Sight Support Worthing support people who are visually impaired in their daily lives, particularly where there is no other support available.
A grant from Sussex Community Foundation went towards introducing a lunch club for their visually impaired and blind members. Participants gained a new skill set to create meals using the latest Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) equipment in a fun, inclusive environment. After each lesson the members, Rehabilitation Officers for Visually Impaired People (ROVIs), staff and volunteers ate together before cleaning up. This made for a relaxed social end to each lesson, where people made new friends and reduced their isolation.
C, a newer member in her 50s, is registered blind. She has a guide dog and lives in Brighton. C decided to sign up for Sight Support Worthing's cooking sessions as she only ate microwave meals or soup and wanted to reteach herself to cook after sight loss.
She took the bus and came every week. C really enjoyed the lessons, gaining new skills and relearning lost ones. Some weeks the group batch cooked and she took home meals to eat another day. Sight Support Worthing accessed a RNIB grant to buy C a talking air fryer. C was keen, fun and chatty, and enjoyed making new friends and having lunch out at the charity. She was the first to request a second round of advanced lessons and has already secured her place.
Sight Support Worthing have gone on to help her with benefits advice. The ROVIs assisted her in moving to Shoreham at a specially adapted property with a garden for the guide dog. As her sight loss has occured over a period of years, she had dropped off their radar so this was a massive achievement. Recently she went to Sight Support Worthing's charity stall on Worthing seafront to support them in raising awareness and funds.
Find out more about Sight Support Worthing on their website.
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