green pantone 368 (NHS light green) Blue pantone 300 Black 95%

Devon in Sight Your local sight loss charity Newsletter Autumn 2017 Issue 16

Have you considered Volunteering for in Sight? green pantone 368 (NHS light green) Blue pantone 300 Black 95%

Devon in Sight Your local sight loss charity

Editors Disclaimer Devon in Sight does not endorse Grahame Flynn or recommend any product or [email protected] service that advertises in this Jennie Benham newsletter. [email protected] Press Officer This newsletter is copyright © Andrew Howard Devon in Sight 2017 andrew.howard@ Not for profit organisations are korcommunications.co.uk welcome to use the material in this Designers newsletter. However, we would ask that the source of material is Grahame Flynn & acknowledged. Jennie Benham Cover: Nanette Bolton with Printed by retiring volunteer Joyce Barkla Peninsular One Source Photograph: Grahame Flynn [email protected] Devon Life Magazine cover used Devon in Sight with kind permission of Archant South West. Station House Holman Way Topsham EX3 0EN

Tel: 01392 876 666 [email protected] Devon in Sight is a member of... www.devoninsight.org.uk Registered Charity No 1140978 Company Registration No 07371472

Patron The Dowager Duchess of Devon Newsletter Contents Autumn 2017 Issue 16 Page

A Message from the Chair of Trustees ...... 4 Chief Executive’s Update ...... 6 National News ......

8 Contents News in Brief ...... 9 Devon Life Magazine ...... 10 Expanding our Services to more of Devon . . . . 11 ...... 12 ...... 14 ...... 16 ...... 18 Sight Loss Advisor ...... 20 New Skills for Seeing ...... 22

Training in Partnership ...... 24 Volunteer News ...... 26 Low Vision Drop-in Days ...... 30 Equipment Innovation: OrCam MyEye ...... 32 Community Fundraising...... 34 Membership Matters ...... 36 Friends of Devon in Sight ...... 38 “I have had the privilege of seeing how Devon in Sight makes a real difference to the lives of people with visual impairment.”

Dr Adrian Jacobs Chair

4 A Message from our Chair

I was delighted to become the new Chair of Devon in Sight at our Board meeting on Friday 24th March 2017 when Chris Sumner formally stood down from the role. Over the last few years I have had the privilege of seeing how Devon in Sight makes a real difference to the lives of people with visual impairment. However, despite our recent grant from The BIG Lottery Fund the charity continues to face a big challenge to secure the long term funding streams that it needs to develop and expand its services. I believe that my experience as a General Practitioner and as a Medical Manager will help the Charity through these difficult times. I am passionate about the delivery of high quality services and I believe that my track record shows that I can provide the leadership that will be required to be an effective chair of Devon in Sight. You will see from the pages of this newsletter the huge amount of work that has been achieved by our Chief Executive Officer, Grahame Flynn and his team to form our new Community Support Service. You will also hear about the impact that the new service is having on shaping national sight loss service development. We are also receiving excellent feedback from clients who have been through our new needs assessment - The Sight Loss MOT. The BIG Lottery Fund has been a catalyst for change in the organisation but the funding leaves a short fall which we still need to raise. We continue to achieve excellent results with our Trust and Grants applications and many organisations support us in the local community too. However, we need your help too.

Many of you have asked how you can support us with a regular monthly donation. We are therefore setting up a ‘Friends of Devon in Sight Scheme’. This is a fantastic way for you to help support another person who is blind or visually impaired to receive our help. I would like to finish by expressing my gratitude to our outgoing Chair, Chris Sumner, for all of his work and I look forward to meeting some of you at our AGM in October. Dr Adrian Jacobs Chair 5

It’s been a while since we produced a newsletter here at Chief Devon in Sight but this has been for a very good reason. Quite Executive’s simply recruiting staff and setting up the new Community Support Update Service has meant that we have been too busy! Front line service provision has taken priority.

“If everyone is Our BIG Lottery funding gave us the opportunity to recruit three new moving forward members of staff to the team - Cathy together, then Duffy (Torbay), Robin Felton (West Devon) and Tracey Agutter (East success takes care Devon). They join Helen Head (Mid of itself.” Devon) and our Sight Loss Advisor Nanette Bolton to form our new Henry Ford Community Support Service. American Industrialist You will hear in the pages that follow 1863 - 1947 about our expansion to cover more of the county with 12 Community Sight Loss Hubs and the introduction of our new Sight Loss MOT.

