Winter Edition 2004 , Summer Edition 2004 , February Edition 2004 ,
Download a Journal , Summer Edition 2006 , Spring Edition 2007
Foresight swells its ranks to 250 members in just six months. Charity's vision makes a much brighter future
One charity had the foresight and dedication to change the lives of hundreds of people. Foresight, based on the corner of Hainton Avenue and Pasture Street in Grimsby, was opened in July as an umbrella organisation to bring together different services for blind people, and people with varying degrees of visual impairment.
From its humble beginnings with just 16 members, the charity has grown rapidly, and has 250 people on its books and a governing board of 15 directors - 10 of who are visually impaired.
The charity has been around since 1999, but in July the services it could provide expanded with the employment of Paul Silvester as Development Manager, and the opening of the office on Hainton Avenue. Val Winn, the Chairperson of the charity, said:
"We are able to ask people at the board meetings if we are doing what they want us to do. We ask them to tell us what they want to do, and we will do it. Since we moved in to the premises on Hainton Avenue in July, we have gone from strength to strength. The things we have been able to get visually impaired people doing have snowballed. Before Foresight there was no other provision of services for visually impaired people. There was a drop-in centre called the Fortitude Club, but it was only a social club."
"We have been able to offer our members a wide range of services. We have got three teams in a national 10-pin bowling league. There are 12 people who make up the three teams. They play, and then ring their scores through to the league and they compete against people from all over the country. Before the winter we took members to go sailing at Covenham Reservoir. We worked with a sailing club called Sailability. We also take members for Carriage Driving at The Kenwick Equestrian Centre in Louth. The school has a lot of people who are used to working with people with disabilities. Our members are able to tack the horses and brush the horses down afterwards, and they really enjoy it."
"We go swimming once a week at The Grimsby Leisure Centre. Our members have to pay £1.10 and the Carers are able to go for free. Some members have had the chance to go gliding at The Trent Valley Gliding Club, at Kirton Airfield recently. We also have a series of pub quizzes at the Trawlerman, and have now been able to use the facilities, of The Punch Bowl, We have our very own Ann Robinson, Jan Lewis, who is one of our directors. She asks all the questions and they are always very intelligent and witty, which include, general knowledge, and Guess the Intro to Music rounds."
The success of the charity over the last four months has caused some logistical problems for its directors. "The one problem we have is a lack of transport. We have to beg and borrow for mini-buses. The transport is always the stumbling block." There are plans to expand the premises. Currently the charity occupies the ground floor of the building, but soon the top floor is going to become vacant, and the charity would like to take over the whole of the building.
"We would like to put a cyber cafe in the front room. People will be able to turn up, and have a cup of tea and a chat with their friends, and then if they want to, they can log on to the Internet. We will also get a speaking computer programme. We work closely with an organisation called Second Sight who trains people with visual impairment to use computers. They train people who are totally blind each week to use the Internet."
"One of our members, Des Dewires, has started to write a book. Jan Lewis, of Dolby Vale, has been blind since she was 11 because of a disease called Uvitous." She said: I have been involved with the charity since it opened. I have been a director on the board, and my husband, who is not visually impaired, writes the quarterly journal, The Forthwrite Journal. Foresight has changed my life. Through it I have taken up sailing this year. We have had to stop for the winter, but we will start again in March."
She said, "There were many activities to chose from. I have just come back from swimming. I go to Grimsby Leisure Centre every week. I have been Carriage Driving, which we do at Kenwick Park, and I have recently taken up Tai Chi. We have water colour art classes, and we had a class to make Christmas cards. Because of all the interest we have had, and the different activities we have been able to let people do, we have almost become a victim of our own success. There are so many people who have come into the fold, but we need more money, more volunteers, and more drivers with cars."
"We don't turn people down. If someone comes to us and asks to do something, we will NOT say no, but we may have to say, we hope to be able to do it later. If we go to see Paul Silvester and ask to do something, he is very accommodating. Members go and see him and ask to do something and he will always say, 'Leave it to me'."
If you are interested in talking to someone from Foresight please call (01472) 269 666, or visit their office at 53 Hainton Avenue, Grimsby.
Article by Paul Donovan
(Reproduced with the kind permission of the Grimsby Telegraph).