Royal Blind iSite - Winter 2016

In this issue:

A new leaseof life at BraesideHouse

Page 6

A Braill-iant time at the Scottish Parliament

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A welcomeexchange at the Royal Blind School

Pages 16

iSiteWinter 2015 RoyalBlind.org

RoyalBlind.org iSite Magazine I 20

Regular donations are crucial to our work. Direct debitdonations enable us to plan our work into the future,transforming the lives of blind and partially sightedpeople of all ages. If you would like to set up a directdebit then please complete this form. Your support isreally appreciated.Please fill in this form and return to:Royal Blind, 50 Gillespie Crescent, Edinburgh, EH10 4JB

How you can help!

The Direct Debit Guarantee: This Guarantee is offered by all banksand building societies that accept instructions to pay DirectDebits. If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit Royal Blind will notify you ten working days in

advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. Ifyou request Royal Blind to collect a payment, confirmation of theamount and date will be given to you at the time of the request. If anerror is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by Royal Blind oryour bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and

immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or buildingsociety. If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must payit back when Royal Blind asks you to. You can cancel a Direct Debitat any time by simply contacting your bank or building society.Written confirmation may be required. Please also notify us.

Make your donation worth almost a third more at no extra cost to you. If you are a taxpayer, you can make your donation worth more with Gift Aid. For every pound you give to us, we get an extra 25p from the InlandRevenue. All you need to do is check the statement below and tick the box. To qualify for Gift Aid, what you pay in income tax or capital gains taxmust at least equal the amount we will claim in the tax year.

I declare all gifts of money that I’ve made to Royal Blind in the past six years and all future gifts of money that I make from the date of this declaration are Gift Aid donations.

Please notify us if you want to cancel this declaration, change your name or home address or no longer pay sufficient tax on your income and/orcapital gains.

DATA PROTECTION – Royal Blind is registered under the Data Protection Act 1998, registration no. Z5603032. Information on the use of personal data by Royal Blind is available from: 50 Gillespie Crescent Edinburgh EH10 4JB. Registered Charity No. SC017167. Royal Blind values your support. We would like to keep you up to date with information about ourfundraising appeals and our charitable work. Please tick here if you would prefer us not to contact you by post. Royal Blind will not pass your details to non-associated companies butwe may provide your data to those associated organisations providing related products and services that may be of interest to you. These Organisations may contact you by post or bytelephone concerning these offers. If you do not wish these organisations to contact you please tick here.

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Paralympic sprinter Libby Cleggcelebrates ESPC partnership

Page 14

Royal Blind is Scotland’s largest visual impairment organisation. We create lifechanging opportunities for visually impaired children and adults of all ages.

Making a donation to Royal BlindEvery donation makes a difference. You can donate:

Online at www.royalblind.org/donate

Telephone: 0131 229 1456Cheque: made payable to Fundraising, Royal Blind, 50 Gillespie Crescent, Edinburgh, EH10 4JB.

This magazine is interactive!This magazine uses interactive technology that enables you to link directly to online content by scanning pages with your mobile phone. Download the Layar app and scan every page that displays the Layar icon with your mobile phone to be led to related content online.

iSite in alternative formatsTo receive iSite in large print, Braille or audio CD please contactColleen Watt on 0131 229 1456 [email protected] Blind is a registered charity SC017167

Scottish War Blinded is a registered charitySC002652

2 I iSite Magazine RoyalBlind.org RoyalBlind.org iSite Magazine I 3

The Royal Blind SchoolSpecialist education foryoung people aged up to 18 years.

Forward VisionA residential and respiteservice for young adultsaged 18-25.

Braeside HouseA care home specialisingin care for visuallyimpaired older people.

Scottish Braille PressA leading provider ofhigh quality Braille, large print and audiotranscription services.

KidsceneAn after school andholiday club for children of all abilities.

Learning HubTraining, support andadvice for educators staff of visually impairedpupils.

Scottish War BlindedOur sister charity providesassistance to veterans ofthe armed forces who have a significant visualimpairment.