Nationally, the launch of the Vision UK Ambition Statement (See page 8) at National Conference in June clearly articulates where the sight loss sector aspires to be. Devon in Sight is playing its small part in the bigger national picture.

The Visionary Annual Conference Grahame Flynn is being held in Birminham in Chief Executive November. Visionary is the national umbrella membership organisation Officer for local sight loss charities.

6 The theme - Unlocking Potential, Creating Value – recognises that local sight loss charities make a significant difference to the lives of the people they support. We are delighted to have been asked to facilitate a workshop at the conference. We will be sharing the early learning from our Community Support Service in a workshop entitled - ‘The challenges of delivering Sight Loss Services in a rural county in the 21st Century’.

Visionary also invited us to submit an award nomination for this year’s National Visionary Awards in the category of Inspirational Service Delivery. Now in their eighth year, the awards aim to recognise and celebrate excellence in the leadership and management of local sight loss charities and in the quality of service offered. Highlighting local charities’ achievements helps to spread good practice throughout the sector and draws attention to the talent and expertise being brought to bear on charitable activity in the sight loss sector in the UK. A member of the Visionary team recently described Devon in Sight as ‘Innovators’. I am very proud that our hard work is receiving national recognition.

The Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) based at Loughborough University has been commissioned by national sight loss charity The Thomas Pocklington Trust to undertake some research. The project is called “The Experiences of people living with Visual Impairment and making ends meet” and we have been asked to help. Our team have identified some of our clients who live alone and on a modest income to be interviewed for the project.

I am delighted to announce that our Annual General Meeting will be taking place at the new Budleigh Hospital Health and Wellbeing Hub in October. Having held our most recent AGMs in Exeter and it is good to give our Voting Membership from East Devon the opportunity to engage with us in our new area of operation. You should all be reciveing an invitation with this newsletter. (See more about the AGM on page 37).

Henry Ford the American Industrialist once said, “If everyone is moving forward together, then sucess takes care of itself”. I strongly believe that designing a new service which takes a holistic approach to sight loss, where work is delivered in partnership is the best way forward for people who are blind or partially sighted and for our charity. Grahame Flynn CEO 7 The 9th Annual Vision UK Conference 2017:

‘What does Vision UK’s Sight Loss Ambition Statement mean for Devon in Sight?’

8 On Thursday 15th June 2017 Grahame Flynn and Cathy Duffy (our Senior Community Support Worker) attended the 9th Annual Vision UK 2017 Conference at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, London.

Vision UK is the independent partnership organisation which exists to optimise the eye health and sight loss pathway for the benefit of blind and partially sighted people, their communities and the general population including those at risk of sight loss.

The conference theme was ‘Shaping Futures’ and was used at an opportunity to launch the new Vision UK Ambition Statement, the successor to the UK Vision Startegy.

The ambition is for the UK to be a nation where:

• Everyone looks after their sight. • People’s eye conditions are identified early, treated and, where possible, cured. • People obtain services which are person centred, joined- up and good quality • People with sight loss live the lives they choose. Realising the ambition won’t be easy, but people living with, and at risk of, sight loss expect nothing less. We have the potential to significantly improve the quality of life of millions of people, as well as positively impact on our health and social care system, and reduce costs to the UK economy. By changing attitudes and services we can empower people to lead independent lives and achieve social inclusion for all.

Devon in Sight shares the aspirations of the Vision UK Ambition Statement and has incorporated it into the core of its new Community Support Service.

For a more information about Vision UK please visit: www.visionuk.org.uk 9 News in Brief

Chris Sumner stands down!

Chris Sumner our former Chair recently notified us of his decision to stand down as a Trustee of Devon in Sight. Chris joined the Devon in Sight Board five years ago and has been actively involved in supporting us to drive forward changes to the charity dragging it firmly into the 21st Century. He has a unique perspective on sight loss services in Torbay having been on the sight loss journey himself and his knowledge will be missed.

Farewell Darren Walker

As many of you will know on the 1st April this year Action for Blind People and the RNIB formally merged.

As a result Darren Walker who has been providing Assistive Technology Sessions at Station House has decided to explore new opportunities outside of the RNIB.

