Second day of Training

The second day was the day when Ishka who I was successfully matched with a few weeks ago was handed over to me. Before I was to meet Ishka, the other trainees and I were given a rundown of what to do on our first interaction with our chosen dog. We were told that there were to be no commands, just to be there and enjoy being with the dog. First, we had to make sure that our hotel room was dog proof by making sure that there was nothing on the floor or accessible to the dog ─ even the waste bin was moved to a safe place. I admit that I was slightly nervous while I was waiting, wondering how Ishka would react but when the GDMI came in with Ishka, it was to see her dash around the room sniffing at everything she could find. Ishka kept coming towards me and then moving away, eventually she decided to lie on her bed. I decided to sit down on the floor which proved to be a good move for she came over and sat near me and then laid alongside me. After a few minutes I decided that the time was right for me to make a fuss of her ─ it worked. After a short time on our own, the GDMI returned as it was time for the obedience training to start.

First day-Guide Dog Training Course at Nottingham

The first day was about orientation regarding the layout of the hotel. It looked relatively easy to navigate as the corridors as they were long and straight, lined with doors on both sides but I did notice that in the area between the two fire doors where the three hotel rooms of Simon, Kevin and my hotel room were situated the light was dimmer than the bottom half of the corridor. I navigated my way down and up the corridors by walking alongside the wall with my finger or hand on the wall and feeling my way to my hotel room by counting the doors as I walked by.  My hotel room was at one end and the lounge was at the other end of the corridor on the opposite side, both between two fire doors. I was very surprised to find that I had difficulties in locating the lounge and my hotel room in what should have been an easy task and there were times when I got exasperated however with some help from my instructor, I was eventually able to navigate my way around the corridor and only occasionally got it wrong.

Later in the day, we attended our first talk in the lounge. The instructor gave each of us a bag containing some equipment and asked us to empty the bag and she then told us what to feel for ─ the first thing that we had to feel for was the harness and then we were shown how to handle the harness. Other pieces of equipment were a lead that is used when walking with the dog when not in harness, in other words when it is not working. There were two collars, one of the collars had two bells on it and is regarded as a play collar. The second collar was for when the dog was working and finally a feeding whistle and grooming kit.  This was followed by a discussion of the Guide Dog Agreement.

Charles Bonnet Syndrome CBS

Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a condition that causes mentally healthy people with vision loss to have complex visual hallucinations. They were first described by Charles Bonnet in 1760 after noting that his elderly grandfather who was nearly blind was experiencing visual hallucinations; he was being visited by visions of people, birds, carriages and buildings, all which were invisible to everyone but himself. It was in the 1930’s that the phenomenon was named after Charles Bonnet in recognition of his work in showing that visual hallucinations secondary to eye disease is different to the hallucinations experienced by those with mental health problems. Charles Bonnet was a Swiss philosopher and writer who wrote about his elderly grandfather who was nearly blind and who had lost his sight to cataracts and later started to have visual hallucinations.

 I started to experience “visions” at night about seven months ago; I found this distressing at first and was reluctant to talk to anyone about it and decided to keep quiet about the people and patterns on the wall, etc that I was seeing. It was really strange because what I was seeing was detailed, coloured and clear, much clearer than what I see in my everyday life. At this time I was struggling to cope with the loss of my husband who died at the end of April. The hallucinations and the grief that I was experiencing made me feel that I had no time to be on my own with my thoughts and memories of yesterday. As the visions continued, I found that by blinking at the image, it started to fade and switching my bedside light on have never failed me.  The hallucinations have mostly occurred at night, it happens when I wake up and then I see people walking around my bedroom. I know that they are not real and will not hurt me but will admit that I found it a bit distressing at first mainly because I did not comprehend what was happening.  Eventually, I went to see my GP who told me that it sounded like CBS and she printed some notes out for me to read when J got back home.

