Timeline A short timeline of the key dates in Cam Sight's history. Expand 1912 Cam Sight made an informal start at a meeting held in St Andrew’s Parish Church Hall. Two ladies of well known Cambridge families, Mrs Lilley and Mrs Stace organised a meeting for local blind and partially sighted people to offer support and recreation. 1915 Mrs Lilley and Mrs Stace opened the Blind Worker’s shop at 5 Emmanuel Street, Cambridge. 1919Mrs Stace engaged, a home teacher to visit every blind person known in Cambridge and the surrounding villages once a fortnight. 1921 The Cambridgeshire Society for the Blind and Partially Sighted became a registered charity. 1928 The Blind Worker’s shop moved to 28 Regent Street, Cambridge. 1946 The Blantyre Residential Home was opened at 24 Glisson Road, Cambridge. 1953 The Blantyre Residential Home was extended in 1953. 1954 A smaller house at 35 Glisson Road was added. The leases of these houses were bought from the Society’s accumulated funds with gifts from the Royal National Institute for the Blind, colleges and other bodies. 1985A centre was set up to provide support and information on specialist equipment to blind and partially sighted people living in Cambridgeshire. 1992 The Blantyre Residential Home closed and Cam Sight moved to 5 Coles Lane, Oakington. 1996 Cam Sight moved again to 167 Green End Road, Cambridge where it remains to this day. 2008 Cam Sight opened an office and equipment centre at 2 Victoria Street, Chatteris. 2012 Centenary celebration. 2018Cam Sight moved from Chatteris to 14 Chapel Road, Wisbech.
Cam Sight since 1945 The post-war years saw the Society moving into new ventures as it now worked with other providers to improve the support provided. Expand The post-war years saw the Society moving into new ventures as it now worked with other providers to improve the support provided. Many members of the its community, paid staff, volunteers and those who benefited from their services have left accounts or spoken of their relationships within the community.Their observations and memories have enriched our knowledge of this period. One of the Society’s first measures was to establish a home for elderly blind people. Money came from the Society’s own funds, donations from Cambridge colleges and a grant of £1,100 from the R.N.I.B. Called ‘Blantyre’, it opened in 1946 at 24 Glisson Road. Seven years later, it was enlarged to house six men and twelve women. In 1954, a second establishment, ‘Kendal’ was opened at 35 Glisson Road. This building housed seven women in need of special care. In 1964 and 1978 more properties were purchased nearby. Individuals were expected to pay rent, but shortfalls were made up by the council whilst the Society took on the responsibility of maintaining the properties. By 1992, twenty-seven residents were living in the Society’s Cambridge properties. Photos: Blantyre House (left) and news clipping about closure of 'The Blind Shop' (right) The 1980s brought substantial changes as the blind workers’ shop closed its doors in 1982. The Society refocused on visiting visually impaired people in their homes and providing rehabilitation, training, the provision of special equipment and, as always companionship to all its members. In 1984 it developed a resource centre with funding from the Manpower Services Commission. The Society’s manager and two community workers were joined by dozens of volunteers who dedicated themselves to the growing number of people in need of their services. By the early 1990s, 650 blind and partially-sighted people were being assisted. It was at this point that the name Cam Sight was adopted. Increasing numbers of people needed support and new technologies available meant that the 1990s were years of change for Cam Sight. In 1992, the Glisson Road house was closed and sold and the Society’s headquarters moved briefly to Oakington before settling in its current home in Green End Road in 1996. It opened an office and equipment centre at in Chatteris in 2008, which in 2018 moved to Chapel Road in Wisbech. The work of Cam Sight was supported by the development of a team of specialist Sensory Social Workers. The scope of the Resource Centre also evolved as new kinds of low vision equipment increased the independence of visually impaired people. New forms of technology became available and a Technology Trainer was appointed to teach computer skills. Monthly information sessions were introduced to help newly registered people access support and resources available.