Darren and his Guide Dog Jet have been regular visitors to Station House for a number of years and we would like to wish them the best of luck for the future.

For more news stories please visit www.devoninsight.org.uk

10 Devon Life Magazine supports Devon in Sight

Devon Life is a celebration of all that is great about life in this wonderful county. We were therefore delighted to be approached by care columnist Caron Sprake who wanted to highlight the work of Devon in Sight. Caron is well-known as a health & social care writer and blogger contributing to a number of publications including the Huffington Post and has won numerous awards for her work.

tV’S JULIA BRADBURY Stepping out for the SW Coast Path Challenge the g AS Caron said, “I am very excited about Top chef craftingtRo BUILDsomething very special in North DevoneR wheR Tales frome’ theS lifew of a Beer writing for Devon Life which is such a ALLY ? beach hut veteran prestigious, coffee table publication and August 2017 | devonlife.co.uk hope the information I share there will be of interest and help to readers.” Delve into >> Step out on a walking festival >> Restoring a 300-year-old forge Caron also runs her own website >> Take a bite of the Nourish Festival called This has 24 HOURS IN ‘Caron Cares’. Win! Insiders’ A £500 guide to an over 800 articles about caring for cottage artful town DEVON’S holiday OWN TREE an elderly person or someone prize Revealed: the story behind a very special with dementia with ideas and species aMazING EVENTS suggestions on how you can help Folk Week, Dartington keep them remain independent Seek out the Summer School and safe in their home. Caron S OUTH FOODIE writes with passion and insight FAVOURITES: YOUR ch ANcE VOTE TO IN because she genuinely cares Ha ThE... >> All aboard for sailingMS fun about the well-being of our >> Locals’ tips for eating out >> Summer events planner elderly and their carers who are >> Walk around delicious Dartmouth >> Special dog walking spots also often lonely and isolated, as well as exhausted. Visit: www.caroncares.co.uk £4.20

The August Edition of Devon Life was published on Thursday 27th July. For a digital version of the magazine please visit the Devon Life Website at: www.devonlife.co.uk/magazines/digital-archive 11

Our new Community Support Service is being supported by a four-year grant of £420,000 from The the BIG Lottery Fund and was launched with a newly-recruited Community staff team in March 2017. The service provides an exciting Support opportunity to equip individuals, volunteers and communities with Service: the skills and knowledge they need to tackle the practical and emotional Supporting more impact that sight loss has on people’s lives. people in Devon who Building on national strategies are blind or partially and research Devon in Sight has sighted. developed an innovative ‘Sight Loss MOT’ to help the charity identify the services, support and training that will help people living with sight loss maintain their independence, wellbeing and choice.

The MOT focuses on the following areas: 1. Understanding your eye condition 2. Making the best use of your sight 3. Your health and wellbeing 4. Managing at home 5. Getting out and about 6. Your finances and planning Telephone: for the future 7. Work, learning and having your say 01392 876 666 8. Having someone to talk to. [email protected] 12 Our new Community Sight Loss Hubs are now opperational in the following locations - , , , , , , , Paignton, Sidmouth, , Tiverton and Torquay. These complement our Topsham service and partner services which are available in and . What we do: • Information and Support • Sight Loss MOT • Lighting and Magnification Consultations • Equipment Demonstrations • Skills for Seeing Training • Talk and Support Groups • Talks from Partner Organsiations • Sight Loss Reference Group “I cannot express strongly • FREE Voting Membership of enough how impressed I am the Charity with the new Community • FREE Newsletter Support Service. I have already witnessed the difference it has made to several individuals and For a FREE has led to them being linked up Sight Loss MOT with other support too. It has and to find out how made a very positive impact we can help you very quickly”. please Telephone: Janet Eardly 01392 876 666 The Torch Trust

Our new Community Support Service in East Devon is run by Community Tracey Agutter. Support Tracey joined Devon in Sight in January 2017. Prior to this she worked in Marketing Events Service: for British Telecommunications and for a local firm of Chartered Accountants. East Devon She retrained and practised as a Axminster, Budleigh Therapeutic Counsellor and has Salterton, Honiton, recently worked for Devon Carers and on the Neighbourhood Friends Sidmouth and Project at Westbank. surrounding districts. She is excited about being part of the new Community Support Service and working with people with sight loss in East Devon where she lives. Tracey has established our new Community Support Service in East Devon at community buildings in Axminster, Honiton and Sidmouth. She will also be starting a new service at Budleigh Salterton Hospital Health and Wellbeing Hub. which opens shortly. To show our commitment to the new Budleigh Salterton project and to people with sight loss in East Devon we will be holding our Annual General Meeting at the Tracey Agutter venue in October. Community Support Worker - East Devon Tracey can be contacted through our Head Office in Topsham on 01392 876 666 14

