Visibility WINTER NEWSLETTER 2011 On behalf of everyone at Visibility may we wish you all a very peaceful festive season. Our offices and Patient Support Service will be closed from 12pm on Friday 23rd of December and will re-open at 9am on Wednesday 4th January 2012. Our Supporting People service will operate as usual. For all urgent eye injuries or problems please contact NHS 24 on 08454 242424 in the first instance. Visibility Wins Award for Work in Falls and Visual Impairment Visibility’s “Falls – Look Out” project recently won first place in a UK wide competition for innovation in service delivery. The award was made by Visionary – the nationwide umbrella group for local visual impairment organisations. Fiona Sandford CEO of Visibility was presented with the prize by Ruth Badger, runner up in ‘The Apprentice’. Visibility was delighted to receive the award for the project which was developed in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Community Falls Prevention Program and Glasgow Caledonian University, responding to the fact that people over the age of 65 with a visual impairment are twice as likely to fall as their sighted counterparts. Visibility has produced a falls leaflet which encourages people to get regular eye tests, gives tips on making your home safer and stresses the importance of strength and balance exercises. Visibility is also talking with people about their experiences with falls and hopes to expand the programme to work with small groups to improve confidence and reduce fear of falling. For further information on”Falls – Look Ou”t, please contact Shelagh Palmer on 0141 332 4632. Mentors Use Their Own Experience of Sight Loss to Help Others Visibility’s visually impaired mentors actively demonstrate that visual impairment does not mean the end of a career, the end of family life or the end of much loved hobbies and sports. The mentors provide practical information; support and advice which can help people feel more confident and reduce the anguish and distress sometimes experienced with sight loss. “Although I am still coming to terms with my sight loss, I certainly feel much more positive about my situation and am a lot better at coping with things. Thank you.” New Mentor Tony Byrne remembers his own experience: “For the first year of my own visual impairment, I went through the full gamut of emotions: fear, isolation, frustration, humiliation, insecurity etc. Then I found Visibility, an organisation that understood completely and showed me how to cope. The mentoring service can make those first few months a less arduous and frightening time. It is my hope that I can lessen the anguish for someone the way Visibility lessened mine.” All of the mentors have experienced sight loss and have re-gained life skills and confidence. Ian Stevenson works full time, has a busy family life and still finds the time to volunteer for Visibility. He said: “I thought this would be a great way to give something back, as it was thanks to Visibility that I was able to get the help and support I needed, when I needed it most. I look forward to helping people regain their confidence and helping them realise with time that life can carry on.” Visibility now has 12 volunteer VI Mentors who are trained to provide support to other people with visual impairments. The service is mainly telephone based and is usually offered for a period of around three months. To access the mentoring service or if you would like information on becoming a mentor please contact Anne Garry on 0141 332 4632. Children and Families Events The first of our children’s ski events funded by The North Face, outdoor equipment and clothing specialists, was held at Bearsden Ski Club on Sunday 20th November. All the children had a fantastic time and many have booked to come again on the 11th December. The generous funding from The North Face Explore Fund will also enable us to run more of our popular indoor rock climbing sessions in spring. If you are interested in coming along to any of these events please call Alex Campbell on 0141 332 4632 Dumfries and Galloway Goes Visible Dumfries and Galloway Goes Visible, a visual impairment awareness event for health, local authority and voluntary sector professionals was held in Dumfries on the 25th October. Staff and volunteers from Visibility’s Glasgow office travelled down to join with our Dumfries based staff for the event, which included information stands and interactive workshops. The feedback from professionals working in the area was excellent and the team received many interesting ideas and comments: “A really informative day. Thank you for inviting me” “Looking forward to Visibility doing more in Dumfries and Galloway” Dumfries and Galloway based staff also had the opportunity to meet many new visually impaired people when they joined the Action for Blind People mobile information bus which visited three of the main towns in Dumfries and Galloway. In the near future we hope to establish peer support networks across the region to offer support and provide opportunities for visually impaired people to get together in their local communities. Go Active Project Events for Spring 2012 Why not make a resolution to get active in 2012 with our new programme of events. Our easy spring walks range from 2 to 5 miles and cost just £5.00. Call 0141 332 4632 for further details. 