Eye Matter Matters Issue 35

Welcome to Eye Matter Matters issue 35. 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

This edition includes:

Eye Matter’s volunteering opportunities

• Voiceover training
• Members Outreach Programme

Eye Matter Zoom events

• Bookworms” returns Wednesday 3^rd December at 11am
• Fear and Courage for Friday 7th November cathartic creative writing on Zoom.
• Bounce with us again on Wednesday 12^th November.

Eye Matter Outings

• London’s two-day Sight Village.
• Eye Matter Singers Christmas Concert
• Eye Matter’s Winter Extravaganza
• An audio described performance of Friends, The Musical Parody

Special Features

• Just days left to support Richard’s Big Blind Waddle for Eye Matter.
• Did you know the Paralympics weren’t created in Ancient or even modern Greece?
• My visit to the Bank of England on World Sight-loss Awareness day.
• Support RNIBs petition to improve access to rehabilitation across the UK.

Eye Matter’s volunteering opportunities

• Eye Matter encourages peer support amongst its members.
• No experience is necessary
• Provides work experience within a safe environment.
• All work is done through Zoom or on a phone (unless stated otherwise).
• 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 visually impaired individuals. To support this initiative, we are excited to introduce our 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, which is coordinated by our wonderful volunteer member liaison, Irena Valchera. We are seeking volunteers to assist Irena in reaching out to our members to ensure they are doing well, confirm their continued interest in membership, to make sure that they are able to join our incredible Zoom sessions and to see whether they have any brilliant ideas for future Eye Matter events or opportunities.

If you would like to support Eye Matter, even committing to make one call per week would be extremely beneficial. 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 line “Outreach Volunteer.”

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please email suzie@eyematter.org.uk

Forthcoming Eye Matter Zoom events

Keep up to date with our activities here.

Highlights include:

Bookworms returns Wednesday 3^rd December at 11am, live on Zoom.

• December’s book is Love marriage by Monica Ali.

you haven’t read the whole book, didn’t like it or just enjoy listening to others, come along to this friendly, relaxed session and let us know your choice for next time.

all of our books are available on the RNIB Readings Services as a downloadable audio book. Please contact RNIB directly for more information.

RNIB talking books

Sarah, who hosts Bookworms declared after Octobers session, “To kill a mockingbird, was a successful read by our members.”

Please check out our list of future books and lots of ideas from our past Bookworms.

Join us Friday 7th November for ’Fear and Courage’ at our next creative cathartic writing session with Johanna Williams on Zoom.

At our October session, Jo read a carefully chosen collection of extracts and creative writing to inspire members including the following example by Harper Lee from “To Kill a Mockingbird“

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”

Here is some more inspiration for your own creations:

• Write about a time you ‘felt the fear and did it anyway’
• Write a letter to your fear
• Write about someone you believe is very courageous
• Write about what courage means to you
• Take a line or lines from one of the pieces emailed to you from a previous session and use it to start your own piece of writing

Now it’s your turn to be inspired by this theme. At the next session Friday 7^th November. you can either submit your work to Jo or read it yourself. Of course, participation is always optional, and you are welcome just to listen.

Bounce with us again on Wednesday 12th November.

• Bounce notes and recommendations from Wednesday 8th October 2025

 As usual there was a diverse range of questions from our members which Rachel has kindly collated. After each session the participants are sent an email with recommendations and helpful tips including:

 Question 1. What’s App polls used to work well on my iPhone, but they have developed a fault, trying to show me calendar options rather than letting me reply to a pole. Help!

Question 2. What is screen recognition?

Question 4. Has anyone managed to get Meta live AI working on their Meta glasses?

 Question 9. Does anyone know of an accessible power bank that is available in the UK?

To find out more about Bounce and access our past reports please click here.

Eye Matter Outings

Find all our events here

London’s two-day Sight Village.

Suzie said, “Eye Matter had a fantastic time at Sight Village London 2024. We were joined by Fiona, Kinnari, Rachel, Maggie, Noemi and Suzie for an extremely buzzing table, constantly surrounded by members, friends and people interested in the charity.”