The Senior Citizen Centre, Axminster

Budleigh Salterton Hospital Hub, Budleigh

The Beehive, Honiton

Twyford House, Sidmouth

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Our new Community Support Service in Mid Devon is run by Community Helen Head. Helen worked within the education Support sector for thirteen years, supporting college students to qualify in the Service: fields of Health and Social Care, Early Years and Education.

Mid Devon Throughout her working career she has communicated with a cross Tiverton, Cullompton, section of statutory and voluntary Crediton and agencies and private sector surrounding districts. organisations. Helen joined Devon in Sight in 2015 as part of the old Volunteer Visiting Service. She has taken an active part in developing our new Community Support Service.

She is very motivated and enjoys identifying clients’ needs, translating them into a support plan and supporting them to achieve their goals.

She is actively helping develop the new Sight Loss Hub Project having established Community Sight Loss Hubs in Tiverton, Collumpton and Crediton.

Helen Head Community Support Helen can be contacted through our Head Office in Topsham on Worker - Mid Devon 01392 876 666 16

Old Heathcoat School Community Centre, Tiverton

The Hayridge Centre, Cullompton

The Council Offices, Crediton

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Our Community Support Service in Torbay is mananged by Cathy Community Duffy. Cathy is also the Senior Support Worker taking an Support overview of the whole project. Cathy has worked in the field of Service: adult health and social care for over twenty five years, initially as a residential social worker for Torbay adults with learning disability and progressing through her career to Brixham, Paignton, differing management roles within Torquay and Hertfordshire local authority. surrounding districts. Cathy has always been passionate about the centrality of those that use services and how we work with people to shape services that meet the best possible outcomes for individuals, their families, friends and carers. Cathy has established a presence at Jasmyn House, Paignton working closely with the Sensory Team. Torquay Clients are served from St. Matthias’ Church Centre in Babbacombe, Torquay. In a unique experiment the Brixham Hub is run in partnership with Brixham Blind Club (Now known as Visual EYES - Torbay) which is run by our former Chair Chris Sumner. Cathy Duffy Senior Community Support Cathy can be contacted through Worker - Torbay our Head Office in Topsham on 01392 876 666 18

Brixham United Reform Church Hall, Brixham

Jasmyn House, Paignton

St. Matthias’ Church Centre, Torquay

Our new Community Support Service in West Devon is run by Community Robin Felton.

Support Robin previously worked as the Chief Executive Officer for Service: Tavistock Area Support Service.

Prior to this he has spent the last 15 years working in the field of West Devon dementia care, both in the voluntary , Okehampton, sector as an Operational Manager Tavistock and for Alzheimer’s Society and in the NHS as the lead manager for the surrounding districts. assessment and diagnostic service in Birmingham and Solihull NHS Mental Health Trust. He has also worked for Social Care and for a large housing organisation.

Robin has a particular interest in helping people remain independent and live fulfilling lives whatever their difficulties or disabilities. He has been a trustee for a number of care and disability charities and a trustee and director for an Almshouse charity in Birmingham prior to moving to the South West.

Robin has established the Community Support Service in Tavistock, Okehampton and Holsworthy. Robin Felton Community Support Robin can be contacted through Worker - West Devon our Head Office in Topsham on 01392 876 666 20

The Anchorage Centre, Tavistock

The Okement Centre, Okehampton

Holsworthy Community Hospital, Holsworthy

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Sight Loss Advisor:

Our Sight Loss Advisor offers a range of equipment and training to help people adjust to their sight loss.

THIS IS AN APPOINTMENT ONLY SERVICE

Nanette Bolton Sight Loss Advisor

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Consultations: During your consultation we will assess your needs and try to provide you with solutions. We will not provide any equipment without a consultation to ensure that it is the right equipment for your condition. Services include: • Information & Support • ‘Skills for Seeing’ Training

Equipment Demonstrations include: • Task Lighting • Optical Magnifiers • Electronic Magnifiers • Clocks & watches • Kitchen equipment • Mobiles & Telephones • Eye shields • Large Print Stationery

To make an appointment to see our Sight Loss Advisor please ring:

01392 876 666 ‘Skills for Seeing’ appointments are available across Devon.