Cam Sight Between the Wars In April 1921 it became a formally registered charity as the Cambridge Society for the Blind and within six months, re-named itself the Cambridgeshire Society for the Blind. Expand With the Blind Persons Act of 1920, it became possible to establish a formal register of local blind people and their care became the responsibility of the state in conjunction with local government and local voluntary organisations.The Cambridge Society was well placed to step in and help. In April 1921 it became a formally registered charity as the Cambridge Society for the Blind and within six months, re-named itself the Cambridgeshire Society for the Blind. It was given the responsibility by the county council for administering the Blind Persons Act and received a grant from the Ministry of Health. How was this money used? Two home teachers were employed who visited clients and taught Braille and handicrafts. In 1923 they made 2,444 visits to the 146 blind people who were on the register. Another activity was the distribution and maintenance of wireless radio sets distributed through the help of volunteers. The Society operated a Holidays Savings Club offering seven shillings for every pound saved by a blind person towards a holiday. The actual arrangement of the holiday, often at the seaside was undertaken by the Society. The work of the Society did not stop there. It bought craft implements for blind people taking up a trade and made money available to people buying a house or needing a housekeeper. Toys and school uniforms were purchased for children. After 1930 however, the grant from central government ceased and funding of the scheme was transferred to the local authority. You can read an example of meeting notes from 1920s, transcribed here. The Depression of the 1930s proved an enormous challenge for Cam Sight. In Parliament there were calls by Labour for the state to take over all responsibility for blind people but the National Government believed this would remove any incentive for blind people to earn a living. Cambridgeshire had an estimated two hundred blind people in the 1930s and the organisation made sure they were supported. Cam Sight collaborated with National Institute for the Blind and the National Library for the Blind to try to maintain the activities on offer. Finally, Cam Sight appealed to the public for funds to make sure visually impaired people did not suffer unduly at a time of deprivation. The only public money Cam Sight received was the grant from Cambridgeshire County Council but this had to be used for administration and training, not for assisting blind people in poverty. However, money raised by the Society through charitable donation was used for their care. In 1936, the Society actively championed the cause of blind people who were unemployed. Cambridgeshire was one of the few counties that looked after visually impaired people through the Victorian Poor Law which was coming to the end of its long life. The ‘dole’ was administered by the local Public Assistance Committee. On behalf of the Society, Mrs Rackham moved at a council meeting that that blind people should be relieved through the Blind Persons Act. Mrs Rackham disputed that the dole was adequate for the needs of blind people. In her view, an extra five shillings a week should be awarded to three blind people in the area who were destitute. Although Alderman Tebbutt for Cambridgeshire County Council resisted her proposal claiming that it was merely ‘sob stuff’, but the Committee came round to the idea and awarded the money. In terms of the services it provided, the Society was active in promoting the use of Braille as well as other skills useful for work. A young girl who was both deaf and blind, was provided with a home teacher by the Society who helped her to converse with others by manipulating the hand with a special code. The Society also assisted a man who lost his sight in middle age. He was helped to find work he could manage and ended up running a lodging house. The Society also developed a close working relationship with Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. Cam Sight was organised by a committee of both sexes but is difficult to ignore the contribution of some formidable women, particularly Mrs. Adene. Mrs Adene was the Society’s president in the interwar years and she also chaired the local Maternity and Child Welfare Committee, which sought to prevent blindness in children. Charitable organisations like the Cambridgeshire Society gave women a distinctive social prominence. Mrs. Adene organised sales of goods that, she proudly proclaimed competed in price with goods made by sighted workers. Entertainment was provided through weekly club meetings and summer garden parties. Mrs Adene held a garden party at her home at Babraham Hall, that was attended by blind people from twenty villages in Cambridgeshire. Fund raising activities included local amateur dramatics in which blind members took part. Strong support for the Society’s work at local level came from churches in the Cambridge area. The Society continued to be active in promoting wireless (radio) for blind people and to ensure that sets were made available in many homes. The use of white sticks was an innovation in the 1930s and the Society received a grant for their purchase. The Society also helped to educate the public by arranging for a feature in the local press, which commented that the sticks should encourage sighted people to offer assistance and to allow the blind to ‘walk in the streets in safety and comfort’. It warranted the publication of a photograph of four blind people with their new sticks so that motorists and pedestrians would be aware of its meaning. During the Second World War, the Society played an active part by looking after forty five blind evacuee children. Change came with the end of the war when the county council took over many of its activities. After the war, Cambridgeshire Council took over all responsibility for the care of blind people and brought the Society’s home teachers under its control. The Society retained its shop however and its weekly Friday club for members. The Society became a limited company in 1950.
