Welcome to Eye Matter Matters issue 41, our fortnightly publication sharing news and information about events, activities; members’ experiences and other items of interest. Unless otherwise stated, all articles have been written by Fiona Musgrove. To contribute to a future edition, please email: fiona.musgrove@yahoo.co.uk.
This edition includes:
Eye Matter’s volunteering opportunities: we are desperately seeking iPhone Voiceover trainers and volunteers to support our Members Outreach Programme
Forthcoming Eye Matter Zoom events
- Launching Marvellous Me Mondays
- New dates announced for Cathartic Writing.
- Bookworms
- New Eye Matter Living Well with Sight Loss Course
Eye Matter Outings
- In-person “Turning Surviving into Thriving” group Grief workshop with Joanna Williams
- Eye Matter is climbing the O2 again
- 2 tickets left for audio Described Performance of SIX The Musical
- Tour of Windsor Castle
- Eye Matter Sailing Opportunities
- Eye Matter’s third PGL activity holiday
Special Features
- £5 covers your membership until 31st March
- Eye Matter Secures National Lottery Community Fund Grant
- Eye Matter Awarded Grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation
- Eye Matter Selected as Charity Partner for Proclaim Group’s 25th Anniversary Campaign
- Do you love yourself?
- Tom and the white cane.
- VI Friendly Apple support Helpline
Eye Matter’s volunteering opportunities
•we are desperately seeking iPhone Voiceover trainers and volunteers to support our Members Outreach Programme
• All calls take place via Zoom or by phone. • These roles are for anyone who wants to support others or upskill for future
employment
•confident iPhone and Android users interested in sharing their skills with other visually impaired members should please email suzie@eyematter.org.uk.
Our Volunteer VoiceOver Training Manager, Charu Bansal, will facilitate a short training program designed to enhance your teaching abilities. Please click here to read more about Charu and this fantastic opportunity.
For testimonials, please click here.
Members Outreach Programme
Eye Matter has a member outreach programme with volunteer opportunities, coordinated by our wonderful volunteer liaison manager, Irena Valchera. We are desperately seeking volunteers to assist Irena in reaching out to our members.
If you can make one call a week or more, please make a difference by joining our member outreach team. Please email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with the subject “Outreach”.
Forthcoming Eye Matter Zoom events can be viewed here.
Launching Marvellous Me Mondays
In 2026 we will be hosting health and wellbeing sessions. The first series, Mindfulness & Emotional Wellbeing with Laura Brodie from “Adventures in Albinism began on Monday 19th January and will conclude on Monday 16th March 2026 (This is a drop-in session; there is no need to book).
This nine-week course offers a structured, experiential introduction to mindfulness, emotional awareness, and psychological wellbeing, grounded in evidence-based
mindfulness practice and positive psychology. Please click here for more information about these sessions.
New dates announced for Cathartic Writing.
15 members joined our last scheduled Cathartic Writing course to discover, it was more, au revoir, than goodbye! In an emotional and respectful session, we heard pieces written by members on the subject of endings and closure. One piece explored the final closure of unrequited love; others discussed the impact of sight-loss through “labelling” or the ebb and flows of family life using imagery of “closing and opening doors: It was a truly evocative session, and we would like to thank everyone who contributed and Jo for reading so beautifully.
Cathartic writing dates for your diary:
Friday 20th March, Friday 22nd May and Friday 19th June. All start at 11am on Zoom.
Our Next Bookworms is on Wednesday 4th March at 11am on Zoom.
We will be discussing Finding My Voice by Nadiya Hussain.
Even if 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.
In February’s Bookworms we discussed The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. This book divided the group, only receiving 6 out of 10. all of our books are available on the RNIB Readings Services as a downloadable audio book. Please contact RNIB directly for more information. Please check out our list of future books and lots of ideas from our past Bookworms.
Living Well with Sight Loss Course starting 7th May 2026
Eye Matter is delighted to offer our Living Well with Sight Loss course in partnership with RNIB.
Boost your confidence and get practical advice, information, and resources in this 6-week course, meeting every Thursday for 2 hours.
Transport for London Accessibility speaker, low vision advice, understanding welfare rights, sports and leisure, learn about rehabilitation and ECLOs, mental health well-being session and resource centre with everyday gadgets.
Our free and informal Zoom based Living Well with Sight Loss course is an ideal way to help you adjust to your sight condition, increase your independence, and grow your confidence.
Through our sessions, you will find out about practical solutions and support that can help you adjust to life with sight loss. You will also have the chance to learn from each other’s personal experiences and share your top tips.
For more information and to book your place, please email: suzie@eyematter.org.uk with the subject ‘living well’.
Eye Matter Outings
Find all of our events here
Eye Matter Group Grief workshop With Joanna Williams
on Sunday 22nd March
At Somerstown Living Centre, Kings Cross, London
2pm-5pm
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 will be the chance to share experiences with your peers and, crucially, learn ways of reworking your expectations and letting go of fear.