‘Skills for Seeing’ training is provided in partnership with the Macular Society and can help people with central vision loss make the most of their remaining peripheral vision. Devon in Sight offers this specialist service at our Head Office in Topsham and Community Sight Loss Hubs across Devon. It is an appointment only service.

‘I achieved more with my sight in the short time I spent at Devon in Sight than the preceeding 13 years. It’s been a godsend!”

Raymond, Devon in Sight Client

Our Sight Loss Advisor can help you learn about:

• How Task Lighting can help you

• How to use Magnification properly

• Eccentric Viewing to help with recognising faces and reading

• Steady Eye Technique to improve reading speed

Practising these skills can help you with daily activities like reading, watching television, hobbies, personal care and getting about. People often say that they feel more confident and have more control over their lives.

To book a training session please contact our Head Office on: 01392 876 666 24 ‘Helping you with daily activities like reading, watching television, hobbies, personal care and getting about’. Training in Partnership

Devon in Sight works in partnership with RNIB to provide FREE training courses for people with sight loss to build confidence, move into employment or understand the benefits of modern technology. Living with Sight Loss Courses These sessions are for people to share their experiences, offer advice and support and hear how others have overcome the challenges of sight loss. Two day and four day courses are available. Each session covers a variety of different themes including; Eye Health, Emotional Health, Mobility and Daily Living, IT and Leisure.

Courses are scheduled to run in Exeter, Paignton and .

Employment Hub The aim of the Employment Hub at Devon in Sight is to assist people with sight loss who are seeking to move into employment, start your own business, or stay in work if you are losing your sight.

Free 1to1 Employment Hub sessions provide opportunities for visually impaired job seekers to access specialist sight loss advice and practical approaches on a range of topics including:

• Disability Disclosure • Skills & Career Identification tools • Practical support available in work • Interview preparation and techniques • Legal Rights • Self employment • Personalised Action Planning • Advice and Guidance

To find out more these courses This training is provided in please contact RNIB: partnership with: 01392 458 060 “The Employment Hub can assist you to retain employment, move into new employment or start your own business” Jenna Vivian - RNIB Employment Adviser

27 Volunteer News

On Thursday 1st June we said goodbye to Joyce Barkla who has been volunteering at our Topsham Resource Centre for many years. Our Sight Loss Adviser Nanette Bolton will particularly miss the support that Joyce has given her on busy clinic days.

Our new Community Support Service will expand the opportunities for volunteering to more areas of Devon.

Our volunteers help us provide a unique combination of complementary skills and expertise to reach and support an ever increasing number of people who are blind or partially sighted.

• Could you assist the Community Support Workers by providing a friendly welcome at one of our new Community Sight Loss Hubs?

• Would you like to work with our clients to help them identify ways to stay safe at home, access equipment and training, improve their health and wellbeing or get out and about?

• Would you like to receive training to help people with central vision loss make the most of their remaining peripheral vision?

• Would you like to support our operations at our Head Office in Topsham?

• Are you interested in community fundraising?

All our volunteers undergo an induction and will be required to undertake training about Confidentiality, Safeguarding and Professional Boundaries. Some roles require DBS (Disclosure and Barring Checks).

To learn more about volunteering please ring Jennie Benham our Office Manager on:

01392 878 802 [email protected] 28 “We are expanding the opportunities for volunteering to more areas of Devon” Grahame Flynn - CEO Devon in Sight

29 Low Vision Drop-in Days

“Simple solutions for people with sight loss”

Devon in Sight is dedicated to bringing you the latest innovations in technology. We have therefore worked with some of our suppliers to host Low Vision Drop-in Days at a number of our new Communty Sight Loss Hubs across the county. Come along and explore the latest products and technologies for blind or partially sighted people provided by Dolphin, Enhanced Vision and Calibre Audio Library. Staff from these companies will be on hand to demonstrate the equipment. Clients are seen on a first come first served basis. The Hayridge Library, Cullompton Monday 13th November 2017 (9.30am - 2.30pm)

The Anchorage Centre, Tavistock Tuesday 14th November 2017 (9.30am - 12pm)

Budleigh Salterton Hospital Health & Wellbeing Hub, Budleigh Wednesday 15th November 2017 (9.30am - 2pm)

St. Matthias’ Church Centre, Babbacombe Thursday 16th November 2017 (9.30am - 2pm) 30 Professional Vision Services design and manufacture products for the visually impaired market. Under the trademark name Magnilink, they offer CCTV Low Vision reading machines and Text to Speech machines.

