Welcome to Eye Matter Matters issue 39. 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 written by Fiona Musgrove. If you would like to contribute an article to a future edition, please email fiona.musgrove@yahoo.co.uk
BREAKING NEWS
Hello wonderful members and supporters,
We are absolutely delighted to start the year with some truly brilliant news.
First, some of our lovely members have come together and nominated Eye Matter for the King’s Award for Voluntary Service. This is a huge honour, and we are incredibly proud. Just being nominated is a massive achievement and a real recognition of the dedication and hard work of our many volunteers.
Over the next couple of weeks, you may be asked to contribute to the application. This is very much a team effort, and we will be inviting as many volunteers as possible to share their experiences. We will let you know exactly what is needed as and when.
The second piece of fantastic news is that we have just received a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to support many of our core services. We are extremely grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for their continued support, which makes such a positive difference to our work.
Thank you all for being part of Eye Matter and for everything you do. What a wonderful way to begin the year.
This edition includes:
Eye Matter Zoom events
- A New Year, a New You?- assertive training workshop.
- Mindfulness & Emotional Wellbeing with Laura Brodie from Adventures in Albinism.
- Monday 19th January 2026 at 6pm on Zoom. (This is a drop-in session, no need to book).
Eye Matter Outings
- Private Audio Described tour of The Hunterian Museum
- In-person Surviving to Thriving Group Grief workshop with Joanna Williams
Eye Matter’s volunteering opportunities
- Voiceover training
- Members Outreach Programme
Special Features
- New membership subscription – £5 per person covers your membership from 1st January to 31st March 2026.
- Christmas appeal raises almost £1000
- Life for Chad began at ‘The Wizard’s Chest’.
Forthcoming Eye Matter Zoom events
Highlights include:
A New Year, a New You?- assertive training workshop.
Tuesday 13th January 7-8pm on Zoom.
- Do you often experience poor self-esteem and low confidence?
- Do you have trouble saying no?
- Do you end up agreeing to do things you don’t want to do?
- Do you have difficulty asking for help?
- Do you struggle to express your needs and opinions?
- Eye Matter member and freelance trainer, Terry James offers assertive training
- In this workshop, we will explore practising assertive behaviour, which will include:
- How to improve your self-esteem and increase your confidence
- How to feel comfortable saying no
- How to avoid doing things you don’t want to do
- How to feel empowered to ask for help
- How to express your needs and opinions clearly and positively
Mindfulness & Emotional Wellbeing with Laura Brodie from Adventures in Albinism.
Monday 19th January 2026 at 6pm on Zoom. (This is a drop-in session, no need to book).
This eight-week course offers a structured, experiential introduction to mindfulness, emotional awareness, and psychological wellbeing, grounded in evidence-based
mindfulness practice and positive psychology.
Introducing Laura Brodie, a humble life-long learner in the world of mindfulness and education. She is the Founder of Adventures in Albinism and the creator of The Teacher’s Compass. Laura helps individuals with albinism and low vision as well as parents and teachers in the albinism community move from overwhelm and uncertainty to clarity, confidence, and calm by using simple, evidence-based mindfulness tools that nurture emotional well-being and connection.
In these weekly one-hour sessions, participants will explore how to cultivate greater presence, self-awareness, and emotional balance in everyday life. The course combines guided mindfulness practices, gentle reflection, and practical tools that can be integrated into daily routines, regardless of prior experience with mindfulness.
Each session builds progressively, beginning with attention to the breath and the body, and gradually expanding to include sensory awareness, emotional regulation, self-compassion, stress management, and conscious relating. Participants will be invited to explore how automatic reactions arise, how to create space between stimulus and response, and how to relate more kindly and consciously to both themselves and others.
For more information please click here.
Eye Matter Outings
Find all of our events here
Eye Matter is delighted to be working with the Hunterian Museum for their first private audio described tour
Thursday 12th March 2026
Meet and Greet at Holborn Station at 10am
The Hunterian Museum, named after the 18th century surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728-1793), includes the display of over 2,000 anatomical preparations from Hunter’s original collection, alongside instruments, equipment, models, paintings and archive material, which trace the history of surgery from ancient times to the latest robot-assisted operations. The Museum includes England’s largest public display of human anatomy
Visit the Hunterian Museum and through an audio-described tour find out about the life and work of the 18th-century surgeon and anatomist John Hunter, who the museum is named after. The tour will focus on 8–10 objects which show different aspects of Hunter’s quest to understand the life force of all living things, from the smallest plants to the largest creatures on earth.
After the tour there will be a relaxed Q&A with Dawn Kemp, the Hunterian Museum Director, and an informal object handling session.
This will be followed the lovely café at the museum where we are able to bring picnic or to pay for a yummy hot lunch.
