helpline and meetings from 9.00 - 5.00.

As this year we’ve been unable to send our annual Christmas card, can I also wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.

Sharon Beckett, Chief Executive

Newsletter Contents

Clicking one of the content links below will take you to the relevant section if you do not wish to read the entire newsletter.

Charity Golf Tournament

We held a Charity Golf Tournament at Bryn Meadows Golf Club, in June to raise funds. The day was a great success.

Hugh Phillips won nearest the pin. M Morrison won the longest drive.

Members of the winning team were Mr B Bird, Mr B Nichols, Mr M Bird won first place.

Stuart Thomas, Mark Mountford and Matthew Jones won 2nd place. J Nicholls, D Roman and P Orrow won 3rd price.

In total the day raised in excess of £926.50 which included a generous donation from Barclays Bank.

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Wales and West Vision Conference 2009 by Hilary Lester

Over 100 people attended this year’s conference, ranging from optometrists to social workers. The aim of the day is to enable information on new research to be delivered to professionals and to widen their knowledge.

Sharon Beckett, our Chief Executive, opened the event followed by Mike Brace OBE, from Vision 2020UK. Mike has been blind since the age of ten and gave a delightful view of the misconceptions of sight loss by many people. He spoke about the last time that he was introduced by someone who used a lot of Spoonerisms. He was introduced as a shining wit and wondered if this was meant to be a Spoonerism!

Over the course of the day there were guest speakers, plenty of aids to look at and an opportunity to meet Edwina Hart, Welsh Minister for Health and Social Services.

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Blackwood Resident raises funds for GAB

Clwyd James – Blackwood resident -has made a donation of £400 to Gwent Association for the Blind.

Gwent Association for the Blind has supported Mr James over the last 3 years by providing solutions to everyday problems such as taking tablets and eating meals and reading mail etc. Support worker Wendy Morris has supported Mr James since 2006 and gone above and beyond her role.

Mr James. 83, suffers from Macular Degeneration. He also suffers from other debilitating illnesses such as emphysema and angina. Wendy has been a lifeline in providing support during this difficult time in his life.

The money has been raised from the sale of a booklet, written by Mr James on his memories of the valleys, in particular the Sirhowy Valley area – from Newport to Ynysddu. In the booklet, called “How Green was my Valley” Mr James’ recounts memories his of life in the valleys over the last 80 years. Mr James was aged 14 when he started work in the pit and in later life became a local councillor.

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Bonnie & Clyde Story! This one for all you dog lovers!

Many of you will remember this story from the summer about a dog rescue centre in Norfolk trying to find a new home for a blind sheepdog and its guide dog.

The two border collies, called Bonnie and Clyde, were found roaming on a country road. It was not immediately clear why one followed the other.

Cherie Cootes discovered that Bonnie led Clyde, who had lost his sight because of a degenerative disease. "If Clyde's unsure where he is, he will suddenly go behind Bonnie and put his face on the back of her so she can guide him, he totally relies on her," said Ms Cootes.

"And when she walks she tends to stop and make sure he is there - she does look out for him. When she is about you wouldn't notice he is blind, but when she is not about he refuses to move. There's no option of homing them separately. They've got to go as a pair."

The dogs were found running through Blundeston, near Lowestoft in Suffolk, during a storm in the summer. Neither Clyde, who is thought by the rescue centre workers to be about five years old, nor Bonnie, whose estimated age is two or three, had identifying collars or chips.

We have contacted Meadowgreen Dog Rescue Centre – the dogs have now found a suitable home together. Aaaw!

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A Touch of the Orient

By Nirmala Pisavadia

Gwent Association for the Blind welcomed 14 members of the Newport Chinese Community Centre at Bradbury House on 20th August. The group came with their group leader and interpreter Pat Lin. The purpose of the visit was to learn about the different services that GAB offers and also about how to prevent sight loss through health diet and lifestyle and regular eye examinations.

Nirmala Pisavadia explained to the group about the importance of looking after their eyes and preventing sight loss. People of Chinese origin are more prone to an eye condition called closed angle glaucoma, which is also referred to as acute glaucoma because in this condition the pressure in the eye rises rapidly. This is because the periphery of the iris (the coloured part of the eye) and the front of the eye (cornea) come into contact so that aqueous fluid is not able to reach the tiny drainage channels in the angle between them.