It costs£1,510 every hour to providethe followingservices:

Pages 18-19Pages 4-5Pages 13Pages 12

Pages 8-9 Pages 13 Pages 6-7

“We look forward to ESPC’supcoming Winter Ball on 27November and thank them forselecting us as their chosen charitythis year.”

Libby, who attended the schoolfrom 2002 to 2008, joined thepupils for a short sports activityclass and then took a tour of theclassrooms. Commenting on thevisit Libby said:

ESPC selectsRoyal Blindas Charity ofthe YearWe were delighted to beselected as ESPC’s Charity of the Year. ESPCsponsors Paralympicathlete and former RoyalBlind School pupil Libby Clegg.

Libby Clegg spent time inSeptember with pupils at theRoyal Blind School to see wheremoney raised by the propertymarketing company will be used. ESPC has committed to help raisefunds for the “Wheelie Easy”project that aims to provide threenew SMART Platforms for theschool. These ingenious mobilityaids allow an individual's bespokewheelchair to be easily loaded viaintegral ramps, instantlyconverting it to a powered chair.The devices will help pupilsactively participate in theirmobility and will encourage self-development.

Kerrigan Bell, Senior Fundraiser atRoyal Blind said: “We weredelighted to welcome Libby backto the school to meet our currentpupils as a representative from ourcharity partner ESPC. With ESPC’shelp, we hope to provide moreSMART Platforms for the pupils tohelp improve their learningexperience while at school.

“As a former pupil it’s a pleasure to go back to the schoolwhere I had such a great time. On behalf of ESPC wewelcome the challenge of raising enough to provide thepupils with a new SMART Platform and look forward tothe upcoming fundraising events.”

young people across Scotland.

“I am looking forward to the newprojects and challenges that thisposition will bring,” said Sally.

“This is a time for innovativecollaboration to support childrenand young people with visualimpairment.”

Sally’s career with VisuallyImpaired pupils began when shetook a supply job with NorthLanarkshire Council’s visualimpairment Service. Her artisticside was roused when she noticedthat there were very fewstorybooks for children with visualimpairment. Immediately she setabout changing this and createdtactile pictures to accompany theearly years reading scheme. Fromthen on, she was hooked.

After the year’s contract ended,Sally realised how much she hadenjoyed the job and wasdelighted to earn a permanentposition. She has constantlyfought for their needs to be metby local and central government.

“In all my years of teaching, I hadnever come across a visuallyimpaired child before I did thesupply work," she said. "I reallyloved the job from the start. Iloved art and one of the firstthings I did was to look at tactilegraphics as I wanted the kids tohave more than Braille. I reallyenjoyed doing this.”

After working for a local authority,Sally saw gaps in the educationalprovision for young people with

visual impairment. “Every authorityis dealing with squeezed budgetsand we need to be creative in howwe support young people withvisual impairment and workcollaboratively,” Sally added. “I would like to see more staffgaining access to specific trainingabout teaching visually impairedchildren and young people.”

Sally, who started work with RoyalBlind in April, holds a number ofimportant posts in education. Sheis currently Chair of the ScottishAssociation of Visual ImpairmentEducation (SAVIE) as well as beinga committee member for the NHSScotland Visual ImpairmentNetwork for Children and YoungPeople (VINCYP), the ScottishSensory Centre AdvisoryCommittee and the ScottishParliament Cross Party Group onVisual Impairment.

After working for so long for alocal authority, Sally welcomed the

opportunity to join the staff atRoyal Blind as its new Learning HubManager. Her role combines that of‘face to face’ outreach worker withthe establishment of an onlinelearning service, to provideadditional support to teachers andeducational professionals who haveblind or partially sighted children intheir classrooms.

“I was looking for a new challengeand this is a great opportunity tosupport teaching staff throughoutScotland to deliver the very best toall visually impaired children,” Sallysaid."Supporting staff in developingskills such as the use of assistivetechnology, Braille, mobility,independent living and tactilegraphics is crucial if we are going toget it right for every child.”