Devon in Sight will be welcoming Joe Frazer from Professional Vision Services to the following Community Sight Loss Hubs in Devon.

The Beehive Centre, Honiton Tuesday 3rd October 2017 (11am - 12pm)

The Senior Citizen Centre, Axminster Wednesday 4th October 2017 (11am - 12pm)

Jasmyn House, Paignton Thursday 5th October 2017 (10.30am - 11.30am)

The Anchorage Centre, Tavistock Thursday 19th October2017 (11.30am - 12.30pm)

The Hayridge Centre, Cullompton Thursday 26th October 2017 (11am - 12.30pm)

Twyford House, Sidmouth Tuesday 21st November 2017 (11am -12pm)

On the day, they will be presenting their most recent products so that you can make an informed decision on what product suits you.

If you would like to attend any of our Low Vision Drop-in Days please call our Office Manager Jennie Benham on:

01392 878 802 31 Advertisement Equipment Innovation: Regain your independence with the world’s most advanced wearable artificial vision device: OrCam MyEye.

For more informatio the manuafacturer’s website can be found at: www.orcam.com 32 “OrCam MyEye is an assistive device whose support is very convenient, discreet and simple to operate. It relaxes you, makes you feel safer. You experience less tension. OrCam gives information, leading to self- reliance.” OrCam user Allan Mabert

OrCam can help some people to:

• Instantly hear any printed text - read from any surface • Read from restaurant menus • Recognise faces • Identify products • Identify money notes

Devon in Sight: OrCam MyEye - Demonstrations available soon!

Devon in Sight staff are being trained to demonstrate the OrCam MyEye and we will have a demonstration model permenantly at Topsham and another for our Community Sight Loss Hubs. To make a demonstration appointment please ring our Head Office in Topsham on: 01392 876 666 33 Community Fundraising

Paignton Buffalos Grahame Flynn and Trustee Chris Sumner were guests of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes in Paignton on Saturday 25th March. The small but energetic group raised £1712 for Devon in Sight. The money will be used to develop our work at Jasmyn House in Paignton.

For more information please visit: www.raobgle.org.uk

See the Future supports us again!

We were delight to see our friend Leanne Greengrass (Founder of Devon based charity See the Future) on 28th March at our Topsham office. Leanne made a donation of £1000. Each year Leanne holds a number of fundraising events to help fund projects which receive no statutory funding. Her gift will help us print a catalogue of Low Vision Equipment for people across Devon experiencing sight loss.

For more information please visit www.seethefuture.co.uk

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to The Exeter Foundation for sponsoring this edition of our Newsletter. The Exeter Foundation is a ‘civic trust’ that was born out of the desire of the Exeter Chiefs Rugby Club and a group of local Exeter businessmen to create a focus for the future of the city and its surroundings, for the benefit of all citizens.

For more information please visit: www.exeterfoundation.org.uk 34 2017 Sidmouth Duck Derby benefits Devon in Sight!

On Sunday 9th July East Devon Community Support Worker Tracey Agutter and her family joined CEO Grahame Flynn on the banks of the at the invitation of the Lions Club of Sidmouth.

Every summer, Sidmouth Lions stage their Great Duck Derby to raise money for local charities.

The ‘Duck Derby’ consisted of two large Duck races on the River Sid, between Sid Park Road and Road bridges. Alll the ducks jostle to be the leader with the first yellow duck to reach the ‘finishing line’ at the weir by Waterloo Bridge, Salcombe Road, earning its owner the winner’s prize. Everyone followed them with great anticipation.

Grahame Flynn said, “Sidmouth Lions had made me very welcome as their guest speaker in May.

‘We were delighted to hear we had been chosen to benefit from the proceeds of this year’s Duck Derby. It was a fabulous afternoon and we were thrilled to receive a cheque for £1650.

‘We would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone involved”.