18th February Provan Hall Heritage Trail & Medieval Gardens 17th March – Jenny’s Well, Paisley Circular 21st April – Auchinstarry to Kirkintilloch canal Visibility Peer Support Groups Our Peer Support groups enable people affected by visual impairment to meet, share experiences and exchange local knowledge. The groups have been running in East Dunbartonshire for some time and the Visible Communities Project now plan to take the highly successful meetings to further areas in South Lanarkshire and Argyll and Bute. For more information, please call 0141 332 4632 and ask to speak to Anne Garry or Rae MacDonald. Milngavie - Community Centre: 18th January 2012, 1.30 to 3pm Kirkintilloch - Park Centre: 21st March 2012, 2pm to 3.30pm. After this date Visibility is going to start co-hosting sessions every 3 months with the East Dunbartonshire VIP Forum. Oban - Kilmore & Oban Church Centre: 1.30pm to 3.30pm on the first Wednesday of February, April, June, August, October and December Hamilton - St John’s Church Centre: 1.30pm to 3pm, on the first Thursday of the month, except January (and in April 2012 it will be12th April) Helensburgh – St Andrews West Kirk Cottage: 10.30am to 12.30pm on the second Friday of the month, except January Dunoon – Red Cross Building, George St: Meets at 2pm to 4pm, on the first Tuesday of the month New Member of Visibility’s Board of Directors Earlier this year Visibility was very pleased to welcome Roger Quin to the board of directors. Roger trained at Glasgow University studying medicine and surgery. He then spent some time training in Leicester before moving back to Glasgow to work at the Western Infirmary and Gartnavel as a Vascular Surgeon specialising in the carotid artery. Roger was a consultant surgeon until his eyesight started to deteriorate due to ischemic optic neuropathy (which is where blood vessels at the back of the eye no longer function as they should). At the age of 60 Roger experienced dramatic loss of vision. “I have no vision in one eye and very little in the other”, he said. “As a result I eventually had to move to another specialism. I had other interests in IT so I moved into that area.” Roger used his medical and technological skills to develop a browser that allowed doctors to view comprehensive reports, x rays and referrals from their computer. This program is currently used by doctors, nurses and other clinical staff in the West of Scotland Health Boards. Roger has had a long history with Visibility. “I came here back when it was the GWSSB” he said. “Friends were helping me with my sight loss but this charity was brought to my wife’s attention and then I came here to attend computer classes.” Roger said that being visually impaired has affected his life but it has not stopped him doing some of the things he likes to do. “In my retirement I had hoped to play more golf but obviously my condition makes it difficult to play now as I can’t see the ball or judge distances. I do still try to play a little with friends though. My sight loss still allows me to read and paint, which are two things I’ve always liked to do, so I am thankful for that” Visibility is delighted to have Roger on the board of directors and to know that his skills and experience will be great assets to the organisation. Spotlight on Giving Christmastime is the time of year when people think of others, a time of goodwill and of giving and receiving gifts but, for Visibility, the Christmas spirit is alive and well all year. We feel incredibly privileged to receive help, support, goodwill and gifts from so many people in so many ways. People donate their time, donate their cash and donate their energies to help keep our services alive and we are extremely grateful to them all. Giving Time A great team of over 40 volunteers work with us to change lives. Over the past year they have donated a staggering 664 hours. There is just not enough space for us to tell you about them all but here is just one example of how people donate their time to help us: Pauline Hart travels all the way from East Kilbride into Queens Crescent twice a week to work with our GO Project team. Pauline uses her own volunteering experience to provide support to the rest of the volunteer team and also helps with visual impairment awareness training sessions and represents Visibility at a wide range of events. Pauline has also been a huge help with a range of fundraising events, giving up her weekends to hold a