Welcome to Eye Matter Matters issue 22. This is a fortnightly publication where Eye Matter shares news and information about events and activities, members’ experiences, and other items of interest. Unless otherwise indicated, all articles have been contributed by Fiona Musgrove. If you would like to contribute an article to a future edition, please contact Fiona at: fiona.musgrove@yahoo.co.uk
This edition includes:
Eye Matter Zoom events
- “Sing into Spring” with The Eye Matter Singers🎶
- Accessing grief support in different ways
Eye Matter Outings
- “Grieving the life you expected” An exclusive workshop.
- Eye Can Salisbury
- Sight Village Wales
- Hair and Care Visit
- Flow Sense Ladies only Research
- Hangloose ZipWire and Treetop adventure
- “Neurobics” with Steve Wax
- Sight Village Glasgow
- Eye Matter Spring Concert with the Eye Matter Singers
- Henry Moore Studios and Gardens – A private audio described tour
- Eye Matter Sicily Holiday with Seable Holidays
- An audio described tour to Frameless
Training Opportunity:
- Voiceover Training for iPhones – be a trainer or a trainee for Eye Matter
Special Features
- Report the scammers
- Time for a poem with Eye Matter
- Engaging VIPs with audio description in museums
Eye Matter Zoom events
Keep up to date with our activities here.
Highlights include:
“Sing into Spring” with The Eye Matter Singers🎶
Please come and join us from 6 pm to 7 pm on Monday, 24th March, for the second of 12 weekly Zoom sessions ahead of our in-person concert on Saturday, 31st May.
We will be learning a wonderful selection of upbeat songs, including: “Walking On Sunshine”, “Dancing In the Street”, “Oh What A Night”, and many more.
Every Monday for 11 weeks, and Wednesday 28th May from 6 pm to 7 pm.
All members are welcome; there are no auditions, and we sing for fun and well-being.
To join, please email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with the subject “Spring Singers”.
Accessing grief support in different ways
There are now 12 blog posts on our website from the amazing Joanna Williams, writer and therapist, accompanying our “Thriving to Surviving” Zoom (twice-monthly) programme:
Eye Matter Outings
Find all our events here.
Highlights include:
Surviving to Thriving in-person
“Grieving the life you expected” An exclusive workshop
On Saturday 29th March, 2 pm to 5 pm – with refreshments.
At Somerstown Living Centre, Kings Cross, London.
Meet and Greet: 1:30 pm, St Pancras Station, by the Midland Road Exit, at the Thameslink barriers.
This supports our regular Zoom sessions but is a stand-alone opportunity for Eye Matter members to meet in person with Joanna Williams. All of us have expectations about life and the world around us. Some are societal, some we learn from friends and family, and some we figure out for ourselves. The experience of sight loss is what we call a ‘non-finite loss’ in that it may occur as one event, but the repercussions are ongoing – and may interrupt or derail what we thought our life would be. Even if you are sight-impaired from birth, you still might have absorbed ideas about a so-called ideal life and experience grief about those aspects you don’t have and fear for what the future holds.
In this special in-person workshop, there will be the chance to share experiences with your peers and, crucially, learn ways of re-working your expectations and letting go of fear.
Eye Can Salisbury
2nd April from 10 am
At The Guildhall, Salisbury
Meet Suzie here to learn more about Eye Matter. These large events are invaluable platforms for individuals living with sight loss, their families, and professionals to explore resources, services, and technologies that support.
Sight Village Wales
Tuesday 8th April from 10 am.
At the All Nations Centre, Cardiff CF14 3N.
Suzie will be appearing at this Sight Village, which is part of a national programme delivering the UK’s leading exhibitions, providing an integral part of the blind and low vision landscape. It attracts thousands of visitors eager to explore the latest technology, products, and support services.
Hair and Care Visit
Wednesday 9th April 2025
At Hackney Depot, East London
Learn the tricks of the trade. More information to be confirmed.
