The Eye Fund A charity to support people losing their vision.
And here it is! Your Filthy Hobbitses wearing their finishing headbands sipping a celebratory cocktail made by Eye Fund trustee Helen! Maybe not as filthy as they were at some parts of the course but I think you can tell from some of them that the ice cold water was still doing its job…
Well done Filthy Hobbitses! At the time of writing they’ve raised a MASSIVE £973 for The Eye Fund, we couldn’t be more proud!
The Eye Fund is honoured and very proud to have been chosen as Hull University’s charity for this semester. The students are working hard to raise money for us. One of the students, Jacob Rowlands, Simon’s nephew, wrote the following words. They mean such a lot to the family.
Since 2007 The Eye Fund has raised £95,000 funding two counsellors working out of St. Paul’s hospital and Ashville Lodge, dedicated to providing support for people in the process of losing their vision. Money also goes to providing much needed speciality equipment to any who are in need of their help.
The Eye Fund was launched in memory of Simon Sherry, son of Carol and Paul, the Eye Fund founders, who after developing retinal cone dystrophy was told he was losing his vision.
Simon was simply told he could be blind in the near future, handed a white stick and was escorted out of the facility. Graphic designer by trade, musician and black belt martial arts practitioner by pleasure, the news was incredibly hard to digest.
Simon died at 38 years old weighing only seven stone. With no support and no hope, he had given up on himself.
Carol and Paul Sherry, along with other family members who cared deeply for Simon, decided no other person should go through what Simon had to. They realised Simon was not alone in his experience, thousands of people were receiving no support upon learning their vision was failing. This had to change.
Quiz nights, gallery exhibitions of Simon’s incredible art work, race night, cocktail nights, and old fashioned bucket collecting, have contributed to Carol and Pauls dream becoming a reality.
The Capitol Chinese Restaurant in Birkenhead is celebrating The Chinese New Year on Sunday 22nd February. They will have the traditional Chinese Lion dancing, Horoscope, Quiz, free gift and a raffle. They are donating the proceeds from the raffle to The Eye Fund. That is very generous of them.
There are only a few tables left, so if you want to go… book now.
The 2nd June saw the Eye Fund at the Environmental Agency in Warrington. We had a big stall in the canteen and just inside the foyer.
Lots of cakes were made by some of Helen’s colleagues and were sold at £1 each. We also sold lots of jewellery and cards and the total takings came to £261.65.
The third exhibition of Simon’s fantastic art work was held in The Gallery in Birkenhead Park, April 29th to 6th May. It was opened by The Eye Fund patron, Mike McCartney.
Invited guests enjoyed a preview of the exhibition. The Wirral Potters and members of The Wirral Society of the Blind and Partially Sighted craft group were inspired by Simon’s designs to create some amazing pieces.
Simon’s brother, Phil, proposed a toast to him with champagne kindly donated by Paul McCartney.
The exhibition ran for nine days and raised £1500 for the charity.
WONDERFUL!
Our very good friends, Rod and Jean Sherratt, organised a concert at their church. The proceeds of £700 from the ticket sales went to The Eye Fund. Everyone who bought a ticket also brought along a tin of food for The Wirral Food Bank so lots of people benefited.
Rod and Jean worked tirelessly to make this possible. On the night of the concert Carol and Paul sold Eye Fund merchandise to the value of £325. (Amazing)
On the 8th December Carol and Paul joined church members at their Christmas fair and raised £106.
Grateful thanks to Rod and Jean.
On the evening of November 19th Carol and Paul attended a concert given by The Clwyd Clippers. At the end of this concert a cheque was presented to the value of £750 from a musical event held at Theatr Clwyd in the summer.
This was an amazing amount and thanks go to everybody who made this possible.
The staff from Northwich Specsavers have truly become friends of The Eye Fund. In October they held a Fun Day in their store.
Paul and Carol went along to sell Eye Fund merchandise on 2 separate occasions. The total raised was an amazing £310.
Thank you very much Specsavers.
Our grateful thanks go to Brenda Smith from the Royal Liverpool hospital. She and her family walked The Great Glen Way in Scotland to raise funds for The Eye Fund.
We have received an amazing sum exceeding £300. Well Done Brenda!
The Eye Fund has had 8 of Simon’s pictures in the Old Christ Church, Art Exhibition, Waterloo on Merseyside. The exhibition was open to the public and brought lots of interest. It was great to sell 5 full sized prints!