The visit was a huge success and enjoyed by those who visited GAB and felt they learnt a lot in one afternoon!

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BBC launches audio description on i-Player

The BBC has become the first broadcaster in the world to include audio described TV programmes in its video-on-demand service. Around 25 hours per week of the BBC’s audio described programmes are now available on BBC i-Player. Programmes include dramas, comedy and children’s programmes and there are plans to extend coverage of the service to include more weekly broadcast programmes.

Click the following link to get the BBC audio described programmes

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Accessibility Options - Making things easier to see on your computer

Accessibility Programs are useful for vision-impaired, hearing-impaired, or mobility-impaired users. Accessibility Programs include a magnifier, a narrator, an on-screen keyboard, and a utility manager.

To run the Accessibility Wizard:

• Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > Accessibility Wizard.
• Complete the Accessibility Wizard

To use the Magnifier:

The Magnifier helps vision-impaired users by displaying a magnified portion of the screen.

• Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > Magnifier. This opens the Microsoft Magnifier dialog box.
• Click OK. This opens the Magnifier Settings dialog box
• Select the Magnifier settings you want. Minimize the Magnifier Settings dialog box.
• Click Exit on the Magnifier Settings dialog box when you have finished using Magnifier.

To use the Narrator

The Narrator helps vision-impaired or blind users by announcing events on the screen, menu options, text you are typing, or the contents of the active window

• Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > Narrator. This opens the Microsoft Narrator dialog box which will begin reading the contents of the dialog box.
• Click OK. This opens the Narrator dialog box.
• Check the narrator options you want. Minimize the Narrator dialog box.
• Click Exit on the Narrator dialog box when you have finished using Narrator.
• Click Yes to exit.
• Note: Note: To set voice options, click the Voice button on the Narrator dialog box.

For further help ask for Andrew Hillier 01495 763650,

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G P Surgery Questionnaires

Well - what a response! We have never had a response like this to anything we have asked for in the past! We obviously touched a nerve!

The survey results highlighted the fact that many of you need more understanding from the staff in your GP surgeries. In response to this we are offering training to staff at GP Surgeries in order to raise awareness of the needs of patients with visual impairment. We will let you know how this develops.

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Raffle Tickets

It’s that time of year again when we ask for your support in selling raffle tickets. This is a major fundraiser for us and whilst we appreciate that not all of you feel comfortable with this method of raising funds, it provides us with valuable income which enables us to provide support services. If you feel that you are able to sell raffle tickets for us we would be very grateful and in anticipation of your help we have enclosed two books this year.

£300 cash first prize

The draw will take place on Monday 14 December 2009 – just in time for Christmas!!

Please return sold ticket stubs with cash or cheques to us by Friday 11 December 2009 but throw away unwanted tickets. Thank you and Good Luck!

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Useful websites from Mike Pritchard

Mike is one of our service users who uses the internet - he has given us the following sites which he finds useful.

• A useful site that covers a broad range of topics such as podcasts, social networking etc. The White Stick website
• Another useful site that details useful downloads including a free registry cleaner. Useful Downloads
• Occasionally updating software causes problems the site below may help with previous versions of the software that appeared to work.Site to Update Software
• A web site that appears to have all we could possibly need and all at a good price.Good Shopping Site
• Train users including valley lines may find this site of use.Site to Buy Rail Tickets
• Use this web site to find a telephone number including business numbers so long as they have a BT line. Find BT Phone Numbers

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Changing our name......

When people are first diagnosed with sight loss, the word ‘blind’ can be difficult to come to terms with. Sometimes people have thought we couldn’t help them because they had some sight but actually we do help lots of people with good vision as well as those with no sight.

Consequently we’ve decided to change our name, and have settled on the name ‘Sight Support’. This reflects that we are there to support people with sight problems, and also includes our aim to try and prevent people losing their sight in the first place.

We won’t be completing the changeover from one name to another quickly – it was agreed at our AGM in July and the Charity Commission now know us as Sight Support, and over the next few months we will gradually be changing leaflets and information to the new name.

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