Advice and support from the RoyalBlind Learning Hub will focus onthe key skills required by childrenand young people with visualimpairment, in order to access thecurriculum. “We need to encouragethe development of the expanded


Royal Blind launches new service for teachersin mainstream schoolsSally Paterson (picturedabove right) is a womanwith a mission - to makesure all visually impairedchildren in Scotland getthe very best out ofmainstream education.Sally has spent 23 years inteaching, the last decade ofwhich has been with blind andpartially sighted young people,most recently as a teacher withina dedicated visual impairmentlocal authority service.

She is now leading the newlylaunched Royal Blind LearningHub. Her role is to deliver support,advice and workshops to all thoseinvolved in the education ofvisually impaired children and

curriculum. Children with visualimpairment need to be taughtadditional life skills. This is reallyimportant as they can leave schoolwith qualifications, but if they can’tget a bus across town how are theygoing to be employed or fostersocial relationships? We need staffwho are trained to work withchildren with visual impairment andunderstand their needs.”

The Learning Hub’s websitewww.royalblind.org/learninghubwas launched at the ScottishLearning Festival 2015 in Glasgow.The website already has How Tovideos and training materials whichare free to access. The site is in itsinfancy and the Learning Hubwelcomes suggestions about thetype of resources and topics thatwould be useful to create forteachers in mainstream schools.

Do you teach a visuallyimpaired child?

Download our free resources:www.royalblind.org/learninghub

Email [email protected]

6 I iSite Magazine RoyalBlind.org

New leaseof life If gardens are good forthe soul, then residents atRoyal Blind’s BraesideHouse should all haveinner peace; thanks to ateam of 18 staff fromStandard Life who carriedout a garden makeoverthat would make AlanTitchmarsh proud.

The project began when MichaelCraig, a Board member at RoyalBlind and Head of Product andTechnical Consultancy at StandardLife, wanted to do somethingpositive for the residents.

Michael said, “Like quite a fewpeople at Standard Life, I’ve along-standing connection withRoyal Blind. We were delighted tohelp raise funds and tidy up thegardens at Braeside House, soresidents and staff could enjoythem.”

The Standard Life team workedhard to fundraise for the newgarden. Team member StephenCampbell organised a sponsoredcycle on three stationary bikesloaned from Pure Gym.

Helen King, Senior ProductArchitect at Standard Life, said,“We wanted to do a team

building exercise and dosomething for Royal Blind at thesame time. “

“Altogether 28 of us managed tocycle the distance from Edinburghto the Eiffel Tower. We also filledempty Smartie tubes with coinsand held quizzes. What we raisedwas matched by Standard Life togive a total of £4,000 donatedtowards the project.”

A keen gardener herself, Helensaid she enjoyed designing thegarden to suit the needs ofresidents, commenting “We aretrying to provide a range of plantsand grasses to create a sensorygarden that will give residents andvisitors lovely smells and sounds as they walk past.”

Barrie Simcock, Activities TeamLeader at Braeside House, said:"The area was a very overgrownstretch that had been neglectedand needed bringing to life. Itdidn’t live up to the rest of thegrounds at all.

“It is lovely to have members ofthe community working to help uscreate something so wonderful.We can’t wait to see how thegarden develops and how it willlook in years to come.”


Our Celebrity Golf Day inAugust raised £8,000 tosupport our work - afantastic amount.

19 teams from companies such as Thomson Gray, nbmConstruction, Weslo HousingAssociation, NicholsonDecorators, Keyline, BDO, Aonand Feralco competed fortrophies kindly made by membersof our sister charity, Scottish warBlinded. The sun shone and agreat day was had by all. Thankyou to all who took part ordonated prizes for the event. Theeighth Celebrity Golf Day will beon the 10 August 2016! To bookyour place now, get in touch withKerrigan [email protected]

Celebrity Golf day

they felt most comfortable in andcreated personal stories abouttheir ‘happy place’.