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You may have been wondering why you haven’t had a Devon Membership in Sight newsletter for rather a long time. You may even have Matters: thought that we had accidentally dropped you from the mailing list. Devon in Sight However, if you have read this far is a Membership you will know that the long gap between issues has been because Organisation of the recent major changes in our service. A newsletter, however interesting and informative, is no use unless you can read it.

Accessible Formats For some years we have tried to meet the needs of our clients by providing the Devon in Sight Newsletter in large print, by email, and in audio on CD. But technology does not stand still and we need to keep up - even if that sometimes makes us feel, as the Red Queen put it, that it takes all the running we can do to keep in the same place. Elizabeth Twining Membership Secretary We have been getting an increasing volume of requests from people who have a memory stick

01392 878 801 player and would prefer to have [email protected] the audio version of our newsletter on a memory stick rather than on Elizabeth volunteers CD. We are therefore considering most Thursdays introducing this option. 36 If you would like to have our 2017 Annual General Meeting newsletter on memory stick in future, please let us know. Our next Annual General Meeting will be on Friday October 20th You can phone me on 01392 at the new Budleigh Salterton 878 801, if you receive the CD Community Hospital in East newsletter, you can enclose a Devon. An invitation is enclosed note when you return the CD with this newsletter. pouch. At the AGM you will be able to meet the staff and volunteers If enough people are interested of Devon in Sight, and hear an we will offer this additional overview of the last financial year option in future. and our future plans.

You can change the way you Everyone is welcome to receive it at any time, or cancel if attend, but if you would like you no longer want to receive it at to be able to vote or submit a all. Just let us know, in the ways formal question you need to be described above. If we do not registered as a Voting Member. hear otherwise we will continue to send it to you in your current Voting Membership is open to prefered format. anyone who is interested in playing an active part in the development of the charity, and is free of charge. If you are not already registered, or if you are not sure, do get in touch.

We hope to see you then.

Elizabeth Twining Membership Secretary

01392 878 801 [email protected]

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Over the last few months Friends of we have had the pleasure of speaking at events and local Devon in group meetings right across Devon and Torbay. Some of these events have been to Sight: launch our new Community Sight Loss Hubs while others have been to meet old friends at local VI Clubs, Talking Could you help us Newspapers or Macular Groups to update them on our to support more work. people? On a number of occasions we have been touched by the fact that people have asked how they can support our new service financially. “That’s marvellous – what can I do to help?” was how one gentleman in Sidmouth put it. In response to those requests we have set up a Friends of Devon in Sight Scheme where people can make a regular donation from as little as £5 a month.

We provide our services for FREE at the point of delivery, but they still cost a lot of money to run. Jennie Benham Regular donations over a period Office Manager of time are of tremendous benefit to the charity in helping us meet 01392 878 802 these costs, and enable us to [email protected] plan for the future.

38 By becoming a Friend of Devon Other ways to support our in Sight your support will make work a real difference in a variety of ways. You can help us to: Whether or not you are able to make a regular donation • Provide information and there are lots of other ways support for you to support us. • Provide a lighting and magnification consultation Leave a lasting Legacy • Rent a room for a Talk and A gift in your Will can help Support Group hundreds of people affected by • Provide Skills for Seeing sight loss. Training for someone with If you are planning to make or Central Vision Loss and lots change your Will please consider more besides. including a legacy to Devon in Sight. We can supply you with a You could make a regular gift of Legacy Pack which will explain £5, £10, £20 or more. how to go about leaving a Legacy.

To become Voting Membership You could become a Voting a Friend of Devon Member and vote on key in Sight please issues at our Annual General Telephone: Meeting. This is a great way to have your say and to influence what we do as a charity in 01392 876 666 future. Volunteering You could become a Volunteer for an hour or two a week; Email: helping someone with sight loss with practical tasks at home, enquiries@ helping to serve tea or coffee at one of our Community Sight devoninsight. Loss Hubs, or helping behind the scenes at our office in org.uk Topsham. 39 green pantone 368 (NHS light green) Blue pantone 300 Black 95%

Devon in Sight Your local sight loss charity Tel: 01392 876 666

[email protected] • www.devoninsight.org.uk Devon in Sight • Station House • Holman Way • Topsham • Exeter • EX3 0EN

Registered Charity No 1140978 • Devon in Sight is the working name of Devon County Association for the Blind, a Company Limited by Guarantee Company Registration No 07371472