Venue: the ILEC Conference Centre, 47 Lillie Road, London SW6 1UD, on

When: Tuesday 18^th Nov – 10:00am – 4:00pm

Wednesday 19^th Nov – 9.30am – 3.30pm

Sight Village is the UK’s leading exhibition and an integral part of the blind and low-vision landscape, attracting thousands of visitors eager to explore the latest technology, products, and support services. It offers a unique opportunity to discuss and engage with new innovations in a sensory-rich environment where you can see, touch, and fully experience products and services. More detailed information is available on the Sight Village website www.qacsightvillage.org.uk. Information is also available in alternative formats please call 0121 803 531

VISITING BY CAR/PARKING

London Suite is a quarter of a mile (400m) from the A4, providing easy access to the M4, M5 and M40.

VISITING BY UNDERGROUND – Public Transport

London Underground

Sitting at the edge of zone 1, West Brompton and Earls Court stations are both within walking distance giving easy access to all central districts of London and Heathrow Airport. Transport for London tube map.

VISITING BY BUS

Bus Routes: 9, 10, 27, 28, 49, 52, 70

Eye Matter Singers Christmas concert

• WHERE: St Pancras & Somers Town Living Centre, 2, Ossulston Street, London. NW1 1DF
• WHEN: Saturday, 6th December
• TIME: 4pm Meet and greet at 3:30pm at St Pancras Station, Midland Road Exit, near the Thameslink barriers.
• COST: £5 donation.

Come and join us for some festive cheer and to eat, drink and be merry!

Eye Matter’s third “Winter Extravaganza”!

LOCATION: The Crown London Hotel, 152 Cricklewood Broadway, London NW2 3ED

DATE: Thursday, 11th December 2025

TIME: 11:30am-6:00pm

Meet & Greet: 10:15am at St. Pancras International, Midland Road Exit, near the Thameslink barriers

• COST: Tickets are subsidised at £45 per person.
• Eye Matter never wants financial constraints to be a barrier, so please contact us if this amount may prove prohibitive. Equally, please donate towards the Extravaganza if you are able to, as this will allow more people to attend.
• Donations for raffle prizes are appreciated.
• Join Eye Matter for a fun-filled day and indulge in a sumptuous four-course lunch. Please see menu below. Please let us know of any dietary requirements and we will do our utmost to accommodate them.
• Drinks can be purchased at your table or from the bar.
• The Extravaganza will also feature stunning performances from 60s inspired band “The Beats”, quizzes, a festive raffle, and much more.
• Dress to boogie, sparkle and enjoy!

Please email Suzie for the full menu.

An audio described performance of Friends, The Musical Parody

New Wimbledon Theatre

93 The Broadway, London SW19 1QG

On Wednesday 21^st January 2026 7:30pm

Touch tour time tbc

Tickets are £12

Please bring a picnic to have after the touch tour, before the performance

FRIENDS! The Musical Parody, the hit New York and Las Vegas sensation, is a side-splitting musical comedy packed with iconic moments from all ten seasons of the beloved television series. Featuring an entirely original musical score, the show follows the escapades of the world’s most famous group of twenty-somethings.

From the Producers of Hairspray and the Director of The Full Monty, this humorous take on the beloved TV show blends iconic moments with laugh out loud comedy. Join Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe—as they navigate love, friendship, and life’s ups and downs in 1990’s New York City.

Whether you’re in a love triangle, trying to make it as an actor, or just can’t quit your day job, you’ll be laughing, crying, and quoting your favourite lines all night long!

Warning: May cause spontaneous PIVOT-ing!

Run time: Approximately 2 hours 10 minutes incl. interval

To buy your ticket email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with subject ‘Friends’

Special features

Just days left to support Richard’s Big Blind Waddle for Eye Matter.

• Waddling the Athens Marathon on Saturday 9th November 2025.

JUST DAYS LEFT TILL RICHARD WADDLES ONTO A PLANE BOUND FOR THE UNKNOWN STREETS OF GREECE

If everyone who receives Eye Matter Matters donates at least £5 just think how much fun we could have next year with this funding!!!!!

Richard Simpson (who is 54), from Greenwich, is Seriously Sight Impaired (registered blind due to glaucoma) “My world narrowed slowly and painfully: first the edges blurred, then faces became harder to read, then the familiar turned into shadows. It’s frustrating, humbling, and at times exhausting. But it’s never stopped me moving forward — sometimes literally one stubborn step at a time.” To find out why he is supporting Eye Matter and make a donation please click here:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/richardsbigblindwaddle

Did you know the Paralympics weren’t created in Ancient or even modern Greece?

Although sports for disabled people have existed for over 100 years as evidenced by a variety of clubs for the deaf in Berlin (1889), the seed of the Paralympics emerged in the leafy suburbs of Buckinghamshire within a rehabilitation hospital after the Second World War.