Alasdair*, for example, used softfur and imagery of a seashore forhis happy place. Visualising a safespace was more challenging forothers however. Althoughoutwardly confident, one pupil,Liam* gradually revealed that heoften suffered from ‘day-mares’and disturbed sleep. With the helpof Aine, Caren and Stan, Liambegan to imagine a peacefulenvironment where he feltsoothed and secure.

“He visualised a Japanese Zengarden, with a great sense ofstillness and peace, water flowing,and a boulder for strength,” Ainesays.

The second stage of theprogramme involved Tai Chi, withthe staff struck by how well thepupils mastered the breathing andmovement exercises. One pupil,who suffered a stroke on one sideof his body, enjoyed raising andholding his arm up as anexpression of his strength anddetermination.

In combination, the practices hada dramatic effect. “We sawprogress over time, and other staffbegan to notice it too,” Carensays.

“Parents were commenting thattheir children were more self-

regulating and in many cases theirbreathing patterns improved.That’s a hugely significant changeas a result of this work.”

Aine and Caren now want todevelop the programme tointroduce empathy andcompassion, by asking questions of the young people such as, ‘howwould you help a friend to feelhappier?’. They are delighted theinitial scepticism aboutmindfulness has evaporated; theprogramme has proved its worthwith their pupils now better ableto control stress and feel morerelaxed.

The next stage, as Aine says, willbe to “share this with otherschools – showing thatmindfulness can become avaluable part of the curriculum in Scotland.”

*Names have been changed.

In 2013, two teachers at the RoyalBlind School, Aine Murphy and Caren Bryce, decided toinvestigate whether mindfulness techniques could help the pupilsthey work with.

Aine and Caren had alreadyintroduced their pupils to aseries of body awareness andrelaxation exercises, but theywanted to create a morestructured programme, so theyturned to Stan Godek, amindfulness trainer, for help.

The first step was gaining a betterunderstanding of whatmindfulness is. Stan explains,“Essentially, mindfulness is theability to rest the mind in themoment, by focusing on a specificobject, image, task, exercise ormovement, to create a sense ofrelaxation – this generates a sense of alertness while alsohelping to decrease arousal or distraction.”

When children experiencerepeated activation of thestress response, their baselinestate of arousal can get altered.A child whose responses hasdeveloped in this way is at adisadvantage. “Mindfulness withprogressive relaxation activities

takes the child out of this ‘redzone’,” says Stan.

This knowledge helped Aine andCaren understand howmindfulness could benefit theirpupils. “Stan brought in differentthinking, making us re-evaluateour assumptions aboutmindfulness,” says Aine. “With hishelp we were able to develop aprogramme that had a realeducational and psychologicalbackbone.”

The programme was devised toaddress the daily practical andemotional difficulties that childrenliving with visual impairments canface – such as dressing, getting toschool, and interacting with peers.Aine and Caren hoped it couldreduce the levels of stress thepupils experience and increasetheir capacity to manage.

An early part of the work wasestablishing a series of ‘sensorystations’ in the classroom,equipped with fur, feathers,chiffon, peppermint oil andmassage balls. Pupils wereencouraged to quietly explorethese spaces, concentrating on thetextures, smells and sounds, andthe associated feelings theyproduced. They chose an area

Peace of mindOnce dismissed as a fad, mindfulness is nowadaysincreasingly part of the mainstream, with a growingawareness of its calming effects on people of all agesand backgrounds. But can it work in schools, andsupport young people with disabilities?


This article was first printed in theChildren in Scotland magazine inAugust 2015.

www.childreninscotland.org.uk

“Mindfulness with progressive relaxation activitiestakes the child out of this ‘red zone’,”says Stan


www.nationalbrailleweek.org

For this year’s NationalBraille Week, Royal Blindwas invited to the ScottishParliament by DennisRobertson MSP to hold athree day exhibition in theGarden lobby and anevening exhibitioncelebrating thedevelopment of Braille.

The exhibition gave MSPs andParliamentary staff an opportunityto gain a better understanding ofthe history of Braille and why itcontinues to be important forvisually impaired people today.Many were intrigued to have theirfirst touch of written Braille, and tolearn how new technology hasmade the use of Braille moreadaptable to modern life.