Eye Matter Climbs the O2
On Saturday 11th April 2026 11:45am
It’s been two years since 27 Eye Matter members conquered the O2 raising more than £2500 in sponsorship from our wonderful friends, family and supporters.
Eye Matter is delighted to be taking on the challenge again!
Come and join us on Saturday, 11th April as we take an exhilarating 90-minute climb over the world-famous roof of The O2. Celebrate at the summit, as you stand 52 metres high surrounded by historic Greenwich, The Olympic Park and Canary Wharf.
Every step of the climb raises vital funds for Eye Matter, so come and join in the fun!
Cost: £25 per person
To secure your place, please email:suzie@eyematter.org.uk with subject ‘O2’
We have 2 tickets left for the audio described performance of SIX The Musical
Vaudeville Theatre, The Strand, London, WC2R
On Saturday 25th April 2026 8pm
Touch tour time approximately 7:15pm, TBC
Meet and greet at Charing Cross Station, by exit 1, Strand / Trafalgar Square
ITickets are £39.50
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.
From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the SIX wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to reclaim their identities out of the shadow of their infamous spouse – remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st century girl power! This new original musical is the global sensation that everyone is losing their head over!
Run time: 80 minutes, no interval
To buy your ticket email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with subject ‘SIX’
An audio described tour of Windsor Castle
Eye Matter is inviting you on a Royal Day Out
Monday 11th May
Meet and greet at Tottenham Court Road Station at 12pm
Tour starts at 2pm
£5 per person voluntary donation plus travel expenses
We will be getting a train from Tottenham Court Road Station on the Elizabeth Line to Slough, and then a GWR train to Windsor and Eton Central and then an approximately 10-minute walk to the Castle.
Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world.
It is open to visitors throughout the year.
Founded by William the Conqueror in the 11th century,
it has since been the home of 40 monarchs.
For more information, and to book, please email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with subject ‘Windsor’
Eye Matter and Tideway Sailability are delighted to announce sailing opportunities for Eye Matter members
Thursday 14th May, Thursday 11th June orThursday 13th August
from 12:30pm- 3:30pm
We will be starting with a picnic followed by 2 hours sailing.
We have limited spaces available for this amazing opportunity and one date per person please.
Venue: Surrey Docks Watersports Centre, Greenland Dock, Rope Street,
London, SE16 7SX
Meet and greet at Canada Water Station at 11:50am
Cost: £6. To book, please email suzie with the subject “Sailing”.
Eye Matter’s third annual UK holiday to PGL Activity Centre
Eye Matter is delighted to announce our third UK holiday for our members, their families, friends, and our sighted guides.
We will be going to the hugely popular PGL Activity Centre which is located in 21 acres of glorious countryside on the Sussex Downs.
Our three-night multi activity holiday will offer everyone the opportunity to try exciting, accessible pursuits including Archery, Axe Throwing, Canoeing, Fencing, Abseiling, Aeroball, Rifle Shooting, Climbing, Disc Golf, Buggy Building, Giant Swing and Problem Solving.
Our evenings will also have activities including games, quizzes and a pool party.
When: Friday 28th August 2026 – Monday 31st August 2026
Where: PGL Holidays, Windmill Hill, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 4RZ.
Getting there: Eye Matter’s chartered transport will take and return guests from London Kings Cross to PGL Windmill Hill.
P Cost: £415 per guest. This includes: three -night’s accommodation in twin ensuite rooms; all meals from arrival on Friday lunch until our departure after lunch on Monday; all equipment, all activities supported by PGL instructors as well as evening entertainment. Guests are welcome to bring extra treats and snacks. Over 18s may also bring alcohol, although there is a bar and shop on site.
All over 18s must have a valid Enhanced DBS check to stay at PGL Windmill Hill. This is included in the c price. don’t miss out on this always wonderful experience! To secure your place, please email suzie@eyematter.org.uk with the subject “PGL holiday”.
A £75 non-refundable deposit is required for each guest, by the 1st April 2026.
The remaining balance is payable by 19th June 2026.
Special Features
Membership
£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.
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:
Name: Eye Matter
Sort Code: 20-92-63
Account number 83521087
Business bank account.
Please always remember to tell us it’s you by emailing suzie@eyematter.org.uk with the reference you’ve used, thank you for your continued support.
Eye Matter Secures National Lottery Community Fund Grant to Support Community Wellbeing
Eye Matter is thrilled to announce it has been awarded £19,995 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, following a successful application to support its work helping communities thrive.
The funding will enable Eye Matter to deliver its project aimed at strengthening community wellbeing, inclusion, and support. Please click here for the full article.
Eye Matter Awarded Grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation
Eye Matter is delighted to announce it has been awarded a £5,000 grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation, following a successful funding application reviewed by the Weston Family Trustees. Please click here for the full article.
Eye Matter Selected as Charity Partner for Proclaim Group’s 25th Anniversary Campaign
Eye Matter is delighted to announce it has been selected as one of 25 charities supported by Proclaim Group as part of the organisation’s 25th anniversary charity initiative taking place throughout 2026. During the year, Proclaim Group teams across the UK will take part in fundraising events, team challenges, and individual sponsored challenges. Please click here for more information.
