Welcome to Eye Matter Matters issue 19. 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
- Are you struggling with Facebook or concerned about your safety using social media?
- cathartic creative writing on Zoom supported by the Ronson Foundation – starting on 14th February at 11am
- Would you like to join us in an exciting new volunteering opportunity to engage in a member outreach programme?
Eye Matter Outings
- A private audio described tour of Mire Lee: Open Wound in collaboration with Tate Modern
- Grieving the life you expected
- A day at Bletchley Park
Special features
- Nicky swims the English Channel for Eye Matter
- Eye Matter Receives £2000 Grant from the Ronson Foundation to Support 2025 Activities
- Eye Matter announces the appointment of a sixth trustee.
- Blind Dad has his sight fixed on completing the World Series in marathon running.
- Eye Matter discovers the rich tapestry of our Poet Laureates
- On tour with Eye Matter 2025.
Eye Matter Zoom events
Keep up to date with our activities here.
Highlights include:
Are you struggling with Facebook or concerned about your safety using social media?
If you answer yes or are curious about accessing Facebook as a blind or partially sighted user, then this course is for you!
Each session is an hour and will be held at 2pm on Tuesday, 11th and 18th February on our usual Zoom link.
Written in conjunction with RNIB’s Digital Skills Engagement Team, Eye Matter’s Director of Communications, Fiona Musgrove will take you through the process and discuss some of the concerns when using Facebook. Each session will be accompanied by a Resource Sheet so just sit back and immerse yourself in the merits of joining a global community on Facebook.
To find out more please click our Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid035hDPrNPwPHpFArmbNzyhHdNjrkGij5B4hihQHs69pHaq8n1hrQEzid9X5FvTr9VYl&id=100032751800652
cathartic creative writing on Zoom supported by the Ronson Foundation – starting on 14th February at 11am.
Release your inner writer in these cathartic creative writing sessions.
We will meet on Zoom and discuss a different theme each time. Facilitator Joanna Williams will share pieces of writing on the theme, from selected works of fiction, memoir, or creative nonfiction, and we’ll discuss how we feel about the pieces. Then, you’ll be invited to use the class as inspiration to create your own piece of writing. In the intervening weeks The first session’s theme on Valentine’s day will unsurprisingly be love!
At the next class, you can share your work if you so choose. You can send the writing to Joanna in advance or read it yourself. There is no obligation to write or to share; if you prefer to just listen, that’s fine, too.
This is a drop-in session for all members, everyone is welcome there is no need to book
Please read more and find future dates on our Facebook page:
Would you like to join us in an exciting new volunteering opportunity to engage in a member outreach programme?
Another chance to join this volunteer opportunity is taking place on Tuesday, 18th March. at 11am on the usual Zoom link.
Eye Matter is initiating two member outreach programs with volunteer opportunities, which will be coordinated by our new volunteer member liaison, Irena Valchera. The first training opportunity was held on 21st January. We are seeking volunteers to assist Irena in reaching out to our members to ensure they are doing well, to confirm their continued interest in membership, and be assured that they are able to join our Zoom sessions.
If you would like to support Eye Matter and other members, even committing to making one call per week would be hugely appreciated. If you are able to contribute more time, that would be wonderful.
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.”
Click here to see this post on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0NtrHGx4P4rntmJcqLRfVPLtFJpiyD4UtMPE8DJ3psTYHQU5LPm3f41FDF75FrvP6l&id=100032751800652
Eye Matter Outings
Find all our events here
Highlights include:
10th February Simon & Garfunkel £15.25, London Palladium, Wednesday
12th February Tate Modern, £5 voluntary contribution,
Thursday 6th March Sno Zone Sledging, Price TBC, meet and greet at Euston Station.
A private audio described tour of Mire Lee: Open Wound in collaboration with Tate Modern
Wednesday 12th February
Meet and Greet at 10:50am at Southwark Station just past the barriers on the left
Please bring a picnic.
Tickets to this private AD tour are free, we ask that you make a £5 voluntary contribution
Drawing inspiration from Tate Modern’s history as a power station, Mire Lee transforms the Turbine Hall with striking hanging sculptures and epic mechanical installations, reimagining the space as a living factory. A fascinating mix of materials such as silicone and chains bring her creations to life and challenge our ideas of what is beautiful, perverse, provocative and desirable.
