Key responsibilities include managing a low vision equipment centre in Chatteris; leading two social support groups and supporting Cam Sight volunteers in the area.

The ideal candidate will have experience of working with visually impaired or vulnerable people, have good communication skills and be capable of working both independently and within a team. 

For job description and application form, please contact Becky Cawdry on 01223 420033 or becky@camsight.org.uk.

Application deadline is noon on Thursday 30 May and interviews will take place in Chatteris on Monday 10 June.

Steve Bingham’s Fire and Ice concert will combine full orchestra with electric and traditional violins in a programme featuring mythical glowing birds, icy wastes, JS Bach and a looping masterpiece, all in aid of Cam Sight.

West Road Concert Hall
Sunday 16 June 2013, 7.30pm

Steve, has played with some of the UK’s top orchestras as well as leading the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and conducting the Ely Sinfonia, is a champion of the idea that a training in classical music is just the start in making music of all types an adventure for everyone.  His concert, Fire and Ice, will feature modern classical, world music and film scores, as well as a full concerto for recorded birdsong and orchestra.

The concert will take place in West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge, and the programme will include Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus concerto for birdsong and orchestra, the suite from Stravinsky’s The Firebird, Bach’s Chaconne in D minor for solo violin, Keeling’s You Cut The String for electric violin and live looping, and Michael Nyman’s Suite of Film Music Pieces, including two brand new arrangements by Phil Toms.

The Firebird is one of the world’s best-loved orchestral scores, with its infernal dance and a blazing conclusion which sweeps all before it.  It is based on Russian folk tales and the stories provoked in the composer, Stravinsky, some of his most ardent and luscious writing.

Steve Bingham’s concert will feature other birds too, but this time they will be real – and recorded: birds from the Arctic Circle in Einojuhani Rautavaara’s extraordinary Cantus Articus, a concerto for birdsong and orchestra. The haunting calls of recorded shore larks and whooper swans ring through the swirl of flutes and the shimmer of strings in a work that is mysterious, deeply moving and life enhancing.

Michael Nyman’s Suite of Film Music Pieces includes items from two of his most memorable films scores: Drowning by numbers and A Zed and Two Noughts. Michael Nyman is one of the UK’s most exciting contemporary composers and Phil Toms’ arrangements of his music will demonstrate the talents of an orchestra especially assembled for this concert.

To complete the evening, Steve Bingham will play the Chaconne in D Minor for solo violin by JS Bach and a work specially written for him by composer Andrew Keeling.  You Cut the String combines live electric violin and recorded loops in a work of bright, transparent beauty and artistry.

Tickets for the concert are available from the ADC Theatre box office – 01223 300085, or online at http://www.adcticketing.com/whats-on/concert/fire-and-ice.aspx

On Monday 15^th July The Endellion Quartet with Clarinet Soloist Anna Hashimoto will be playing Weber’s Clarinet Quintet in B Flat Major Op 34; Béla Kovács Hommage a C M von Weber and Brahms Clarinet Qunitet in B minor, Op 115. 

The Endellion Quartet are always very popular and are kindly giving their performance for free.  The concert is being sponsored by Cambridge Consultants and TTP Group. 

Tickets priced at £20/ £18 concessions/ £10 students will be on sale at the Cambridge Corn Exchange Box Office on 01223 357851

Owned and recently refurbished by the owners of The Red Lion Hinxton, The Black Bull proved to be the perfect venue, and once again Alex Clarke’s staff, led by award-winning Manager Mike Champion, made it an evening to remember.  We all enjoyed a number of blind tasting starters and desserts including Scallop Tatar with cauliflower puree and white chocolate & Rose Petal Panna Cotta with popping candy and mango caramel.  The food was superb with great imagination given to the mystery dishes.  Sponsorship by The Stickleback Fish Company, Adnams, Fisher and Woods and Andrew Northrop Butchers together with Alex Clarke’s great generosity enabled Cam Sight to raise £784.50 for our funds.