Hair & Care was set up by international hairstylist Anna Cofone back in 2019, with the mission of supporting blind and low vision women and girls with their hair care and styling. Having grown up with a blind parent, Anna had seen firsthand the barriers blind people face, and also the impact that self-care can have on a person’s mental well-being, particularly someone living with sight loss. Join us for an inspiring talk on the 4th April on Zoom and come and join us in person for a workshop with the Hair & Care volunteer team for a masterclass on hair in London, on the 9th April. Timings to be confirmed.
Website: www.hairandcareproject.com
Hair & Care Instagram: @hairandcareproject
Our sister project ‘Making Fashion Accessible’ Instagram: @makingfashionaccessible
Flow Sense Ladies-only Research
Wednesday 26th March 11:45am meet and greet Kings Cross
Thursday 10th April, 11:45 am meet and greet Kings Cross
Hangloose ZipWire and Treetop Adventure
Saturday 26th April. Meet and greet at 10 am at St Pancras Station by the Thameslink barrier.
Tickets are £35 per person, including both events, or £25 per person for either Zip Lining or Treetop Adventure. If you are travelling with us, travel will cost £7 if you have a Freedom Pass. If you are a sighted guide, you will need a Travelcard to zone 6.
Celebrating Suzie’s birthday with cake and fun! Get set to enjoy thrilling, adrenaline-fueled adventures with the UK’s most exciting Outdoor Adventure company, offering England’s longest zipline, and a brilliant high ropes course—over 720 metres long, over 100 metres tall, reaching up to 50 mph! Soar through the skies on England’s longest zipline.
Children over 8 are welcome; they must be a minimum of 35 kg, and there is a weight maximum of 120 kg.
N/B: Disclaimer: If you bring children to this event, they are your responsibility and not the responsibility of our volunteer sighted guides.
“Neurobics” with Steve Wax
In partnership with Hounslow Council, RNIB, and The Middlesex Association for the Blind.
Thursday 8th May, time TBC
Address TBC, Meet and Greet place and time TBC
This is in conjunction with our monthly Zoom sessions. Neurobics is a preventative and rehabilitative treatment programme that supports people to “Challenge the Body, Stimulate the Brain & Lift the Heart.”
Brain and body fitness has become a vital element for lifelong well-being. As a response, Neurobics can help you to manage, postpone, or eliminate cognitive decline. Every day, your brain forms new neural connections, provided you give it what it needs. Your brain’s ability to change and grow is called neuroplasticity. It has been proved that the brain is like “plastic” – it can physically remodel itself. Simple brain-fitness exercises and being more mindful of various lifestyle habits are an essential way to slow down cognitive decline, improve brain fitness, and harness the power of the brain’s ability to change! This can help with improving memory, speed of reaction, concentration, focus, sleeping patterns, outside-the-box thinking, stress management, and enabling an overall sharper brain.
Sight Village Glasgow
Wednesday 21st May from 10 am.
At The Science Centre, Glasgow, Scotland.
Join Eye Natter at the Sight Village, which is one of the UK’s leading exhibitions and an integral part of the blind and low vision landscape. Each year, they attract thousands of visitors eager to explore the latest technology, products, and support services.
Eye Matter Spring Concert with the Eye Matter Singers
On Saturday 31st May, 4 pm to 6 pm
Meet and Greet at St Pancras International Station Midland Road Exit by the Thameslink barrier at 3:30 pm.
St Pancras & Somers Town Living Centre, 150 Ossulston Street, London NW1 1DF
For twelve weeks, our magnificent members have been learning a variety of upbeat songs, including: “Walking On Sunshine”, “Dancing In the Street”, “Oh What A Night”, and many more. Spend your afternoon toe-tapping along with Eye Matter.
Henry Moore Studios and Gardens – A private audio described tour
On Thursday 5th June
Meet and greet at Stratford Station at 12:50 pm
Tickets cost £30 – this covers the train from Stratford to Ware, only paying from zone 6, the minibus from Ware to the Gardens, entrance to the gardens, and the return travel to Stratford. Sighted guides will need to have a ticket to cover them from Stratford to Enfield Lock (zone 6).
