Eye Health Week

This is an extract from an email sent to me by Guide Dogs.

“Sight Matters Event - Sight Matters is an annual event held in various locations around Nottingham City Centre. The event, hosted by the Low Vision Services Committee (LVSC), aims to raise awareness of local and national services for visually impaired people and their families and friends, an exhibition of equipment and access technology and demonstrations from organisations such as Guide Dogs or sport and leisure groups.

The 2011 event will take place during Eye Health Week focusing on preventable eye conditions, looking after your sight and services to support you should you have difficulties with your vision. Activities taking place across Nottingham:

Wednesday, 15 June – between 10am and 3pm.  Awareness in the Old Market Square, Nottingham City Centre. Events by Guide Dogs and other organisations.  It would be nice if you could come and support us on the day.”

Along with my daughter, Sharon, we went to Nottingham for the day so as to give “Guide Dogs” some support. We travelled to Nottingham by train; the journey took about forty minutes. I have not travelled by train for many years and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey and was pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was to get on the train but will admit that I was holding on to Sharon. We found some seats and were able to sit opposite to each other by the window………makes it easy for me to lipread and hear Sharon.

Eventually, we arrived in Nottingham, we knew that we had to follow the signs to “Trams” so I left that to Sharon as it would have taken me much longer to find the signs with my eye sight. After a few minutes we were on a tram travelling to the Old Market Square which only took a few minutes. The conductor was a very cheerful person and soon realised that we did not know Nottingham so probably after seeing my white stick, told us to make sure that when returning to the railway station, we queue on the other side of the tramway; I replied that I would do my best and we all laughed!

We saw the GuideDogs stall in the Market Square and went over to see what was happening. We had a go on the tombola and won some prizes and looked at what was for sale, following this we had a lovely chat with Steve and another gentleman who was helping him out on the stall; they both had guide dogs and were very friendly. Sharon and I had a look round and took some photographs then we went to watch the first of the demonstrations. I know that guide dogs are special and so are the people involved with the training but after the demonstrations, Sharon had to admit that she did not realised just how special they were; she loved watching the demonstrations.

Later, we went to the Pizza Hut but as we walked in I turned toward Sharon and told her that I could not see a thing as it was so dark inside but realised that she was talking to a lady who turned out to be the manageress. On noticing my white stick, she suggested that we went in to an area that was actually closed to the public and was at the front near the windows; it was so much better and there was a lot of light. We had a lovely meal and eventually Sharon fetched me some ice-cream which was covered with  chocolate sauce, smarties, chocolate raisons, teddies and others; it was delicious. The waitress was very friendly and we made her laugh especially when I told her that I did not think that I’d been in a Pizza Hut before. At the end of the meal, the waitress asked me if I would go to a Pizza Hut again and my reply was a positive yes as long as it was light enough for me to see what I was eating!

We went back to the square and had a walk round before returning to the railway station, calling in the café for a cuppa and then getting on the train to return home. We had a wonderful day and hope that it will not be long before they find me a suitable guide dog.