BBSI ViewpointMarch 2010
Barnet Borough Sight Impaired
CILS, at Flightways, Grahame Park, Colindale, NW9 5UX
e-mail:
Registered Charity No 1058045 Answerphone: 020 8359 3767
This is the first Newsletter of 2010 but some of you may feel you’ve just received one! This is because the last one was held up by Christmas and the bad weather but I want to get back on track and to be in touch prior to this year’s AGM which is to be held on Tuesday 2nd March. It, the AGM, has been brought forward from May which was an unsuitable month as many members were away. We look forward to seeing as many members there as possible. The chairman’s and Treasurer’s report will be available at the meeting.
Stompin’ at the Savoy
I’d like to draw your attention to ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’ which is an outing which we are organising at the ‘Artsdepot’, 5 Nether Street, North Finchley on Saturday 20th March from 7.30pm.
It will be an opportunity to journey down memory lane with The Piccadilly Dance Orchestra and enjoy an evening of music from between the wars. The orchestra plays pieces by Cole Porter and the Gershwin brothers to recreate the glamour of the Golden Age of music.’
There is no charge for members and if you need help with transport or if you require further information, please call Lis on 020 8349 4705.
Telephone Preference Service (TPS)
It is bad enough getting to the telephone to receive a wrong number but how many of us have the added frustration of being greeted by a voice trying to sell us something we do not want or need!!
This is where the Telephone Preference Service steps in. It is a legal requirement that companies do not make unsolicited sales or marketing calls to numbers registered on TPS. It is a free service paid for by the direct marketing industry. Once registered, by calling 0845 0700707 the number of calls you receive should decrease within 28 days. Unfortunately, you may still receive calls which come from abroad, but if calls from the UK persist, you can contact the ICO (Information Communications Office): 08456 306060. Some of you may receive silent calls. These can be disconcerting and there is yet another number to call for ‘Silent CallGard’: that is 0844 37 22 23 25. Don’t worry, we’ll add another list of numbers at the end of ‘Viewpoint’.
Time for a smile
Two men are lost in the jungle, and are desperately hungry. One calls 'I can see a bacon tree' and starts running towards it. Immediately a there's a hail of arrows. The other one shouts, 'That's not a bacon tree, it's a hambush!'
General Meeting Reports
contributed by Jonathan Cave
December: We enjoyed a concert given by Whetstone Ladies Choir led by Jean Hornbuckle and accompanied on piano very ably by the lovely Jenny Carter. The songs they sang were very varied. We started with “Come To The Fair”, a song many of us probably had not heard since our school days many years ago, and “A Lover and his Lass”, taken from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, followed by a song from one of Offenbach’s operas relating to the gondolas. We also had a piano solo and an amusing recitation about three people in a shopping queue rubbing an Aladdin lamp. A genie popped out and gave each of them one wish. One wanted to be transported to Hawaii, another to the Bahamas and the third, who was their manager, wished to have those two back in the office after lunch! We also had “You Are My Hero”, then a solo by Pauline who sang ‘Love is my Dream’,followed by the choir singing a Manx spinning wheel song. There was a song from Lionel Bart’s musical “Oliver”, - ‘Food, Glorious Food’ and the concert was rounded off with the carol “Oh Come All Ye Faithful’.
January: This meeting should have been with a speaker from ‘The Barnet Mobile and Home Library’ but was cancelled due to the snowy weather and slippery conditions.
February: Music from a duo: Daniela Lehner (Austrian opera singer ) and Jose Luis Gayo (pianist) gave us an afternoon to remember. Very few members were able to attend but they missed a fantastic mezzo soprano. Daniela chose some songs which were well- known to the audience who were invited to sing along and to join in with some percussion instruments. A spot of dancing was required and ‘volunteers’ waltzed around the tables!!
A very kind lady called Mala appeared half-way through the proceedings after which she distributed envelopes containing cash which she was itching to give away to the members who were present. We didn’t find out exactly why she wanted to do this but her mum had found BBSI on the internet and we were chosen for her philanthropy. May I thank her again on their behalf?
Another volunteer joined us. She is a young lady called Kathryn Prescott and she is in her gap year before attending University after the summer. She dived straight in and was selling raffle tickets before you could say ‘Jack Robinson’.
Time for a chuckle
Three guys are relaxing in the Caribbean sunshine. One guy says, “I had a terrible fire. I lost everything. Now the insurance company is picking up the cost and that’s why I’m here.”
The second guy says, “I had a terrible explosion. I lost every-thing. I got a fat cheque from the insurance company and that’s why I’m here.” The third guy says, “What a coincidence. I had a terrible flood. I lost everything. Now the insurance company is picking up the tab and that’s why I’m here.”