Dane Tree House, Perry Green, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, SG10 6EE
The tour will include some context about the site, house, visiting a couple of studios, and of course interacting with the outdoor sculptures! Experience Henry Moore’s iconic work in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside with a visit to the artist’s former home, studios, and sculpture gardens.
Eye Matter Sicily Holiday with Seable Holidays
16th to 21st June 2025.
5 nights/6 days to stay at the four-star hotel Malavoglia resort in Sicily.
The bed and breakfast price, which includes all activities, van hire, 3 guides (including 1 Seable member of staff and 2 guides from Eye Matter), is £1843.34 per person sharing a twin or double room.
The single room supplement is £250.
Return flights from Gatwick will be approximately £150-200 plus luggage. Each traveller is responsible for arranging their own travel insurance.
Seable Holidays requires a £200 non-refundable deposit for each person.
Activities include a tactile museum and city tour including local markets. Excursions to Mount Etna feature a cable car trip up to 2300 m, a 4×4 Jeep ride to 2800 m, and an Etna products food tasting session. Guests will also be treated to an Etna Vineyard visit with a 4-course lunch and accompanying wine pairing. A half-day at the beach with sunbeds and umbrellas, plus Sicilian dessert tasting, before a sunset boat trip with aperitivo on board. Organic farm visit, including local donkeys, horses, goats, and chickens.
An audio described tour to Frameless
On Thursday 26th June, 2 pm
Meet and Greet at Marble Arch Station Oxford Street exit at 1:30 pm
Tickets: £9
Frameless is redefining the experiential immersive art world. Situated in Marble Arch, they are the largest permanent multi-sensory experience in the UK. Frameless features four galleries and showcases some of the world’s greatest works of art, presented in ways never seen before. Where art breaks free.
Training Opportunity
Join our “Train the Trainer” session to share your voice over knowledge with our members on Tuesday 29th April at 2pm.
Eye Matter were delighted with the success of their recent series of voice over training sessions for members. Each volunteer receives training before being matched to a visually impaired member from Eye Matter’s Volunteer VoiceOver Training Manager, Charu Bansal, in conjunction with RNIB’s Trainer Jackie Brown, So far 15 volunteers have expressed their interest to join Cheru’s team of 7 voice over trainers, who completed this course last year. Since October 2024 nearly 40 members have reached out to this on-line training opportunity, of whom over 10 have successfully completed the six-week programme and a further number are still undergoing support.
The main criteria required for a volunteer voice over trainer is a good understanding of voice over and the ability to share this knowledge at different levels. The trainer commits to a six-week programme for one hour a week which allows the learner to practise before each session. Every person’s needs and requirements are different and may include how to use Siri in order to enable and disable VoiceOver; Understanding the different types of hand gestures and swipe movements; how to work their way around the screen; how to edit text; along with a number of basic operational skills. Ashrafia said “a massive great big thank you. Lacy has been an amazing teacher, and I now feel I have the basic skills to use VoiceOver.”
Charu, whose sight loss was diagnosed in 2012, explained the importance of learning voice over skills, “Using my smart phone enabled me to be independent again. Technology is the only lifeline that is going to give me the confidence and resilience required to move ahead in life, and I was keen to help others gain these important skills.”
Eye Matter’s next “Train the trainer” session is on 29th April 2025 at 2pm via Zoom for both new and existing volunteers. Within these workshops volunteers learn how to effectively teach iPhone VoiceOver And can ask any questions or share problems they might have gone through while carrying out the training.
If you would like to take part in our next series, or require support on your smart phone, please email us.
Special Features
Report the scammers
How many of us have received a dodgy phone call or text message? They can be posing as a computer technician, a bank, postal service, or a retailer. In our recent social media training (collaborated with RNIB), we discussed fraud and how tricksters are seeking to steal our personal information.
If you have received such a call or message, just text 7726 with the offending number.