Cars parking on pavements

Why do car owners park their car on the pavement, surely they know that roads are for cars, etc and that pavements are public footpaths? How is it then that many car owners are parking their cars partly or wholly on pavements. Let face it pavements were not built for cars, they are footpaths; we all know that there is not enough room for cars to park there. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or people with visual impairments, elderly people and even a mother pushing a buggy.  Motorists that park their car on the pavement are ignoring the law. To be honest, any journey that I take can be dangerous for roads and streets can be hostile to anyone with sight loss as pavements and road works have to be navigated, and there are the cars parked on the pavements even though it is against the law.  In many cases the mothers have to go into road as they cannot get by with a buggy as there is no room to get pass the cars, elderly couples would have to walk in single file. Wheelchair users have no chance of getting pass. Please car owners do not park on the pavements, park in your drive or if not at home in a car park. Thank you

Table tennis

I have always been very keen on sporting activities such as table-tennis, rounders, tennis, badminton, hockey, netball and cricket. When I was about sixteen, I went on holiday to Butlins in North Wales and on my first day there wandered into a hall where people were playing table-tennis. I was watching a game when one of the players came over and asked me if I wanted to play a game so off I went to play. I told her my name but did not catch what she said her name was because of the background noise, however we played a game and I really enjoyed it and she told me that if I wanted to play again to come to the hall the next morning….I went every day!

I sat down to watch the other players and after a while, a spectator sitting next to me asked which one was Diane Rowe. I looked at him and told him that I did not know, I knew who Diane Rowe was but what would she be doing here? Later, I got up to leave and the player that I had been playing against called out saying “See you tomorrow, Jean”. The spectator who was sitting next to me turned towards me and said” I thought that you did not know which one was Diane Rowe”.  I felt so silly but elated that I had been playing table-tennis with Diane Rowe who along with her twin sister was the World Ladies Double Champions in 1951.

Crooked Spire of Chesterfield, UK

I thought that you may like a closer look at the "Crooked Spire of Chesterfield"! There are many traditional tales about how the church’s spire became twisted; one is that a magician persuaded a blacksmith in Bolsover to shoe the Devil’s cloven hooves. When the blacksmith drove the first nail in to the Devil’s foot, the Devil howled in pain and lashed out in agony as he flew over Chesterfield, hitting the spire with his foot and causing it to twist, another version is that the tower buckled because of the Devil’s weight when he sat on it. There is also the tale is that the spire was so amazed to hear that a virgin was being married that the spire became twisted because of it’s effort to see for himself.

Mary Hare Grammar School

The Mary Hare Grammar School was founded 1st January 1946 at Dene Hollow in Burgess Hill, Sussex and opened on 30th April 1946 with forty-seven pupils. In 1949, the school moved to Arlington Manor, a Georgean mansion standing in an estate of woodland and parkland and situated about three miles north of Newbury. The school drive was lined with rhododendron bushes and in front of Arlington Manor there was always a wonderful display of daffodils among the evergreen in early spring. The manor always looked splendid in the magnificent surroundings. The school was officially opened by Princess Margaret on 19 July 1950; this was obviously a memorable occasion for the Mary Hare Grammar School.

I can remember vividly the day when I walked through the main oak door of Arlington Manor as a first year pupil, I found myself in a large oak-panelled hall, on the left was a grand piano and on the right was a magnificent wooden staircase that dominated the hall but before me was a half- portrait of a lady in green. It was of Miss Mary Hare who was responsible for giving deaf children the opportunity to have the best education that they could possibly have. Later, I was to learn that green was Miss Mary Hare’s favourite colour hence why the school uniform was green. I find it hard to believe that I had music lessons playing on the grand piano in the hall and I enjoyed the evenings when some of the pupils stand around the piano singing songs while one of the pupils or teachers played the piano. Mr R Askew was the headmaster of the school.

I have noticed that there have been an increased number of people visiting the posting containing photos that I took while a pupil at the Mary Hare. I was at the Mary Hare from 1952 to 1959 so if any of the visitors to this site are old pupils of the Mary Hare, I would be delighted to hear from you.