The other two guys turned to him with confusion and asked, “Flood? How do you start a flood?”
Fundraising
We were fortunate enough to have permission to collect at Brent Cross on Sunday 6th December as the Christmas frenzy was getting under way so there were plenty of visitors at the shopping mall. The BBSI collecting cans were out there for a shorter period than last year because the shopping mall is only open for 6 hours but during this time, £600was donatedby the general public and this was again matched by the Abbey National through Brian Grant-Davie, our former editor’s husband, an ex-employee of Abbey, who arranged it for us. This gave us a grand totalof £1,200. BBSI would like to give theirthanks to Lis for all her efforts organising the event as well as to the collectors and their helpers.
BBSI received £450.00 in donations from Waitrose as the Charity selected by the public the at the North Finchley store. It is their new way of giving money to local charities and BBSI are doing rather well out of it. Well done, Lis for requesting our charity to be represented!!
And… on Saturday 6th February, we also received £305 in donations from the general public at Barnet Spires. We thank Helen Howorthwho organised the event and spent much of the day there collecting with her husband, David. Thanks again to all helpers and collectors.
Helpful gadgets.
You may have heard Peter White of ‘In Touch’ interviewing Kitty MacGeever, who is a blind actress playing a part in the soap-opera ‘Emmerdale’. She became blind about 5 years ago and has since been dealing with the situation by using all the aids she can find. Kitty is very fond of colourful clothes and when presented with the option of wearing only beige she was very upset. However, a solution appeared in the form of a ‘Colour Detector.’ This is a handheld device which has been around for a few years and it can identify the colour of fruit, clothes, wallpaper etc. It costs £49.95 including postage and packing and is supplied with a 9v battery. It is available from ‘Cobalt Systems,The Old Mill House, Mill Road, Reedham, Norwich, Norfolk, NR13 3TL Tel: 01293 700172.
Kitty is also fond of music and has a problem identifying her CDs. That was sorted out in the form of an album which holds up to (unfortunately) only 20 CDs. A friend/helper can place theCDs into this holder in the order chosen by the visually impaired person and this order is then recorded.
For other items such as cans of food, books, CDs etc, a new development called the ‘Penfriend’ is available which is comprised of individual sticky discs which include a barcode. The title/name of the article can be recorded on this and then ‘read’ out by the pen.
Mini Quiz
Answers to be found after the venue address at the end of this Newsletter.
1) Alma Cogan died aged 34 when she was Britain’s most successful singer. How was she often described at the time?
a)The little nightingale.
b)The girl with the laugh in her voice.
c)Britain’s Doris Day.
2) Alan Freeman asked: “Can you tell Stork from ....” What?
a)Pork
b)Heron
c)Butter
3) What sort of hair was often used in our grandparents’ day to cover the seats of chairs?
a)Horse hair
b)Rabbit hair
c)Mohair
4) What was the name of Britain’s first ‘medical’ soap opera?
a)Dr Kildare
b)Emergency Ward 10
c)Doctors and Nurses
A Level Playing Field
With just two years to go before the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Paul Carter dons his hard hat to find out just how accessible the Olympic Park is going to be.
Much of the work is still in progress but the major landmarks of the huge site are starting to be identifiable such as the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre and the Velodrome buildings. Paul Carter is a disabled person and he was given a tour of the park by the manager, himself in a wheelchair. Paul’s impression was that all the surrounding areas have been designed to avoid steep inclines and all paths are as wide and level as possible.However, because the park is large, the distances involved may present a challenge to some users. All venues will incorporate seating for both wheelchair users and mobile disabled people, and will not be concentrated in one area of a venue. There will be plenty of accessible toilets incorporated into venues, including toilets for guide dogs, and many lifts are being installed but it will be a few months before we can see exactly how accessible the Olympic Park will be.If the London Organizing Committee keeps to its promises, the Park should be an exciting venue for everyone,
Future Programme 2010
2nd March: AGM and Talk by David Pearce of Middlesex Association for the Blind
6th April: A musical session with Maurice Peckman
4th May: A Speaker from The Retina Pigmentosa Society
The general meeting is held every first Tuesday of the month at St Mary’s Hall, 30-32 Hendon Lane, N3
Quiz answers:
1) Alma Cogan was the girl with the laugh in her voice
2) Alan Freeman asked: ‘Can you tell Stork from Butter?’
3) The sort of hair often used to cover the seats of chairs was horsehair.
4)The name of Britain’s first medical soap was ‘Emergency Ward 10’
The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of BBSI.
Editor: Sandra Roeder, 15 Wickliffe Avenue, N3 3EL
Telephone: 020 8346 7641
E-mail:
Items for inclusion in the next issue should be submitted no later than: 1st April2010
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