The Parliamentary reception,hosted by former Royal BlindSchool Pupil MSP DennisRobertson, treated attendees,including Alex Salmond MSP, to amulti-sensory experience of Braille.

We were delighted to welcomeSue Reid Sexton, a trailblazer foraccessible format books. TheBraille version of Sue's upcomingbook ‘Writing On The Road,Campervan Love and the Joys ofSolitude’ will be published inBraille by the Scottish Braille pressat the same time as it is releasedin text next April. The audience

Royal Blind was particularlypleased that National BrailleWeek’s reception and exhibitionraised awareness amongst MSPsof the services which Royal Blindprovides, in the wake of the recent Education Committeereport ‘Attainment of pupils with asensory impairment.’ The reportconfirmed the continued need todevelop the knowledge ofteachers working with visuallyimpaired pupils in mainstreamschools.

Many MSPs and supportersattending the reception andexhibition were interested to hearhow our new service, The Learning

Hub, will contribute to improvingthe attainment of visually impairedchildren in Scotland.

A Braill-iant time at the Scottish Parliament

was treated to an excerpt of thisbook simultaneously read inBraille and text, with Sueaccompanied by the ScottishBraille Press’s Jim McCafferty.

Performers included AndrewPettigrew, a 13-year-old pupiland resident poet at the School,who read his poem inspired by avisit to Louis Braille’s birthplace‘Who is my Hero’, which greatlymoved many in the audience.Musician and former pupil AmyMoar memorably made use of aPerkins Brailler during herperformance of originalcomposition ‘Letter to Louis.’

In his welcome address, DennisRobertson remarked to theaudience that the week’s eventsat the Parliament “gives you asense of the level of importancethat this Parliament has for RoyalBlind.” The reception wasattended by a cross party group of MSPs, including George Adam, Nanette Milneand Christian Allard.


Next year’s National Braille Weekwill be held on 10-14 October 2016, conciding withWorld Sight Day on 13 ofOctober. Royal Blind will beconsidering how best tocelebrate and raise awareness of Braille. If you have ideas for an event, or for comments andfurther information, contact us [email protected]


Where isBrailletoday? In the past, the Braillecode in English has hadvariations from onecountry to another. Unified English Braille(UEB) will integrate thesevariations into a singleunified code for all Englishspeaking countries. UEB is being introducedthroughout the UK thisyear.

Allan Balfour started working atthe Scottish Braille Press in 1969.He left for a few years butreturned in 1999 to a new,computerised environment. ForAllan, Unified English Braille isabout making Braille compatiblewith computer technology. Hetranscribes the Scottish BraillePress publications the BrailleSporting Record, Home Help, and Spectrum, to name a few.

“Our publications mean a greatdeal to our readership. We haveone client who says that his luxuryitem on a desert island would bethe Braille Sporting Record. Themagazine provides up-to-dateinformation on current sportingevents including football leaguetables and fixtures, horse racing,cricket and rugby,” said Allan.

Youngstersenjoy an actionpacked holidayclub at KidsceneIt was a busy time forKidscene at both theSummer and Octoberholiday clubs as childrenenjoyed an action packeditinerary.The Children took part in a rangeof activities including designingcomic books, creating sensory artand a week was even devoted tothe ever popular Minions!

There were visits from Callum fromCool Creatures, Tattie Bumkin alsojoined the children for some yogaand Tollcross fire station poppedby for a visit with their fire engine.


Young people at our Forward Vision service recently took to theslopes at Glasgow’s Braehead Xscape for the Snow Factor event. The group enjoyed an adrenaline packed day out at the indoorskiing arena.

Xscape is Scotland’s first real indoor slope and is the UK's longest at 200 metres!

“I love reading Braille because it’sactive. You can’t replace pickingup a book and reading it. Withaudio books you have to dependon the narrator’s voice. In the longrun, UEB will be really goodbecause of its compatibility. TheScottish Braille Press is switchingover in December to UEB so weare in the process of studying itand getting to know it,” addedAllan.