The Origins of Cam Sight Two Cambridge ladies, Mrs Stace and Mrs Lilley, enjoyed the friendship of a blind neighbour, Mrs. Chandler. It was Mrs Chandler who suggested that a space should be made available for local blind people to come together for recreation and support. Expand Two Cambridge ladies, Mrs Stace and Mrs Lilley, enjoyed the friendship of a blind neighbour, Mrs. Chandler. It was Mrs Chandler who suggested that a space should be made available for local blind people to come together for recreation and support. Photos: Mrs Lilley (left) and Mrs Stace (right) Mrs Stace rented a parish room at St Andrew’s Church for the afternoon of 28thOctober 1912. They planned a programme which began with a reading, then provided a class in basket weaving. This was followed by an entertainment and finally, tea. From that time Friday afternoons offered a time when blind people in Cambridge could meet for comradeship, learn a new skill and enjoy themselves. Right from the start, the Society’s aim was not simply to provide sympathy and support, but to enable visually impaired people to become self-reliant. This aim continues today. Read Mrs Stace’s profile, transcribed from a newspaper article published at the time. How were blind people looked after before this time? As early as 1791, a school for blind children had been established in Liverpool but there was no systematic help overall. In the Victorian period, much of the work undertaken with blind people varied depending on social class. Whilst the well-off might have individual tuition in Braille or servants to help them, care of blind paupers focused on providing them with a trade rather than teaching them to read. Improvements in health, particularly in surgery and following the decline of diseases like smallpox, had not eradicated blindness but managed to reduce its incidence. What would become the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) had been created in 1868. The organisation initially focused on encouraging the teaching of Braille, but over time it expanded its services to include care homes and, by the 1920s to providing wireless radio access to those in need, as well as other new technologies. The amount of government aid for the poor was extremely limited. Central funding commenced with the 1893 Education Act which required that all children be educated, including those who were blind and partially sighted. How this was to be achieved was not made clear and was often left to local solutions. In these years, basket weaving and craft-work were the mainstay of the Cambridge Society’s activities. The Society was funded by donations and by the sale of goods made by blind people themselves. In 1915, the Blind Workers’ Shop was established at 5 Emmanuel Street, moving to 28 Regent Street in 1938. It sold baskets, wickerwork, knitted items and other goods made by blind people and took orders for the caning of chairs. In 1919, Mrs. Stace was funded by subscriptions from friends to engage a home teacher to visit blind people. This was an important step in the development of the Society and a period of growth for Cam Sight overall. It began to support people in areas surrounding Cambridge and the number of members increased particularly in the aftermath of the Great War. Photos: 'Blind Club' basket weavers (left) and Phillip Brand, blind client, with a model fire engine he made (right)
Cam Sight Today Cam Sight continues to work with partners to support local children and adults with low vision and blindness. Expand Cam Sight continues to work with partners to support local children and adults with low vision and blindness. The charity provides emotional support to help people come to terms with a diagnosis of sight loss. It offers practical help including in people’s homes and communities and support in accessing benefit entitlements. It leads monthly social groups in rural areas and groups for teenagers and pre-school children and their families. Equipment and technology centres offer demonstration, advice and training on technology and equipment for independent living including magnifiers, lighting, talking clocks and telephones. Rehabilitation staff provide training in mobility, orientation and skills for daily living. Volunteers support all areas of the Charity’s work and help people by reading, befriending and driving. Vibrant sport’s groups provide bowling, swimming, and tandem cycling. In Members’ Own Words The satisfaction these services afford Cam Sight clients is clearly stated by Betty Hogg, who has been assisted