I like to think we value our volunteers throughout the year, but as it’s Volunteers Week, I want to take a moment and recognise the importance of you, our wonderful London Vision volunteers.

London Vision support blind and partially sighted people who live, work and study in London. Our vision is that blind and partially sighted people have increased opportunities to achieve whatever they want to achieve. Our volunteers support blind people to attend events to help reduce social isolation, they volunteer in eye clinics to make sure that patients understand and have the information they need. Our volunteers are also crucial to producing talking newspapers, such as the Wandsworth Talking News, and they make a massive difference to the lives of service users all across the capital.

As a small team, we would not be able to achieve this without our amazing volunteers! So far this year, you have provided us with:

• 195 hours supporting events for VI service users that range from Indoor Skydiving, theatre trips, museum tours and dancing lessons!
• 448 hours providing emotional support and signposting in the Moorfields Eye Clinics
• 55 hours reading, editing and recording the Wandsworth Talking News

In total, that is 698 hours of volunteering in just 6 months!

Here are some quotes from our service users about what the London Vision volunteers mean to them:

“They allow me to attend events that I probably wouldn’t go to if I didn’t have that additional support”

“It’s great that there is somebody that is choosing to be there, rather than being paid to be there, it makes a real difference”

“I felt empowered to have a go at 10 pin bowling because of the support the volunteer gave me”

Thank you from all at London Vision!

Arif Adam