Click here to read more on our Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0uxAMFkf5bMZCQs15MX7BfPouMfzi9J39iCqzAsd85jXeLcGm4yoHuTXBHc91UYaJl&id=100032751800652
Grieving the life you expected
Saturday, 29th March
At Somers Town Community Centre Kings Cross, London.
A voluntary contribution of £5 is appreciated.
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.
A day at Bletchley Park
on Saturday, 5th April
Meet and greet 9:50am Euston Station
Tickets are £35, including you return train tickets from Euston to Bletchley £16.40, entry to Bletchley plus a private tour £16.50, admin fee £2.10
A self-guided tour will be available on arrival. They have limited headsets, and we have been given permission to bring speakers to attach to the devices so we can share.
Please bring a picnic, although there is a cashless café if you choose.
Bletchley Park, once the top-secret home of the World War Two Codebreakers, is now a museum and vibrant heritage attraction open daily, managed by the Bletchley Park Trust.
To book your ticket email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with subject ‘Bletchley’
Click to our Facebook page for more information:
Please email us with your chosen outing title.
Voluntary contributions can be made prior the activity using the usual bank account and providing a reference to the activity. These donations are greatly appreciated to ensure future activities.
Special features
Nicky swims the English Channel for Eye Matter
Over the past year we have had some amazing fundraising events from members and Nicky Newport, from London, is next to grab this baton. She will swim the length of the English Channel from Dover to Calais, 22miles, which equates to 1408 lengths at her local pool in Forest Hill. This amazing challenge begins from the first week of February for 12 weeks.
Please give generously to advocate Eye Matters future activities which we all so much enjoy: A £5 donation would make a difference to ensuring volunteers can support our members.
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/nickynewportswimsforeyematter
Eye Matter Receives £2000 Grant from the Ronson Foundation to Support 2025 Activities
Eye Matter is thrilled to announce the receipt of a generous £2000 grant from the Ronson Foundation, which will be instrumental in supporting the organisation’s expanding activities throughout 2025.
Suzie Simons, Eye Matter’s Founder and Co-ordinator, expressed her gratitude for the grant: “So many members have told me how accessing activities with Eye Matter and our dedicated team of volunteers has boosted their confidence and made them feel truly part of a community once again. Without the support of grants and donations, Eye Matter would not be able to continue its important work, and we are incredibly thankful to the Ronson Foundation for making this opportunity possible.”
For the full article on Facebook please click here:
Eye Matter announces appointment of a sixth trustee.
Belinda Sosinowicz, Who is an Advanced Social Worker (Systemic therapy (Wandsworth Children’s Services) will be joining Eye Matter’s Board of Trustees from February 2025, as a volunteer fundraiser. Her role has been designed to target funding opportunities for their growing membership which recently numbered 360 blind and partially sighted people across the UK. In addition to her good administration skills Belinda will bring a wide variety of experience in running peer support organisations.
Suzie Simons (Eye Matter’s founder) expressed her delight at the Trustees decision to appoint Belinda in this role, Particularly in this last year with our increased membership and range of activities we needed to have one person to solely concentrate on writing bids, sourcing income streams and ensuring Eye Matter can keep costs minimal for members.”
Like the majority of Eye Matters trustees, Belinda is registered severely sight impaired and has taken part in many of our activities, “Joining Eye Matter has helped me in coming to terms with my sight loss as I have met others with similar conditions and shared our stories. This has made me feel less alone and more supported in my journey and I enjoyed the fun events and trips. I have so benefited from the charity, that I would like to support it with my expertise so that it may continue providing the positive benefits to its members.”
Click to our Facebook page to read the full article: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0LDzQTZqxe2p3tHZzYC2dHzqZiUd6MV1QxxPBDtiYku1ABboFRvhCnLv5ucET9btnl&id=100032751800652
Blind Dad has his sight fixed on completing the World Series in marathon running.
