Beth Doherty
A new sight loss support centre is opening in Salisbury tomorrow (Saturday 6th November 2021), with the Mayor of Salisbury, Cllr Caroline Corbin set to pronounce Wiltshire Sight’s new Salisbury Hub open at 10am.
The new Salisbury Hub will combine Wiltshire Sight’s very first charity shop with a services and resource centre for client appointments and drop-in consultations.
The charity says more than 20,000 people in Wiltshire are currently living with significant sight loss, and Wiltshire Sight is the only charity providing local face-to-face support services to help people to continue living active and independent lives.
“The new Salisbury hub will enable us to provide more local one-to-one support to people in the south of Wiltshire, funded by a charity shop in the heart of Salisbury.
“The design of our stunning, fresh look shop has accessibility at its core, particularly for people with sight loss. It has wide pathways and spacing on the shop floor, high contrast colours for the till area and doorframes, and an accessible till system designed with visually- impaired volunteers in mind”.
In addition to traditional charity retail items and new goods, the store will also be selling some of the most commonly used daily living aids, simple technology and gadgets that are useful to our visually impaired clients, including magnifiers, task lighting, talking clocks and watches, and large print diaries, calendars and games. The shop will be open seven days a week.
“Our consultation room and resource centre is situated on the ground floor of the building and is a safe and confidential space for appointments. Our centre has lots of lighting and magnification tools to try, as well as kitchen and reading aids, and expert advice on how to live a full and independent life.
“Whether you are newly diagnosed with sight loss, or wondering about new advances that are available, we can help. Anyone wishing to make an appointment with our local Community Sight Loss Advisor, Alison, can call us on 01380 723682”.
Mike Silvey, CEO of Wiltshire Sight commented, “We are very excited to be opening our new premises, which will provide a base for local services in the South of the county, enabling us to provide more local, accessible services for people struggling with sight loss.
“We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has helped make this happen – our supporters, our volunteers and those who have generously donated such high quality stock. As a small local charity, we rely on members of our community supporting us, and they really have done us proud“.
If you would like to find out more about volunteering for Wiltshire Sight, contact the Wiltshire Sight office or drop in to chat with the shop team.
David Harber