collecting can in shopping centres and being a supermodel for a day to help us publicise our need for people to remember us in their wills. By donating her time in this way, Pauline, like all our volunteers, saves Visibility a lot of time and money which can be spent elsewhere on providing more support and also helps raise the funds we need to continue our work. Donating Money We have had some wonderful windfalls from generous supporters throughout the year which have helped us maintain projects like GO and New View. Without donations, we could not continue to do what we do. Back in May we were delighted to hear that Massimo’s restaurant in Bearsden had chosen Visibility to benefit from their major charity fundraising event and we received a very generous donation of £3703! 16 brave people abseiled down the very scary Titan Crane in Clydebank to raise funds for us. We are very grateful to all the bravehearted people who ‘went over the edge’ and, in particular we say a huge thank you to Stephen Last who raised an amazing £1835.70 including gift aid. Not content with saving small change in one of our Change Matters boxes, Mr and Mrs Patterson recently celebrated their Ruby Wedding and very generously donated £357.50 which they received from their guests in lieu of presents. Thank you so much Mr and Mrs Patterson, we wish you many more happy years together! These are just a few of the wonderful ways people donate the vital funds we need to keep up our work. We say a huge THANK YOU to everybody who has given in 2011, you have made it a very special year for Visibility and the people we work with. Donating Energy and Enthusiasm Riding a tandem is hard work, so we are really grateful to the group of intrepid cyclists who used their energies to help publicise our work by taking part in the Glasgow Skyride. By taking to the streets of Glasgow wearing a bright orange Visibility cycling vest the group did a wonderful job of raising public awareness of sight loss and Visibility’s work. We are particularly grateful to Breige Marsh and her dad Leo who, as well as taking on the Skyride challenge, also raised a massive £245 to help our work. Thank you so much. Look After Your Eyes During the Festive Period We normally associate the festive period with the consumption of foods which are detrimental to our health and waistlines, but you can choose vegetable accompaniments to your Christmas dinner which are not only traditional and tasty but are also good for your eyes. The following vegetables all contain lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene and Vitamin C all of which help to protect your eyes and keep them functioning at their best. Experts also believe that lutiein, zeaxanthin and vitamin A (found in meat, milk and eggs) may reduce your risk of developing Macular Degeneration or Cataracts. Brussels sprouts – steam for around 10 minutes to preserve their flavour and health benefits. Carrots – Are the best vegetable for eye health. If you cook them until crisp but tender, you will increase the bio-availability of the beta-carotene, however overcooking will decrease its content. Green beans - are a good source of lutein and zeaxanthin, which help protect the retina from damage by blue light. Broccoli - One of the best vegetables for eye health. The darker the color, the more lutein and zeaxanthin will be available in the broccoli. Another way to help care for your eyes, and warm yourself up on a chilly winter evening, is to make this delicious soup which contains celery and chilli peppers, both of which are rich in eye preserving nutrients. Like many other vegetables, celery that is darker green will have more nutrients; however, it tends to be stringier, which is why using it in a soup is ideal. Take care not to touch your eyes after chopping the chilli peppers as the juice can burn them. Winter Warming Celery Soup - Serves 4 1 large onion 2 cloves of garlic 40g butter 500g celery 1 medium potato 1 medium cooking apple 1 green Chilli pepper finely chopped 700 mls chicken or vegetable stock Salt and pepper 1 teaspoons lemon juice grated nutmeg 4 teaspoons of double cream 1. Gently fry onions and garlic in butter until soft. Separate stalks of celery so that you can save the inner leaves. Chop stalks finely and set aside inner leaves. 2. Peel and chop potatoes and apples. 3. Add chillies, celery, potatoes and apples to onions, season generously with salt and pepper and fry gently with the lid on for about 15 minutes or until ingredients are very nearly cooked. 4. Add the hot stock, bring to the boil and simmer covered for about 10-15 minutes more. 5. Liquidise. Add lemon juice and nutmeg and adjust seasoning if necessary. 6. To garnish each bowl first swirl in tsp of cream and sprinkle celery leaves or parsley on top. Rules to keep your eyes healthy: Don’t smoke or drink too much alcohol. Cover up in the sun – wear sunglasses or a sun hat. Get regular eye tests. Christmas Quiz 1. What is the next line of the traditional short poem, called The Beggars Rhyme: "Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat..." ? 