Timings:
Arrive: 10.30am
Tour starts: 10.45am
Tour length: 45mins
Q&A: 30mins
Please note, The Hunterian Museum contains human remains, including fetuses. Viewing human remains can evoke powerful emotions which some visitors can understandably find difficult.
This will be a £5 voluntary donation.
Eye Matter Group Grief workshop With Joanna Williams
on Sunday 22nd March 2026
At Somerstown Living Centre, Kings Cross, London
2pm to 5pm – with refreshments
Meet and Greet: 1:30pm, St Pancras Station, by the Midland Road Exit, at the Thameslink barriers.
Grieving the life you expected
All of us have expectations about life and the world around us. Some are societal, some we learn from friends and family, 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’ll be the chance to share experiences with your peers and, crucially, learn ways of re-working your expectations and letting go of fear.
For more information or to sign up email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with subject ‘grief’
This will be a £5 voluntary donation.
Eye Matter’s volunteering opportunities
• Eye Matter encourages peer support amongst its members.
• No experience is necessary
• Provides work experience within a safe, supportive environment.
• All work takes place via Zoom or by phone (unless otherwise stated).
• You will learn to work both independently and as part of a team.
• These roles are for anyone who wants to support others or upskill for future employment opportunities
• Training is provided
Voiceover training
• Required participation of six (one hour) sessions over six weeks.
• An alternative number is required (preferably a land line).
We are seeking confident iPhone and Android users within our membership who are interested in sharing their skills with other members.
We are delighted to introduce our brilliant Volunteer VoiceOver Training Manager, Charu Bansal, who will facilitate a short training program designed to enhance your teaching abilities.
Click here to read the testimonials of members who have benefitted from this project.
Members Outreach Programme
Would you like to join us in an exciting new volunteering opportunity to engage in our community callout programme?
Eye Matter has a member outreach programme with volunteer opportunities, coordinated by our wonderful volunteer liaison manager, Irena Valchera. We are seeking volunteers to assist Irena in reaching out to our membership to see how they are, confirm their continued interest in membership, to ensure they are able to access our Zoom sessions and to ask whether they have any suggestions for future Eye Matter events or opportunities.
If you would like to support Eye Matter, even committing to making one call per week will make a difference. If you are able to contribute more time, that would be greatly appreciated too. Volunteers will receive basic training for this role.
To join our member outreach team, please email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with the subject “Outreach Volunteer”.
Special Features
£5 per person covers your membership from 1st January to 31st March 2026.
Eye Matter membership has been free for 7 years but to ensure income streams, Eye Matter’s trustees have taken the difficult decision to introduce a membership fee/donation towards the charity’s work. This will come into effect as of 1st January 2026.
£5 per person covers your membership from 1st January to 31st March 2026. £15 will then be payable to cover your membership from 1st April 2026 until 31st March 2027.
2025 has been an exciting year for Eye Matter. We are delighted that our membership has grown to 480 of you lovely people, with many of you regularly enjoying our range of online and in-person events.
We have delivered two holidays for more than 50 members to Sicily and Sussex, attended numerous Westend shows including “The Devil Wears Prada”, “Stranger Things” and we’ve also visited the Harry Potter studios. Members have enjoyed exclusive tours to art exhibitions including The Henry Moore Studios and Gardens and the immersive experience of London’s “Frameless”. Our online events have included ‘Poetry Appreciation’, cathartic writing, twice monthly grief counselling, “Bookworms”, our monthly audiobook club, a music production workshop, drama improvisation sessions, quizzes, socials, Chair Yoga, audio-described Zumba, “Neurobics” (brain aerobics) and the Eye Matter Singers, our fun, inclusive choir, who recently gave a terrific Christmas concert. We have listened to a variety of Inspiring speakers from the visually impaired community and enjoyed concerts performed by visually impaired singers and musicians.
To ensure your continued membership, please click the following JustGiving link to pay your membership fee ticking the gift aid option if applicable.
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/eyemattermembershipfee
Alternatively, please pay by bank transfer, using “MEMBERSHIP” as your reference.
Name: Eye Matter
Sort Code: 20-92-63
Account number 83521087
Business bank account
Christmas appeal raises almost £1000.
A huge thanks to everyone who gave a Christmas present to Eye Matter last month. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. If you would like to donate, please do so here.
Life for Chad began at ‘The Wizard’s Chest’.
Chad Allen, a blind magician and author, created ‘Unseen,’ an audio comic featuring a blind assassin named Afsana, to make comics accessible to blind and sighted audiences. The first issue was completed in 2019 and has been showcased at events like the Exploratorium’s ‘Self, Made’ exhibit in San Francisco and the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con. As of now, there is no specific information about its availability at UK comic festivals, but its inclusion in international events suggests potential future screenings in Great Britain.
Click here to read a Guardian article.
Click here to watch a YouTube video featuring more about his sight-loss, magic and life.
Contact has been made with Chad – so watch this space!