One parent said, “I booked mychild into Kidscene over thesummer so she could meet somenew friends and get used to theafter school club before startingschool in August.

“When I collected her that eveningshe was so happy, she couldn’twait to show me what she haddone throughout the day.”

Another said, “When we asked ourkids how their days were we got arange of ‘great’, ‘awesome’ or‘fantastic’.

“They had great things to sayabout every teacher, from cardtricks with Simon to football withKyle, to just having fun with Sarahand the rest of the team.

“Poppy wrote in her diary that theday at the yard doing “TuffMudder” was the best day ever!”

A thrillingday out for ForwardVisionresidents


It’s back and it’s bigger than ever! Royal Blind Week 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2016We are launching lots of new and exciting challenges to truly put the fun in fundraising!Keep an eye on our re-launched website for news and updates!www.royalblind.org/royal-blind-week

Doughnut DaftYour chance to get a slice of thebake sale action without lifting aspoon!

1) Contact the lovely people at Krispy Kreme and enquire abouttheir fundraising scheme. www.KrispyKreme.com

2) Collect your dozens of doughnuts at a special charity price along with your fundraising pack.

3) Sell the delicious deep-fried dough rings on to friends, familyand colleagues and donate the profits made to Royal Blind.

Giving never tasted so good!

Sponsored FunAll Eye’s On YouGive Alice Cooper and Lady Gagasome serious competition!

We dare you to lay on somesparkly glitter eye shadow,outlandish fluorescent eyelashesand even some ‘guyliner’ and getsponsored to have OUTRAGEOUSeye makeup for one day. Try toturn as many heads as possible asyou go about your daily routineand share some memorable selfiesto help raise awareness of RoyalBlind.

Raise Money, Build Teams, Make a Difference This year we were delighted to beselected as ESPC’s charity partnerand during Royal Blind Week wewill be organising a series ofinteractive challenges for theirstaff. We would love for yourbusiness to work with us and tocreate fundraising initiatives foryou and your colleagues.

Let’s get social! #RoyalBlindWeekWhether you’re a Facebooker,Tweeter or Instagrammer, we wantyou to share your experiences withus!

#Blind4DayWhat would you miss if youcouldn’t see?

1) Post a photo of what you wouldmiss if you lost your sight – your family, partner or pet.

2) Use #blind4day and share your photo across your social network and tag your friends to do the same.

3) Add your caption + text BLIND£3 to 70660 to donate £3.

Have a fundraising idea you need help with or want to get involved?Email [email protected] and we’ll get back to you soon!


Get in touch

In August, a group of Royal BlindSchool pupils visited the EdinburghBook Festival.

The pupils included Steven,Namarra, Daniel, Myles andmyself, accompanied (or guarded,for a better term) by Mrs. Laughlin,June, Carol, Amber and Jim. It wasroughly 12.20 pm when we set offand the bus ride took only 15 to20 minutes. The day had startedoff with a dull grey sky and anoccasional droplet of rain, but nowthe heavens were blue and the sunwas dazzling. A good omen,perhaps.

When we arrived, there were ahandful of large tents thatindividual authors were in. Snakingbetween these were paths madeof wooden decking.

The author we were going to listento, and hopefully meet, was DavidAlmond, the writer of manychildren's and adult's books.

In my English class, we have read‘Skellig’, a fantasy novel about a half-owl man who gets discoveredby a teenage boy. I have also readThe Fire Eater, a similar bookabout a escapologist who meets a13 year-old boy in the middle of

The BookFestivalBy Andrew Pettigrew, Pupil, Royal Blind School (age 13). Andrew has bothvisual and hearing impairments.

what is feared to become a thirdworld war.

Before we entered the DavidAlmond marquee, having tenminutes to spare, we decided tovisit the bookshop there. Some ofus bought our gifts and souvenirswith the £3 off vouchers we had.After that, it was time to enter theDavid Almond Tent.

