We would like to issue a special thank you to Pauline Sheers (pictured seated with Marilyn Barby) who created a stall at the Cabaret Afternoon selling unwanted gift items at knock-down prices to raise funds for us.

It was lovely to see so many of you at our most recent coffee morning back in January.  The pleasantly mild weather brought many of you out and we welcomed approximately 120 people to Peartree Bridge for tea, coffee and cake, ably served as ever by our wonderful kitchen helpers.

 

It was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and share stories and experiences as well as meeting new people with shared interests.

 

 

Once again we would like to thank Marilyn and Veronica for their fantastic work on the Raffle, the funds from which easily cover the running costs of the event.  A huge thank you to everyone who contributed prizes too!

 

Thank you too to Steve Neale for playing us out on his guitar.

 

 

More pictures in the Gallery and we look forward to seeing you at all our 30th Anniversary events as the year progresses.  Keep an eye on our Events postings!

 

 

 

Who knew what talents were lurking within our membership – well, it was wonderful to see a few brave souls strutting their stuff at our Christmas Cabaret afternoon.

Ably compered by Alison Statham with technical support from Martyn Lycett, we were treated to poetry: more classical from Liz Roe and Judy Smith and less classical from Pauline Sheers and Alison Statham.

Sally Easton treated us to some beautiful flute playing and the “Ladies Who Sing” entertained us with a wonderful acapella set.  Steve Nealle kept us all spellbound with his rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross on his guitar.

Rather unexpectedly,  Stephen Harrison, our esteemed treasurer  presented a very amusing rendition of Benny Hill’s Ernie: the Fastest Milkman in the West.

 

 

 

We were able to feel the festive spirit while singing Christmas carols accompanied by Fadin’ Shoes who also played a few of their own interpretations of seasonal music.  

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Paula Suchy for organising the event and to all those who, as always, so ably assisted with the quiz, the raffle and the refreshments.  Perhaps this could become an annual event?  If you have talents to share, please let us know and next time, it could be you…..!

 

 

We had a wonderful surprise at the end of the summer when we were contacted by Eddie Mann, the local author whose new book ‘Ordinary Unthinkable’ contacted the office. He had heard about the Reader Service and wanted to become involved and offer his full support to our charity. This began with Elaine Maries, Paula Suchy and Terry Calvert, three of our committee members joining Eddie at his book launch in Waterstones on 7 September.

Following this Eddie has attended further book launches, been interviewed on the radio and appeared in Milton Keynes Citizen. He publicises the Reader Service each time, giving information about all the different sorts of services we offer sight impaired people within Milton Keynes. Further to this, he signs his book marks which he sells for one pound and he has kindly donated this money to us!
We were delighted when he accepted our invitation to join us at our recent Support Meeting. It was a lovely opportunity for our members to meet Eddie and his wife Dawn. We hope this will be the first of many meetings.

Eddie who was originally from Stoke on Trent, started to write after being diagnosed with severe depression. He says that ‘writing literally saved his life’ and it is wonderful that now having published his first book, with a second book due to be published and a third currently being written that he taken the time to support us.
If you would like to find out more about Eddie, you can find out more on www.austinmacauley.com or https://www.facebook.com/EddieMannAuthor/

Thank you everyone who joined us at our support meeting in October. We had a very special announcement this year, Eddie Man, author of ‘Ordinary Unthinkable’ has taken us under his wing and will be supporting us by publicising our good work everywhere he goes. He has also been selling his bookmarks which have made £100 which he has very kindly donated to the Reader Service.

We thought we would have a slightly different sort of gathering this year and invited other groups and organisations who thought may interest our members. These included the Lions club who distributed their ‘message in a bottle’. This is a really simple but very a brilliant idea where anyone taking part in the scheme can keep a small plastic bottle in their fridge which contains information regarding their medication and contact numbers. If an emergency service are ever needed, they will know by a specific sticker on the person’s front door that the bottle with all their details will be in the fridge and they can start helping the person immediately.

We would like to thank the Lions Club for coming along and distributing the bottles to all our members.
We were also joined by representatives from Torch, SARC, Sound News, Macular Degeneration Group and Alternate Visions Coaching. BucksVision opened their resource room and Lesley Townsend distributed their leaflets about their walking groups, yoga and dance group. The Moles also met people and handed out leafets about bowling.

During the afternoon there was plenty of time for tea, coffee and cake. Thank you to all the ladies in the kitchen who, as usual, did a wonderful job.

Thank you also to Marilyn and everyone that helped with the raffle, we raised over £200 and thank you to everyone else that helped make is a really good afternoon!