Eye Matter member Dave Williams (aged 42 in 2018) weighing 100kg made a conscious decision to set a good example to his then 9-year-old son, by running a marathon. 200 park runs and a dozen marathons later, he’s now on a mission to complete the Abbott World Major series of big city marathons.
Dave (RNIB’s Inclusive Design Ambassador for Consumer and Business Services and Chair of the Braillists Foundation) first marathon was New York City in November 2019, followed by Boston in April 2022, Berlin in September 2022 and Chicago in October 2023. He completed his first London Marathon (October 2021) in around 4 hours 20 minutes, however due to the Pandemic it would be a further two years before he was able to compete again in reality. His second attempt (April 2023) was completed in 3:47 and who knows what his time will be in London 2025!
His regular training to increase stamina and endurance on different routes, is dependent on the availability of having sighted guide runners 2-3 times a week, for approximately 3 hours. He explains, “But some things you can’t prepare for. In Chicago they had these metal grids on some of the bridges, and there’s one part of the Boston course that I think crosses a tram line. And it’s also very difficult to replicate the extremely busy sections of the London Marathon where runners are elbow to elbow.”
On 2 March 2025 Dave will be in Japan with his running pal Mat to take on the Tokyo Marathon. This will represent the final piece of the jigsaw to complete the original six Abbott World Marathon Major series. But six is not the end. Abbott has recently added Sidney as the seventh Major, and Cape Town and Shanghai are expected to become eight and nine. “I’m just taking it one at a time. Obviously, I’d love to run all of them, but the costs are mounting up and I do have a family to feed.”
He concludes, “Collecting that six-star medal will be a very emotional moment for someone who hated PE at school and avoided any physical activity for most of my life. I never dared believe that someone like me would get to do something like this. I want to dedicate that medal to every single person who has supported me along the way. Too many folks to mention, but they know who they are!”
If you would like to read more about Dave’s amazing achievements, please click on our Facebook page:
Eye Matter discovers the rich tapestry of our Poet Laureates
There have been 28 Poet Laureates since it was introduced to promote the enjoyment of poetry by King Charles’s II (1668). Originally this was a lifetime position which has since changed to become a 10-year appointment. In this month’s “Poetry Appreciation” session Friday 10th January) with Diana Bramson. Eye Matter members were encouraged to consider five selected poems from different periods in time, how they reflected the poet’s thoughts and understanding of their responsibility to both the Monarch and their people. Examples from a variety of Poet Laureates and their dates including: To Sleep by William Wordsworth (1843-1850), The Lift Man by John Betjeman (1972-1984) and Name by Carol Ann Duffy (2009-2019)
In addition to listening to these examples members are encouraged to share their own poems inspired by the previous session: Mister E Motion by Malcolm Day “My head is full of Mister Men, That come to see me now and then. My deepest emotions, a story they tell, You’ll know who they are, their names ring a bell.”
If you would like to join our next session, please email:
On tour with Eye Matter 2025.
Following Eye Matter’s Suzie Simons’ globetrotting success last year around the UK she is embarking on some new locations for 2025. In 2024 Eye Matter delivered over 200 Zoom events including; poetry, quizzes, live concerts, therapy, Chair Yoga, dance, drama workshops, technology support, book club and so much more. Consequently, wherever our members live they can access a multitude of activities each week.
Come and say “hello” at the following venues:
Eye Can Exhibition.
Wednesday 2nd April at the Guild Hall, Salisbury
Click here to register and find out more:
https://www.sightsupportwest.org.uk/services/events-and-exhibitions
Sight Village, Wales.
Tues 8th April: 9.30am – 3.30pm
All Nations Conference Centre, Cardiff.
Click here to register and find out more:
https://www.qac.ac.uk/exhibitions/sight-village-wales-2025/1449.htm
Sight Village Scotland.
Wednesday 21st May: 9.30am – 3.30pm
Science Centre Glasgow
Click here to register and find out more:
https://www.qac.ac.uk/exhibitions/sight-village-glasgow-2025–new-location/1459.htm
Click here to our Facebook page for the full list: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02WwPs9XPRdYEjXfhAPD9UGgqXyoEyQ9GNjo546z3xWu1xzqwRNRBRauvHkyMWybLYl&id=100032751800652