The Brian Kennedy Trust support Parent and Toddler Group

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Helen Worthy

Cheque Presentation BKT We were delighted to welcome Linda Miles, Director of The Brian Kennedy Trust, to our Manchester Resource Centre on Tuesday May 21.

The Brian Kennedy Trust has generously elected to support the Manchester Parent and Toddler Group with a donation of £3,000. This donation will support Henshaws staff in their ambitions to develop this group and increase attendance.

Henshaws’ Parent and Toddler Group is open to parents with a visually impaired child and to visually impaired parents. The group meets weekly and offers a supportive forum for parents to share stories and experiences, take part in a range of activities and play sessions, as well as providing additional information and support via different guest speakers – highlighting other support services or benefits that the families might be entitled to.

At Henshaws we know that the key to supporting children is to support their parents and family first. A large part of that is about providing specialist advice on learning techniques and specially adapted toys and equipment, but more than that, it’s about providing emotional support and advice, right when it’s needed most.

Linda Miles, Director of The Brian Kennedy Trust said: “We are passionate about supporting organisations to give young people a better chance in life and when we heard about the work that Henshaws do to support young people and families with visual impairments we knew we wanted to support them in some way,”

The Brian Kennedy Trust support opportunities which improve the lives of children and their families and believe that children and young people should be given every opportunity to live a fulfilling childhood and build a thriving future.

Fiona Berry, Children and Families Team Leader at Henshaws said: “We are very grateful to The Brian Kennedy Trust for this donation, it will go a long way in helping grow our Parent and Toddler Group and enable us to support more visually impaired children.”

For more information about our Parent and Toddler Group see our Groups and Support web page.

Partially sighted Paddy takes on hiking challenge to thank Henshaws

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Helen Worthy

Cape Wrath Challenge 2 Paddy from Bootle decided to take on the challenge of hiking the Cape Wrath Trail, which is generally regarded as the hardest walking challenge in Great Britain, to raise money for Henshaws after the support he received from them to manage with the difficulties of being partially sighted.

On May 17 Paddy Drohan, 26 will be joined by his cousin John Whelan, 27, and friend Lee Gordon, 27, to commence their challenge. They will be hiking the 200 miles from Cape Wrath in Scotland to Fort William in Wales and then climbing the highest mountain in Britain, Ben Nevis. They expect the route to take two weeks, hiking an average of 18 miles a day and they will be camping for 11 of the days along the trail. They have been preparing for the challenge by going on many hiking trips, including recently climbing the highest mountain in Wales, Snowdon.

When Paddy was 21 years old he was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, an inherited form of juvenile Macular Degeneration that causes progressive vision loss usually to the point of complete blindness. Symptoms include wavy vision, blind spots, blurriness, impaired colour vision, and difficulty adapting to dim lighting. Despite numerous eye tests throughout his childhood he was only diagnosed with the condition after attempting to join the Army and failing his eyesight test.

Paddy attended our Liverpool Resource Centre, where he took part in their Skillstep programme, a practical course which helped him to develop his confidence and get into employment. He now works full-time in hospitality at Everton Football Club.

Paddy said: “After being diagnosed, I was introduced to Henshaws and they helped me to live with the difficulties of being partially sighted. As they have helped me so much with living with my condition and the work they do for the visually impaired is so valuable, I decided it was my time to give something back and I wanted to do something to really challenge myself!”

Glen Lockett, Head of Fundraising at Henshaws, said: “We are extremely grateful to Paddy and his friends for raising much needed funds for Henshaws and taking on this massive challenge, we wish them all the best of luck!”

So far Paddy has raised over half of his £750 target for Henshaws. To sponsor Paddy please visit his JustGiving page: http://www.justgiving.com/Patrick-Drohan

If you would like to take up a running or challenge event and be part of Team Henshaws contact our dedicated fundraising team today on 0161 786 3656 or email fundraising@henshaws.org.uk.

T/here photography project inspires dads

Posted on May 8, 2013 by lisar

One of our family support officers, Elaine Stewart, tells us about the T/here photography project that some of the visually impaired Henshaws parents have been involved in:

“A few months ago I was contacted by a local artist/photographer who was looking for adults to take part in her latest project. I immediately thought of two parents from our Visually Impaired Parents Group – John Edgley and Kevin Pagan. They jumped at the opportunity to take part, and Friday 3rd May saw the Launch night of the exhibition of their photographs at a gallery in Liverpool. T/here is the 10th project in the UK by artist Egle Mei and is funded by The Arts Council England. It is about different perceptions of space/ environment constructed through subjective experience and social interaction, and conditioned by different states of body and mind. The aim of the project was to explore the differences of perception of the space between “normal” and “disabled” people and to learn and teach one another about different perspectives and standpoints. To demonstrate that normality is built on the basis of our approaches and it doesn’t affect the quality of a sensed world.

