Month: October 2018

Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, Angus Campbell, officially opened our second charity shop on Monday 29th October, in Saxon Square, Christchurch.

On the opening of the shop he said: “It is great to have been asked to open the second of the shops, which is one of many more to come… It shows a lot of forethought and I really admire the management and the teams who do this, its a great organisation and it was a great privilege to cut the ribbon.”

We opened our first charity shop in Ferndown last year, and were able to open the second, much earlier than expected, due to a generous donation of £10,000 from the Talbot Village Trust. We plan to open up to 10 charity shops across the county, to provide a sustainable, long term stream of income to maintain our services, to raise awareness of the work of the charity and to act as local hubs for visually impaired people throughout Dorset.

As well as selling a wide range of donated goods, the charity shops hold display areas of specialist equipment and other aids for visually impaired people. They are also an information point, offering advice to people affected by sight loss, as well as their family and friends. The charity shops also offer volunteering opportunities for visually impaired people, to gain useful skills and experience.

Jonathan Holyhead, Chief Executive Officer of Dorset Blind Association said: “I am thrilled that we now have our shop at Christchurch formally open and extremely grateful to the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, Angus Campbell, for performing this duty. This shop is our second and, along with our first at Ferndown, it will be crucial to the long term future delivery of our key community support service. This helps blind and partially sighted people across Dorset adjust to living with serious sight loss, to still feel their life has purpose and to still lead full, healthy and socially active lives in the local community. We plan to open more shops next year and every penny they raise will be spent on helping local visually impaired people.”

If you would like to support the shop, which is based in Saxon Square opposite Poundstretcher, then pop in and say hello to the lovely shop managers Gary and Tracy! Volunteers and donations urgently required. Call 01202 021132 for more information.

View photos of our Christchurch shop opening here.

 

We held our exclusive Centenary Ball on Saturday 13th October at the Hilton Hotel, Bournemouth. The prestigious 100th Anniversary celebration raised a phenomenal £22,705 on the night: an incredible amount and also the most that we have ever raised in one event!

The event was kindly sponsored by our long-running supporter Blue Sky Financial Planning and saw over 160 guests to celebrate an impressive 100 years of Dorset Blind Association, with guests arriving in their finest dinner suits and posh frocks to a red carpet welcome complimentary glass of champagne, followed by a three-course dinner with wine and coffee.

The Centenary celebrations were thoroughly embraced by our guests, who tried their hands at the Viva Las Vegas Casino, danced the night away to the fantastic sounds of Swing Unlimited Big Band and participated in the accompanying raffle and auction. To get the guests up and moving after dinner, a fun and thoroughly entertaining game of Heads or Tails was played to music.

Guests had the opportunity to meet our patrons, Lord and Lady Julian and Emma Fellowes, and DBA President, James Weld. On display was an exhibition of Dorset Blind Association’s extensive history, featuring a timeline of the most important milestones in the past 100 years.

Jonathan Holyhead, Chief Executive Officer of Dorset Blind Association, said:

“The evening was a wonderful, happy way to help celebrate our centenary. I am absolutely thrilled by the amount raised and I cannot thank people enough for their generosity. This money will go towards the provision of future services and support for blind and partially sighted people across Dorset, so a great many people will benefit from it and on their behalf I want to say “thank you”, again, to everyone who helped make the Ball such a huge success.”

We have held our annual Ball for 4 years, and will be returning with the Masquerade theme next year on Saturday 26th October. Get the date in your diary now so you won’t miss out on this spectacular event!

Photographs are available here.