The initial purpose of disabled sport was to assist the large number of war veterans and civilians who had been injured during wartime. It was here in Buckinghamshire (1944) where the British Government appointed Dr. Ludwig Guttmann to open a spinal injuries centre at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Consequently, over time, rehabilitation sport evolved into recreational and ultimately competitive sport for disabled people. The first STOKE MANDEVILLE GAMES took place on 29 July 1948, the same day as the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games. And now back to the Greeks for their input: Para derives from the Greek preposition meaning alongside or parallel to the Olympics.

Dr. Guttmann organised the first competition for wheelchair athletes, which he named the Stoke Mandeville Games, where 16 ex-service men and women competed in archery. Four years later (1952), Dutch ex-service personnel joined the movement, forming the International Stoke Mandeville Games, which evolved into the first Paralympic Games. In 1960, 400 disabled athletes from 23 countries competed in the first ever Paralympics held in Rome, Italy. Riding the wave of it’s success, a working group of ex-service people eventually formed the International Sport Organisation for the Disabled (ISOD) in 1964. They offered opportunities for those athletes who could not affiliate to the International Stoke Mandeville Games: vision-impaired, amputees, persons with cerebral palsy, and paraplegics. Originally,16 countries were affiliated to ISOD, and their efforts saw blind and amputee athletes into the Toronto 1976 Paralympics and athletes with cerebral palsy in 1980 in Arnhem. Over the following years a number of independent disabled organisations were formed, until they were all combined into the International Paralympic Committee, launched on 22 September 1989, in Düsseldorf, Germany, to act as the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. Please click here to read the full article.

My visit to the Bank of England on World Sight-loss Awareness day.

By Fiona Musgrove (thanks to Vicky Blencoe for the invitation and photos).

Marvelling at the classical architecture adopted by John Soanes, noting King William III’s sculpture in a toga and laurel head dress, we wandered through rooms dominated by tall white carved columns, ornate mosaics, imposing statues and polished floors, breathing money, money, money! Within a Much smaller room, we explored a dark wooden ‘strong box’ covered in elaborate metal work. We learnt gold is actually measured in “karats,” not “carrots.” Karats (abbreviated as “K” or “kt”) indicate the purity of gold. Pure gold is 24 karats, meaning 24 out of 24 parts are gold. If gold is 18 karats, it means 18 parts are gold and 6 parts are other metals like copper or silver, making it 75% pure. The lower the karat number, the less pure the gold. Aware of the millions of pounds worth of gold buried far below our feet, it was astonishing to learn that the vaults (as far as we know) have only been penetrated once. Evidently a wandering individual finding a drain cover below the bank was able to enter the dusty vaults from the sewers. His honesty was generously rewarded and security upgraded.

Financial threats undermining Britains economy included the French Revolution (1789-1799) and Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815), were evaded by backing the winning sides! During World War 2, the Nazis designed ‘Operation Bernhard’, intending to cause unrest throughout Britain by dropping millions of forged notes from aeroplanes. A specialised unit (known as ‘Operation Andreas’) began its first phase (1940) and within two years successfully duplicated the rag paper material, produced near-identical engraving blocks and deduced the algorithm used to create the alpha-numeric serial code on each British note. Due to personality clashes the operation was suspended in 1942 only to be revived later that year under new management with a different direction. Gone was the specialised unit, replaced by prisoners selected from the ever-growing concentration camps until 1945: Estimates vary of the number and value of notes printed, from £132.6 million up to £300 million. Evasive action was taken when it was revealed that 10% of £5 notes in general circulation, at the end of the war, were actually forgeries by suspending printing and rebranding. A year later (1946) the Bank of England was nationalised. In 1960 for the first time Britannias prominence on bank notes was replaced by the serene image of Queen Elizabeth II. To read the complete article please click here.

Support RNIBs petition to improve access to rehabilitation across the UK.

According to the RNIB thousands of blind and partially sighted people are having their lives put on pause, unable to access the vision rehabilitation support they need to live life to the full. More than 4 out of 5 local authorities in England failed to meet RNIB’s recommended timeframe for assessments, with a fifth leaving people waiting over a year for support. Vision rehabilitation restores confidence and independence, equipping blind and partially sighted people to get out and about, adapt at work, do the weekly shop, and enjoy the hobbies they love.

“One year is too long to wait to receive support after a sight loss diagnosis. Sign our petition: call on Wes Streeting to take action“