The interior of the marquee wasvery like a modern-day cinemaexcept no popcorn and no bigscreen. Instead there was apodium for the author and rowupon row of comfortable fold-upchairs. June's estimating here, butwe reckon there must have beenaround 400 chairs in all, most ofwhich were filled.

Soon David Almond appeared onstage. I could not hear much, butby his tone of voice and by whatMrs. Laughlin explained on myBrailleNote to me, he had a greatpassion for literature. It wasn't justbooks he was exhilarated about -he adored everything to do withthem: the printing process, theimaginative mind behind it all, thecurves and shapes of the letters.

He described how Skellig, thebook mentioned earlier, had

several strong parts based on hislife: Mina, one of the maincharacters, reminds him vividly ofhimself; he had an actual babysister who nearly died; sadly,however, he didn't mentionanything of having a half-owl manfor a friend.... Now that wouldhave been interesting!

He recalls fantasising with hisfriends when they played footballthat they were superstars; heexplained his own point of viewabout the human mind; and heinformed us when he first had theimpulse to write stories at the ageof seven. He also talked about hisnew book, which features amodern-day Orpheus; of how hardit is to get a book published; and,at the end, answered theaudience's questions. Did youknow he's got a pet rabbit calledAlfie? There was a hunted rabbit inhis book ... and I sorely hope Alfiedidn't give him any ideas for that.

He was an extraordinarilyfascinating person to listen to.Afterwards, I met him and he wasvery keen to know about my ownwriting. I think he's just as thrilledin young writers as he is in novelsin general.


world and maintain friendshipsthrough social media.

“They have been very sensibleabout this and very responsible. I think we struck a good balanceand they have developed somesocial independence as well asphysical independence.”

The Scottish students all agreedthat the trip was a huge success.Scott, 16, said: “We had lots ofthings in common with the pupilsand the language wasn’t a barrier.They taught us a lot about thelanguage and my German hasimproved. I felt more engagedwith the culture by speaking thelanguage. When I orderedsomething, they actually brought it!

“The social side of this trip hasbeen great. It’s been the bestexperience I’ve ever had. I’vemade six new friends and triednew things and liked them.

A welcome exchange


Four young Scots from the Royal Blind Schoolhave become culturalambassadors thanks to aGerman exchangeprogramme with BlistaSchool from Marburg,Germany.

Six German pupils who all havevisual impairments, were treatedto a proper Scottish welcome andshown the very best of life in thecapital.

The idea behind the exchangecame from Depute HeadteacherSarah Hughes who worked withthe German school at her previouspost in England.

“After seeing the exchange visitswork so well in my previous post,and knowing how amazing thestaff at the school were, I thoughtwe had to develop a similarprogramme here,” said Sarah.

“I had the links with teachersMichaela Baumheckle and SilkeRoesler, but it is our LanguagesTeacher Lauren Eliott Lockhartwho has been the real drivingforce for this.”

The exchange began in June whena group of four students and fourmembers of staff from the RoyalBlind School visited Blista Schooland spent a week going tolessons, sightseeing and learningabout life in Germany.

“It is an enormous amount ofwork, but the benefits are massivefor the school and our pupils,”Lauren told us.

“Our pupils do not learn German,so this was very much a culturalexchange, but they were keen topick up a few phrases and makethe effort. After our return, thepupils kept in touch, particularlythrough social media.”

Sarah added: "It was interesting tolook at the use of technology inboth schools. Technology is veryimportant for visually impairedchildren and can play a leadingrole in education. Children cannow connect anywhere in theworld and maintain friendships

The German hospitality wasamazing. The teachers adaptedtheir lessons for us and were veryfriendly.”

Last month the six Germanstudents and their two teacherscame to Edinburgh to visit theRoyal Blind School and had anaction-packed programme tofollow. This included bowling, visitsto the Scottish Parliament, MaryKing’s Close, Edinburgh Castle,Gullane beach and climbing upArthur’s Seat. A highlight of theweek had to be the Ceilidh onThursday evening, complete withScottish dancers and a Scottishbuffet (including Haggis andClootie Dumpling!)