Do you love yourself?
On 9th February, MARVELLOUS Me Monday continued with Laura Brodie, from Adventures in Albinism, discussing, ‘Loving Myself as I am. Self-Love, Self-Acceptance, and Seeing the Good in Ourselves.’
In this fourth session, we explored what self-love means from a mindfulness perspective — not as self-admiration or positive thinking, but as learning to relate to ourselves with kindness and honesty. Laura encouraged us to become aware of what enjoyment represents and its relationship to ‘loving ourselves’. She used expressions such as, “beautiful and true” suggesting that there are so many qualities within ourselves which we don’t always recognise.
One response to the concept of self-acceptance and self-love, was “in order to have self-love they had to receive love from others.” it was questioned whether this response was more related to an idea of needing assurance, rather than allowing their own understanding?
We practised arriving in the body, gently noticing qualities we appreciate about ourselves, and allowing imperfections to be present without harsh judgment. A reminder that self-love is a relationship we build over time, one moment at a time. Please click here for the full article.
Tom and the white cane.
A chance encounter with Tom’s son Peter Berris sent me on a journey of discovery.
In 1924, Tom Berris (aged 11 years old) from Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead, was left blinded in one eye after an incident with an air rifle. He was subsequently sent away to a boarding school called St Dunstans, in Burnham on Sea. DavidBolland, from his memoires of St Dunstans (1927) described the conditions as primitive, without the frivolities of curtains or carpets and where the cold rain would often penetrate closed windows. Despite these conditions, Bolland reflects with sincere warmth of the care he and over 70 boarders including Tom, received along with an extensive range of activities.
reflective tape
For many years Tom used a long-improvised metal cane to school and work. His son Peter, recollects one of the first long white canes: “It was one piece, made from metal, with a crook at the top and a rubber grip just below it and covered in reflective white tape, with a nylon ferrule at the end.” Tom continued to experiment with different designs, adding folding wheels and then a larger nylon ball shaped ferrule, but it was still a long rigid metal cane.
The invention of the white cane has been attributed to a number of different people over the years, but the most widely accepted originator is the Bristol-based photographer James Biggs, who in 1921 decided to paint his walking stick white following an accident that caused him to lose his sight. He Feared he might get mowed down by the increasingly numerous motor vehicles speeding outside his home. This first known mobility aid was soon adopted by other visually impaired people. It took a further ten years (1930) for a fully sighted Parisian Guilly d’Herbemont to notice, like Biggs, how perilous visually impaired people found it crossing the roads. Motor vehicles at the time didn’t have headlights, so traffic was regulated by policemen with white sticks. One year later (February 7th1931) Guilly d’Herbemont symbolically gave the first two white canes to blind people in Paris, France. Five thousand white canes were later sent to blind French veterans and civilians.
In 1944,Richard E Hoover, an American Second World War Veteran and Rehabilitation Specialist, took one of the Lions Club’s wooden, white long canes to engage in an experiment. For one week only he attempted to navigate his hospital blindfolded using a white cane. During this time, he developed what is now the standard method of “long cane” training or the Hoover Method. The basic technique is to swing the cane from the centre of the body back and forth before the feet. Once he had successfully produced a lightweight white cane Richard ensured they were sent to the European front to support other veterans.
Shortly after his marriage (around 1943) Tom was employed by the North Met power Company (which later became the Eastern Electricity Board). After being simply able to walk to work at Friern Barnet, he now faced the challenge of catching a bus to new Southgate and Wood Greem. Until 1959, London Transport still required blind passengers “wishing to travel independently” to sign an indemnity accepting financial liability from any accident. By this time Tom had received one of Hoover’s new long white canes remembered by Peter, “Dad was given one of the folding metal canes with the elastic holding the sections together and was placed around the wrist. In fact, he had several of those as they were quite thin and prone to getting caught in obstacles or getting bent.”
Today, there are six different mobility canes: Long Cane, Guide Cane, Identification Cane (AKA Symbol Cane), Kiddies Cane, Supportive Cane (dual usage as a physical aid) and Green Cane (in some countries this is used to differentiate low-vision users from those who are completely blind using a white cane). Mobility canes can now be made from aluminium, graphite-reinforced plastic or fibre-reinforced plastic and have a variety of tips such as the marshmallow, roller-ball or even a wheel! In Finland one source revealed that a ski could be added!
Involving visually impaired people in product design continues to create a more accessible community as demonstrated by the interventions of Biggs, Berris and the folks from the USA Lion’s Club. Please click here for the full article.
VI Friendly Apple support Helpline
In utter confusion I listened to the double spoken letters suddenly appearing on my screen feeling helpless when no longer able to edit and scroll through my content. This glitch also affected my on-screen keyboard whilst using voice over. A quick call with Suzie, a reference to a Bounce solution and I was connected with the Apple Accessibility Support Team. This is a specific phone helpline for visually impaired people experiencing problems with Apple products:
Tel: 0800 048 0754