For more information, please click here:
Time for a poem with Eye Matter
There was good attendance for this month’s Zoom “Poetry Appreciation” session based on “Time” (Friday 21st February) with Diana Bramson. A huge thanks to everyone who contributed poems to this session. February’s poems included: “Oh Children” by Margaret Atwood, “Eight Tentacles” by Julia Donaldson, “Waiting (poem for Hermes)” by Joshua Seigal, and “In Time’s Swing” by Lucy Larcom.
After each session, Eye Matter distributes both the selected poems and those written by participating members. Diana carefully chooses a topic of interest, from which she reads poems from across a wide genre and years. Here is one poem influenced by the previous month’s topic about the roles and contributions of the Poet Laureate.
Poet Laureate by Sarah Brooks
February 2025.
Wordsworth had his golden daffodil,
Elliott Pussycat cat and owl We’re married I’m a hill.
Keats wrote an odd to a Nightingale,
Victoria wanted to be smacked on the bottom with a woman’s weekly, Not the daily mail.
John Cooper Clark SA performance poet.
Shakespeare performed his, But used the word sonnet.
Sir John betchaman a poet loriot to boot,
Pam is rights poems funny, And cute.
Some Poems alpha reading, Sum alpha singing,
But I think you’ll agree the best ones of all are those that are written With words that are rhyming.
Please click here for last month’s review:
Our next session will be on the Friday 18th April at 12pm. Please join us at 11am for a fun and friendly social.
Engaging VIPs with Audio Description in Museums
Over the past few years, Eye Matter has visited many museums, art galleries, and theatres where members, unable to use their sight, have interacted with exhibits through touch, taste, sound, and smell. The importance of access to museums and similar institutions for blind and partially sighted people is currently accommodated in a variety of ways, including headsets with live audio description (AD), pre-recorded AD, QR readers, Braille, and large print. On some private tours, Eye Matter has been fortunate to have knowledgeable guides, and in Sicily, members had the opportunity to taste local produce. Following Eye Matter’s visit to the brilliantly thought-provoking audio-described tour of Mire Lee’s Open Wound at Tate Modern, Charmaine contacted Suzie about a new project she was involved with. She said, “This project is so fundamentally important, inspiring, and empowering for equity, diversity, and inclusion for all humanity, but especially for blind and partially sighted people, because we are fundamental participants.”
In January 2025, Charmaine took part in the first phase of a new project called W-ICAD with two museum partners, one in the UK and one in the US. The second phase included 15 museums in both countries. Its core principle is to provide museums with a tool (the workshop model) through which they can create audio descriptions based on co-created discussions between blind, partially sighted, and sighted co-creators. One of the key outcomes from this project is the realisation that having content created by a wider demographic of visitors produces a more interactive experience for everyone.
Dr Lindsay Bywood, Research Fellow on the W-ICAD project and Visiting Lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Westminster, explains: “The Workshop for Inclusive Co-created Audio Description (W-ICAD) is both a concept and a tool for museums. It is founded on research that shows that most audiences benefit from audio description; there is no such thing as an objective experience, and vision is neither necessary nor sufficient to access a museum experience. W-ICAD audio description is co-created by groups of blind, partially sighted, and sighted co-creators as they explore museum collections together. It is subjective and embraces people’s personal memories and ideas. Blind and partially sighted people can be involved in the co-creation of the audio description, but the idea is that the resulting AD is available to everyone and enriches the museum visit for all visitors.”
Although Charmaine’s initial role was to test the accessibility of W-ICAD as a visually impaired user, she soon became so enamoured with the course content. It is an 8-hour online course covering a range of topics related to museums. Each participant receives a digital badge upon completion. The badge contains information about the skills and competencies acquired during the course.
Eye Matter has invited Professor Hannah Thompson, Professor of Disability Studies and French at Royal Holloway University, and Dr Alison Eardley, Reader in Museum Access at the University of Westminster, to participate in a future “Inspiring Speakers” Zoom session to tell us more about this exciting opportunity.
For more information about this project, please click here:
Or email Alison Eardley at