2. Who had a 1976 Christmas number one with When a Child Is Born? 3. In which pantomime does Buttons appear? 4. In which 1984 film did Rand Peltzer, who lived in Kingston Falls, get a furry Christmas present called a Mogwai? 5. Who was Driving Home for Christmas in 1988? 6. What are "mince pies" in Cockney rhyming slang? 7. In which 1987 film were actors Steve Martin and John Candy trying to get home for Thanksgiving? 8. Which famous American composer wrote the song White Christmas, made famous by Bing Crosby? 9. What was the name of Scrooge's clerk, who was busy working in the cold, even though it was Christmas Eve in A Christmas Carol? 10. Which impersonator, famous for his takeoffs of Harold Wilson, had a Christmas Special show on the BBC throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s? 11. Which pop star appeared in the 1983 film, Merry Christmas,Mr Lawrence? 12. In which month does Christmas fall in the southern hemisphere? 13. What was the name of the character played by James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life? 14. The names of which two of Santa's reindeers begin with the letter "C" according to the poem Twas The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore? Community Support Team Ayrshire Spring Events Information Events for Visually Impaired People, Family and Friends. February 23rd Girvan March 3rd Stewarton March 7th Kilwinning March 14th Newmilns April 18th Cumnock April 20th Arran April 26th Maybole May 10th Kilmarnock May 16th Irvine May 23rd Ayr These half day events offer people the opportunity to meet with Visibility and local service providers, try out some of the latest equipment and, where possible, meet with the local VI Team. We serve refreshments and have a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere. Please call us on 0141 332 4632 for more information. Enhance the experience Blind or partially sighted people can now experience everything that a Scottish Opera production has to offer thanks to their Audio Description service which provides live commentary designed to tell the listener what is happening on stage without compromising the music. Scottish Opera offers discounted tickets for Visually Impaired Patrons and their carers when they book for an Audio- described performance at the Theatre Royal Glasgow, Festival Theatre Edinburgh, His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen or Eden Court, Inverness. They can also send out a useful CD of information prior to the show and offer a Touch Tour of the set, costumes and props before the performance. If you or someone you know is interested in booking for an Audio-described performance, contact the Box Office at your chosen theatre. Please let them know if you would like a headset during the performance and whether you would like to attend the Touch Tour. Association of Speakers Club Fancy a wee bit of Public Speaking? The Association of Speakers Clubs might just be for you. Their website www.the-asc.org.uk can help you locate your nearest club. One of our Volunteers is a member of the East Kilbride Branch, where he says there are two visually impaired participants who are current members, both of whom actively engage in all aspects of the club. The club nights are fun and a great way to improve personal confidence and meet new people. For more information  contact the Go Active Project on 0141 332 4632 Quiz Answers 1. Please put a penny in the old man’s hat 2. Johnny Mathis 3. Cinderella 4. Gremlins 5. Chris Rhea 6. Eyes 7. Planes, Trains and Automobiles 8. Irving Berlin 9. Bob Cratchit 10. Mike Yarwood 11. David Bowie 12. December 13. George Bailey 14. Comet and Cupid We hope you enjoyed this newsletter and are happy to continue to receive information on Visibility’s services and activities as we really value your interest and support. Our newsletter is available in various formats, including: Audio CD, Tape, Braille and also via email, which helps us to reduce costs and is kinder to the environment. If you would like to remove your name from our mailing list, receive your newsletter in an alternative format or for information on any aspect of Visibility, please contact us. Visibility, 2 Queens Crescent Glasgow G4 9BW Telephone 0141 332 4632 info@visibility.org.uk Visibility is the trading name of GWSSB (formerly Glasgow and West of Scotland Society for the Blind). Newsletter designed and printed by Rannoch Press 0141 942 4624 Visibility is the trading name of GWSSB (formerly Glasgow and West of Scotland Society for the Blind). GWSSB is a company, registered in Scotland limited by guarantee with its registered office at 2 Queens Crescent, Glasgow, G4 9BW. Registration Number: SC116522 Scottish Charity Number: SC009738