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Judy's Story
As a result of measles when I was a year old, I have been virtually blind for almost all of my life. So, for me it has been a way of life, finding ways of doing things for which the majority of people use their sight. Teaching for years in a mainstream secondary school, bringing up my two sons, and subsequently changing my career in my fifties, after my sighted husband’s sudden death, I had little time to wonder about what other blind people were doing, or how they were doing it.
It was after I retired that I met a number of people who had lost sight in adult life, either through illness, accidents, or advancing years. Many of these people adjust magnificently, some never quite adjust, but oh, how much more difficult life is for them than it is for those like me who have never seen. Take ironing and cooking, with the risk of burnt fingers for instance. Empty cups and glasses not returned to the kitchen are a nuisance, often resulting in breakages and spills. It often doesn’t occur to sighted families that a door left half open can give you a nasty punch in the eye if you walk into it end on. And then, never having been able to “see” the telly, do fine needlework, and especially, having never been able to drive, there’s no hardship for me. But just imagine having all of these things suddenly snatched from you in adult life.
Oh, try eating a roast dinner with your eyes closed. It gets easier, but even seasoned practitioners of the art like me sometimes knock gravy overboard or stick a chip up my nose! Oh, it’s very, very embarrassing indeed. It occurred to me that a lunch club which members could attend each month, eat a meal without feeling spied upon, swap ideas and have a good laugh, would possibly appeal to a few visually impaired people.
What better place to hold it than the Pattern-Makers Arms in Duffield, where the staff realize the need to place one’s hand on a full glass, and don’t mind telling you where things are on your plate if you wish them to, and most important of all, where a home-cooked two-course meal with a cup of tea or coffee costs less than a fiver! I put the idea to Helen Rowley, in charge of Sport and Leisure at Sight Support Derbyshire, then Derbyshire Association for the Blind, and she was up for it. Helen got the ball rolling, ringing round people on the database, collecting numbers, getting some funding, and arranging transport.
Claire, landlady at the Pattern was willing to give it a go too. We’ve now been up and running for almost two years. Occasionally we’ve had a speaker, as well as a couple of trips out. Mostly, though, the members just like to sit and chat. Claire says we’re a noisy lot, but I think they love us really. We certainly love them.
When all funding was withdrawn, we set about raising our own. On the first day of the big snow in November, a Christmas Fayre we held at the Pattern-Makers realized over three hundred pounds. At Duffield Carnival in June, we added another one hundred and seventy-seven pounds to our stash, and the following week, a raffle and bingo night where we raised a further two hundred and seventy-three pounds.
We shall use the monies raised to pay for transport, have a trip out in September, and a cracking Christmas dinner. Anyone who would like to join us would be made most welcome, and sighted friends and partners are welcome too.
The Lunch Club meetings take place on the 3rd Monday of every month at The Patternmakers Arms in Duffield at 12pm until 2pm.
For more information on how to join the Lunch Club please contact Helen.Rowley@sightsupportderbyshire.org.uk
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