by Cam Sight since 2008 when doctors concluded that her sight could not be improved. She said: ‘I cannot speak more highly of the friendly service Cam Sight provides and recommend that anyone with impaired vision should seek their help and guidance’. Sue Kruczynska relates her favourite memory of Cam Sight: ‘A few years ago an elderly lady came in who had lost her sight but wanted to continue her hobby of sewing. I introduced her to some the technology in Cam Sight that could help her keep sewing’. One of the most special things Cam Sight offers is to continue working with clients over many years, not just as technologies evolve, but also as the needs of individuals are affected by factors such as ageing and changes of physical surroundings. John Willis of Meldreth, who has been registered blind for over a decade, tells us of all the people at Cam Sight who have helped him: ‘Cam Sight has been a very great help to me. Over the ten years since I was registered Blind/Visually Impaired, nine years of involvement with Cam Sight at different levels has been invaluable. The Cam Sight staff are all very supportive and a great crowd of people without exception’. Rosemary Kisby has had a similar experience as a number of members of Cam Sight helped her when she was registered blind. They invited her to a support group and assisted her in filling in forms. She says, ‘I have had quite a lot of connection with Cam Sight and have found them all friendly and helpful’. This enthusiasm is echoed by the Society’s volunteers. Alice Zeitlyn has taught Braille at Cam Sight after she took a course with Nigel Taylor, who was the only social worker for visually impaired people in Cambridge during the early 1980s. Alice has taught Braille ever since about which she is passionate; ‘What I’m always impressed with is that it’s very enjoyable teaching Braille because the people who want to learn are very highly motivated, and I find it addictive; if I don’t have any Braille to do I feel deprived. So they’re very nice to teach’. Alice finds it sad that Braille is not so widely used nowadays as it has always given the reader ‘independence’. At the same time, Cam Sight remains active in providing social events and activities. Christina Davis remembered: ‘The Cam Sight Ten Pin bowling group was launched in 2006 and I was very apprehensive about attending to begin with. However, as time progressed, we all became good friends. I had heard that many younger people attended and I found it a great way to meet new people. I think it’s brilliant that Cam Sight encourages people of all ages to participate in their activities as many organisations that specialise in catering for people with sight loss do not cater for all age groups. I became friends with Kevin Ramsey and over a period of time we grew closer. We got together in October 2007 and got engaged in February 2008 and are still very happy four years on. If it wasn’t for Cam Sight organising a Ten Pin bowling group, I would probably be single!’ Cam Sight also reaches into the areas around Cambridge, organising the Rural Support Monthly Groups. Gwendolin Portman, who has been supported by a group, tells us that; ‘it is good to meet people with similar conditions and to be able to support each other’. The community which Cam Sight creates provides support in matters which face many members of society. Several recent clients were full of praise for help they had received in facing financial pressures, figuring out how to accommodate the needs of a recently retired guide-dog during the day when friends and neighbours might not be free to help out, or even the planning of birthday celebrations. Matt Darkin tells us: ‘When my guide dog Milly retired and I qualified with my second dog, I needed some help taking Milly to the park. All friends and family work during the day so I had the idea to contact Cam Sight to request for some help with walkies. It wasn’t long before people volunteered and now Milly has lots of new friends who take her to the park on a regular basis. This is just one example of the fantastic work Cam Sight does’. Rita Beresford tells us: ‘I find the staff at Cam Sight very helpful. I am grateful to them for dealing efficiently with matters such as my watch repairs and running the monthly meetings. Staff have visited me a number of times and went to considerable trouble in organising my ninetieth birthday celebration. My weekly volunteer visitor helps me with a range of tasks including reading the post, banking, gardening and other jobs around the house’.