“The photographs were taken by three groups of participants: professional photographers without disabilities, people with different physical state i.e. blind or visually impaired people (from Henshaws) and participants with different states of mind, in particular autistic people. Each photographer was partnered with one blind or visually impaired and one autistic person. Workshops were based on seven different guidelines, with three of them brainstormed and matched by all participants:

“The pairs were wandering around Merseyside for seven days, exploring spaces/ environments using guidelines to dictate the shots; -free -chosen favourite time of the day -chosen favourite place -own and private space -endless/ infinite -being alone and among people -in a photo studio

“The Launch went extremely well and the photographs that John and Kevin had taken were amazing. They were exhibited alongside photographs taken by professional sighted photographers and no one could tell the difference. It was a fantastic evening! The project gave Kevin an opportunity to do something he wouldn’t usually do and John said he found the project educational, and it made him look at things from a different perspective. “I was very proud of my photographs and I loved the way they were displayed. I will carry on developing my photography skills now that it’s inspired me.”

The artworks will be exhibited in the gallery at Camp and Furnace, Greenland Street, Liverpool from 3rd to 10th May 2013. Make sure you don’t miss it! Visit the project website for more information and a map to find the venue.

Runners complete four marathons in four days to raise money for Henshaws

Featured

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Helen Worthy

Ashley & Ollie

Zachary, 18 months old, was diagnosed with Septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) a few months after he was born, which is a disorder of early brain development and part of this condition meant that he was born blind.

Zachary and his family received support from Henshaws, we provided them with information, support and the opportunity to gain access to events and groups to meet other families in similar situations. We not only support Zachary for as long as he needs, but also his family, including his elder brother, Alexander, 8, who has a big responsibility to understand how to help his younger sibling.

Ollie decided to complete this incredible challenge for his son, Zachary, to mark the challenges that he will face in his life and to show him he will always be there to help him. When Ollie’s cousin, Ashley, heard what Ollie was going to do he wanted to help and get involved too. They both prepared for the marathon challenge by completing in different runs and challenges, including Hell Runner last November.

Ollie and Ashley set off from Ulverston on April 10 and completed one marathon each day, with the support of family and friends who took it in turns to cycle with them. They completed their final marathon on April 13 finishing in Castle Douglas, so far they have raised over £4,500 for Henshaws.

Ollie from Horwich said “I wanted to do this marathon challenge as when a charity like Henshaws is doing such a good job and it is supporting so many people, I felt it was only right to give something back to them as they have been so amazing for my little boy and my family.”

Glen Lockett, head of fundraising at Henshaws, said: “We are extremely grateful to Ollie and Ashley for raising much needed funds for Henshaws and taking on the massive challenge of completing four marathons in four days! Every penny raised through their efforts will make a huge difference to people like Zachary.”

To sponsor Ollie and Ashley please visit their JustGiving page: http://www.justgiving.com/RunningForHenshaws

If you would like to take up a running or challenge event and be part of Team Henshaws contact our dedicated fundraising team today on 0161 786 3656 or email: fundraising@henshaws.org.uk.

VIPAR group trip to the National Football Museum

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Helen Worthy

VIPAR Football trip 2 On Monday 22^nd April our Visually Impaired Parents and Relatives (VIPAR) Group visited the National Football Museum in Manchester as part of their monthly group trips.

The group were able to have a tactile session especially arranged for them, where they handled various football memorabilia and objects such as football boots, kits and balls from throughout the ages.

They were then given a guided tour around the museum and a brief history of the game.

The group were then free to explore the museum at their leisure and even got to have their photo taken with a replica of the Premier League trophy.

After the visit all the group went for lunch nearby. The entire group really enjoyed the day and one of our parents said: “Thank you for a great day, I was in my element; I will definitely be going back!”

The monthly VIPAR group gives parents a chance to meet other visually impaired parents to swap stories, advice and information. Covering Manchester and Liverpool the group meet once a month and alternate between the Manchester and Liverpool Resource Centres and trips out. For more information about our VIPAR group go to our Groups and Support page.