Their programme of Viennese Classics comprised Schubert’s Symphony No 8 – The Unfinished Symphony; Mozart’s Horn Concerto with Soloist Guy Llewellyn and Bruckner’s Symphony No 7 – The Lyric was a perfect mix and once again the Sampson Orchestra proved what a fine group of musicians they are.

The audience were very generous with the bucket collection at the end of the evening which, together with the proceeds from the Sampson Orchestra, came to £1,000.31.  We should like to thank the Sampson Orchestra, conducted by Darrell Davison, and in particular John Scott for their kind and generous support of Cam Sight.

Tuesday 26 March, 10am – 3pm

Optelec will be demonstrating a range of magnifiers to help with reading and writing. Displaying and enlarging magazines, newspapers and photographs at a more comfortable size for you.

Dolphin will be demonstrating software packages to magnify screens and talking computing for people with sight loss.

Please contact Gail at Cam Sight on 01223 420033 or gail@camsight.org.uk for more information.

Rodney Wolverson, Grand Master of the Cambridgeshire Freemasons, presenting Cam Sight’s Patron, Dame Mary Archer with a cheque for £17,417.00 – a tremendous sum raised from the Ely Cathedral Carol Concert.  The money will be put towards our Centenary Appeal which has now reached the £200,000 mark. Cam Sight would like to express its very grateful thanks to both the Cambridgeshire Freemasons and all the Staff at Ely Cathedral, particularly Lesley Ann Thompson for their support throughout our Centenary year and for such a memorable and enjoyable evening.

A team from Cam Sight visited the Cambridgeshire Freemason Hall yesterday to receive a cheque for £17,417.00 from The Festival of Carols at Ely Cathedral.  A tremendous sum which will be put towards our Centenary Appeal, which has now reached the £200,000 mark.

The Glasses Group is being held every Monday over a six week period at Horizon Day Centre, Coldhams Lane, Cambridge.  It is run by Cam Sight’s Rehabilitation workers Paula Bird and Helen Shepherd-Wilson, two Optometry students from Anglia Ruskin University and two support workers.

Each week is a different theme.  The group started with an explanation of who everyone was and an introduction of what the group was hoping to achieve. The first game was a bit of an ice-breaker; the memory game.  Different articles were placed on a tray with an explanation about each object.  The tray was then covered up and the group was asked to recall what was there.  This was a great way to start interacting with the group.

The next activity served as an introduction to visual impairment; an array of glasses were passed around the group and tried on.  This caused some amusement and led to a discussion on why people wear glasses, sunglasses, safety goggles and onion glasses.

The next game continued the ‘eye’ theme; titled ‘Build an eye’ the participants took turns throwing a specially designed dice which showed a picture of each part of the eye of each side.  This way an eye was gradually built up in the centre of the table.  The students then explained what each part of the eye was for.

At the beginning of the session the group had informed staff that they loved to colour.  When the ipads were introduced, the group was fascinated with different colouring Apps and the participants were truly amazed about how they could colour something without using a crayon.  Whilst doing this, the Optometry students and Cam Sight staff were able to work out how well the participants could identify colour and also observe their hand eye dexterity. 

The sessions have been a great success and have demonstrated there is a real need for this type of group.

In order to do this, they need to research the attitudes of people affected by sight loss in relation to hotels and holidays. This research will enable Action to direct the future of the hotels offering so that it best meets the needs of blind and partially sighted people.

They’ve created a survey which has been co-produced with people who are visually impaired. The survey is open until Friday 22 February, and results will be analysed and interpreted by people affected by sight loss. They aim to improve their Hotels offering based on this analysis.

They need your help

To date they have 100 online responses but they ideally need ten times that number to give meaning to the research. Those who complete the survey can enter a draw to win either a three-night, full-board break, or a £250 Marks & Spencer voucher.

If you would like to help please visit their website  www.visionhotels.co.uk/vision-hotels-survey/

Please remember, Action needs robust evidence from blind and partially sighted people to make the right decisions about the way that they provide hotel services in the future.

Thanks very much for your support.