“With partners and husbands serving in Afghanistan, we are very aware of the dangers that those in the Armed Forces regularly face. It is reassuring to know that if they should tragically lose their sight, Blind Veterans UK is there for them, for rest of their lives. That’s why the Military Wives Choir is encouraging everyone to sign up for the Tarts for Troops fundraising campaign, and have fun while raising money for such a fantastic cause.”
“My life’s been like a rollercoaster. I’ve gone from not wanting to speak to anybody to doing everything, including things I didn’t do when I had my sight. Now I’m a skier, and I’d never been skiing before in my life!”
Wendy Kane
Blind Veterans UK member
“As well as all the invaluable and practical support offered by Blind Veterans UK, it was the sense of belonging and understanding from their community that’s really helped me to stay positive. I’m a member of the younger Blind Veterans Group; we meet up to discuss new ideas and initiatives, share a joke and keep each other smiling.”
Simon Brown
Blind Veterans UK member
Whether you’re planning on holding a bake-off, a tarts and tea party, getting together with colleagues at work for tarts with your morning coffee, or having friends around for a gourmet tart dinner party, every penny you raise is urgently needed to help blind veterans.
Imagine if you wanted to bake your favourite recipe but had a vision impairment. How would you identify the correct flour to use, weigh out the correct amount of butter or chop ingredients on your chopping board? These are some of the challenges faced by our vision impaired veterans. Our mission is to help them live beyond sight loss and live full independent lives. At our centres in Brighton, Llandudno and Sheffield we have training kitchens where our Rehabilitation Officers for people with a vision impairment (ROVIs) look at safe strategies for preparing and cooking food, building on veterans’ existing skills. Items of specialist equipment are demonstrated, such as talking scales, liquid level indicators and audible labelling devices. For those with some vision, good lighting and colour contrast are of paramount importance, and advice is given as to how these can be achieved.
We work with people of all ages, making a positive difference to their lives – for example, Mr. E (88) who attended the Brighton centre recently wanted to feel more independent and take the pressure off his wife. He hadn’t cooked before, and during his week’s training learnt how to make a casserole – the smile on his face at the end of the week reflected his sense of achievement. Mr. R, in his 20s, was injured in Afghanistan and the adapted training kitchen enables him to practise his kitchen skills whether he’s using his wheelchair or prosthetic legs. He’s looking forward to being able to live independently when he returns home.
£18 could pay for heat resistant gloves which would help a blind veteran cook a meal safely
£25 could pay for talking kitchen scales for weighing ingredients
£50 could pay for a kitchen starter pack which includes key pieces of equipment which can help a blind veteran feel more confident in the kitchen: colour chopping boards (contrast with work tops making it easier to view where to prepare ingredients), tactile cooking timers, a set of x3 talking tin lids and a liquid level indicator
£200 could pay for a talking microwave
So register today and raise money for blind veterans. Every penny raised will help our members live beyond sight loss.