Sebastian, 16, said at the start ofthe exchange: “This is my firsttime in Scotland and I am lookingforward to everything, going tothe outdoor centre and going intoEdinburgh.”

The two schools are hoping thatthe exchanges will take placeevery two years and that theyoung people will continue to usesocial media to build theirfriendships.

ChristmasCards for saleLooking for the perfectChristmas cards to sharewith family and friends? Well look no further!Each year the children from theRoyal Blind School get creativein their art class, making festivedesigns for the school's annualChristmas Card Competition.

Choose from: •£3.95 for four cards with one

of each design

•£5.95 for eight cards with two of each design

Pricing includes postage andpackaging and you can orderyours by visiting our websitewww.royalblind.org/shop orcall 0131 229 1456.

Proceeds from the sale of theChristmas cards will help tosupport the pupils and servicesprovided at the Royal BlindSchool.

This diverse group of ex-servicepersonnel had travelled from thefurthest corners of Scotland. Thosewho gathered shared experiencesand stories of military service andadapting to sight loss.

A delicious dinner on Thursday wasfollowed by a surprise performanceby the West of Scotland MilitaryWives’ choir, who delivered aspirited and often emotionalperformance.

Many of our older veterans recalledthe words to songs once sung intheir early youths and found theirown voices stirred to join in. Theladies’ voices were evocative, as thewords of their chosen songs recalledmembers’ own commitment to theircountry, and the sacrifices of friendsfrom the services.

The next morning, following ahearty breakfast, our members werewelcomed by our Chief ExecutiveRichard Hellewell and a busy daybegan.

Of interest to many was apresentation on current Armyactivity by Captain Lori Smith of theRoyal Artillery. This was followed bya very energetic question andanswer session, at which theCaptain answered all the wideranging questions which wereposed.

Tim Searles, Linburn Centre Officer,gave a talk reflecting on theexperiences of members and staffwho travelled to Ypres earlier thisyear, re-tracing the footsteps offellow soldiers across Flanders Fieldsand the scenes of World War One.

Throughout the event, membershad the opportunity to chat withrepresentatives from RNIB andOptelec. It was a great opportunityto have a go with the latestequipment, which Scottish WarBlinded is able to distribute free ofcharge to members.

At lunch our longest standingmember Matt Howitt, who hasbeen a part of the Scottish WarBlinded community since 1955,ceremonially cut into our centenarycake. We did not insist on 100candles, much to the relief of thevenue’s staff.

An afternoon of lively group debatesfollowed, at which members hadtheir say in debating the futuredevelopments of our services, withideas for our new Paisley centrecoming in thick and fast.

A recent development in supportavailable to our members and theirfamilies is financial aid to fundrespite care, with support to find aplacement to suit the individualmember and their family.

Our new partnership withCrossroads Care enables us tosource reliable professional sittingservices, where a trained carercomes into a member’s home toenable them or their carer to takea break.

Members and their families arealso able to benefit from longerrespite care breaks, which are anopportunity for carers to spendsome time looking after their own

needs, safe in the knowledge thattheir loved one is receiving thebest possible care. Respite carecan be a valuable break for ourmembers too - it’s an opportunityto meet new people and try outsome new experiences.

If you know of a family caringfor a veteran with a visualimpairment please do let themknow that Scottish WarBlinded is here to help -irrespective of when or howthey lost their sight.

Call 0800 035 6409 to referthem to us or visitguidethem.org


In June over 100 ScottishWar Blinded members andtheir partners convergedupon Stirling University forour annual event known as‘The Members’ Gathering.’

Scottish War Blinded has a diversemembership including veteranswho served in WW2 and lost theirsight as they got older, and menwho have been wounded whileserving in recent conflicts.Regardless of their age or cause ofsight loss, our membersunderstand what sight loss meansto a veteran. The eventemphasised our commitment togrowing this sense ofcomradeship.

Members’ Gathering

Respite support for carersAt Scottish War Blinded, we know from speaking toour members and their families that being a carer isa full time and very challenging job.

Royal Blind iSite - Winter 2016

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