Category: News

Catch Jonathan Holyhead, our CEO and Sir Christopher Lees, Chairman of the Talbot Village Trust, talking on BBC Radio Solent about their generous donation to Dorset Blind Association here: the interview starts at 2:49:30.

Click Here To Listen

We are delighted to share news of the award of a grant of £27,900 to Dorset Blind Association from the Charities Aid Foundation Resilience Fund, to help maintain the ongoing provision of our community support service.

Community support will always be the absolute bedrock of what Dorset Blind Association stands for and delivers, recognising just how vital this is for so many blind and partially sighted people throughout Dorset as they face the daily struggle to cope with the impact of their disability.

Our community support service helps people come to terms with their sight loss and then still lead full, healthy and socially active lives. This support has been even more essential during the coronavirus pandemic and for some of our members, Dorset Blind Association staff and volunteers have provided the main – sometimes only – source of regular, reliable help to cope with the additional stresses and strains of lockdown.

The CAF Resilience Fund comes from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Community Match Challenge funding scheme as part of the Government’s coronavirus support package for charities.

Applications to the Fund far exceeded the available funds, so Dorset Blind Association is extremely grateful that the importance and value of our community support work was assessed as amongst those most deserving of support.

As we face this latest lockdown our services will continue to be delivered as they have been throughout previous lockdowns.

Current telephone and Zoom groups continue as will our phone buddy programme.

You can still call Jo and Coreen at the office for general or equipment support, and Jim will still be bringing equipment into the community when safe to do so.

If you need help or want to get involved please call Jo on 01202 712865. Unfortunately, all charity shops will remain closed as they are non essential shops.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Our very good friends and supporters at Blue Sky Financial Services have made a very generous donation of £600 to us!

Gary and his team are normally involved in an event to help raise funds for us every year, but for obvious reasons this wasn’t possible in 2020. They have decided not to send Christmas cards this year and instead are donating the equivalent cost of cards and postage to us and topping it up to £600.

We are extremely grateful and look forward to working on future projects with them! We wish them all a wonderful Christmas and a much better New Year!

The video link is their Christmas Greeting to us all. https://youtu.be/RhjpM1uvbxM

Our staff and volunteers will be having a well deserved break over Christmas.

Here is our schedule:

Our office will be closed from Wednesday, 23rd and will reopen on 4th January 2021.

Our shops will be closed from Thursday, 24th and will reopen on Saturday, 2nd January 2021.

We look forward to coming back refreshed in the New Year!

We wish everyone a happy and, most importantly, safe Christmas which we hope everyone is able to enjoy.

Thank you to all our members, staff and volunteers for their patience and fortitude over the past year, which we can all agree has certainly been interesting and one we will all remember!

The pandemic has certainly had an impact for DBA, especially around the clubs and our traditional fundraising, but we have adapted and continued to keep our services going throughout the year. The shops have done really well and not only helped us raise funds but also reach many more people in the community.

We also hope that next year will see some new service developments and that, at some point, as and when the situation with Covid eventually allows us, we can also resume some of the club activity, albeit possibly never quite as it always was before.

So enjoy Christmas in whichever way you can, please keep safe and well and we look forward to what we hope will be a much better year for us all in 2021. Regardless of what the future holds, we will be here for you!

We have just been given an extraordinarily generous donation of £500 by a member who wishes to remain anonymous.

We are so thankful to all our members who support our work to provide help and services throughout Dorset. Our members support us through through their membership fees but, these additional voluntary donations make a real difference. Some members then also make the ultimate final gift of a legacy, for which we are most grateful.

For those involved in running the charity and providing our services, financial support from those we directly help is always the most pleasing to receive as it shows just how much the charity is valued by the people we help and that the help is appreciated by them. We have taken the liberty of providing a link if you want to donate online or you can do as our member did and call Jo on 01292 712865.

The photo shows the wide range of activities and support we give our members, some are on hold due to Covid but will resume as soon as possible.https://dorsetblind.org.uk/help-us/donate/

Dorset Blind Association, Charity of the Year 2020/2021 for Haskins Garden Centre, Ferndown, has worked with Haskins to produce a new poster for their charity wishing well in the store. The poster features a new QR code which enables customers to donate to Dorset Blind without the need for physical cash.

At the launch, Lynne from Dorset Blind met with Ben, Haskins Customer Services Team Leader and commented: “During the pandemic Haskins are dealing with card only purchases. At the wishing well customers can use the QR code reader on their smart phones which will direct them to a JustGiving page. The text donation option is simple and effective to use and keeps the charity in touch with its supporters old and new.”

Tracy and Jackie at the Ferndown shop are so happy to be back amongst their wonderful customers and amazing volunteers that they pulled out all the stops in creating this festive Christmas window display.

The shop is busy and sales of the 2021 large print calendars and diaries are going so well they’ve had to restock. However, donations of winter clothing would be much appreciated as that has also been selling fast.

If you have a bit of time to spare, a volunteer shift has become available on a Thursday afternoons from 1-4 pm. Please contact Tracy by phone or email to find out more.Telephone Number: 01202 920385E-mail: ferndownshop@dorsetblind.org.uk