Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Braille	Active Vision Group	Cards & Games	Handicrafts	Focus Group
Computer Class	Art	Line Dancing	Lunch Club	Friday Group
Monday Club	Computer Class		Socials	Shopping
Drop-In	Exercise		Well Being
	Music Afternoons
	Younger Members

We also arrange Theatre Trips and an annual Summer Outing as well as other seasonal events.

MONDAY

Braille Classes - We have 2 visiting Braille instructors who come to our
headquarters every fortnight to help members with learning this popular reading method for the blind.

Computer Classes - Those of you brave enough to want to try your hand at learning basic computer skills can join these classes; fortnightly. Being able to see the screen is no longer a prerequisite as there are programmes that will verbalise everything that appears thereon, so if you feel you’re missing out, here’s your chance

The Monday Club - An exclusive club for members with a penchant for going out and catching up with the gossip over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake. Every other week an outing mostly locally, to any retail establishment that has a coffee shop attached! Usually with a shopping opportunity.

TUESDAY

The Active Vision Group - A club for members who like to be a little more active. Outings once a month to places of interest, gardens or maybe just a nice location for a walk. A coffee break usually thrown in and sometimes lunch. Once a month also the club meets at HQ to catch up and discuss future plans.

Computer Classes - Another opportunity to learn computing; every other week. We can only manage very small numbers for these classes.

Exercise Classes - A fortnightly chance to do some fairly non-strenuous exercising to music with Val. You know you really ought to! But don’t be concerned because you can do it all sitting if you can’t manage it standing. Tea and biscuits after......of course!

Art Classes - Not for the Vision Impaired, you may say, but this has been a popular activity with our members for a few years now. Maybe you are a keen artist and want help to carry on painting or maybe you just fancy giving it a go as a beginner. All standards are welcome.

Music Afternoons - Our resident classical music audiophile, Tony does a two hour programme, playing the best in recorded music once a month. In addition to these he does several extra music sessions throughout the year of a slightly lighter nature, with themes such as ‘Broadway Musicals’, ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’ and ‘Comedy in Music’. Very occasionally we also persuade David, our definitive modern music devotee, to do an afternoon of popular music; nothing more modern than the 1960’s though! Unless it is requested of course and I’m sure he would welcome it.

WEDNESDAY

Tai Chi - Tai Chi is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defence training and its health benefits. Our Tai Chi classes do not involve breaking bricks or throwing others about we hasten to point out. The basic Tai Chi discipline and moves are used for exercise and self improvement therapy. Our members come back and back for this activity - must be good. Just an hour every week in the morning. Tea and biscuits after? But of course!

Cards and Games - Once a month we have a gathering of members at the HQ for an afternoon of game playing. Not poker for high stakes unfortunately (they wouldn’t grant us a licence!) but a social occasion with card games, like Sevens, Rummy or Pontoon and other games, like Scrabble, Dominoes or Bingo. Wouldn’t be right without tea and biscuits!

Line Dancing - Yee haa!! Another popular monthly activity. Join our troupe of line dancers trained by the flamboyant Faye. It’s a good way to exercise (gently) and it’s great to be part of a team. Your host for this activity, our own lucent lass Lynne always guarantees plenty of fun and laughter. If you’re lucky you may also get to sample some of her exceedingly good baking. A liking for country music is an advantage, it must be said!

THURSDAY

Handicraft - Another activity you may feel is not suitable for Vision Impaired people, but again we find this to be well attended. It tends to be somewhat of a social occasion into the bargain and an ideal opportunity to make friends. Tea and biscuits? Possibly!

Lunch Club - And talking of social occasions, this club is pure unadulterated socialising. As many members as we can fit in our minibus get taken to a reputable local hostelry where they enjoy lunch......and undoubtedly the odd tipple or two! We don’t interfere, so we cannot comment! A once a month activity, but we reckon it would do equally well held twice as often.

Socials - More socialising.....but that’s one of the main reasons we exist; to bring together those with similar problems and to try to make their lives more enjoyable. Catch up with your society friends or make new friends and enjoy some good old fashioned entertainment from tried and trusted local performers.

Well Being - You may well ask what this is being all about! It’s a closely guarded secret as to what Jayne has up her sleeve for members who attend these fortnightly afternoon sessions. All we can say is that they go home in a most tranquil and satisfied state. It’s Jayne’s very own therapeutic remedy for the trials of life, through music, readings and meditation. The members love this aptly named activity. There’s even....... yes, tea and biscuits!

FRIDAY

Focus Group - The last Friday of the month sees this gathering of members interested in putting to rights issues within the area that effect the Vision Impaired population; everything from the addition of a controlled pedestrian crossing at a relevant spot , to obtaining free access to the cinema. If you’re serious about getting fair play for the blind, then we will welcome your input.

Friday Group - This is another tea, cake and gossip outing based club! Every other Friday a select group of members (well, all our members are select!) goes off in search of the ultimate coffee shop, usually locally, but sometimes venturing a little further afield. Another opportunity for a bit of shopping more often than not.

The Friday "Shop" - We’d like to help so many of our members to do their grocery shopping, as we know how difficult this is for the majority. However, in order to do this effectively we need to provide a volunteer to help each person and sadly this means less space on the bus for members and often it is hard for us to recruit several helpers at once. Consequently we can only offer a small number the chance to be taken to and helped to shop in one of the local supermarkets.....one that has a coffee shop attached for ..........you guessed it, a cuppa afterwards! Currently we go to Waitrose.

These are the regular activities that continue throughout the year, but it doesn’t end there.
In the summer we have our Society Annual Outing. All those who wish to come along are invited and we welcome carers or partners too. We go out for the day en masse in coaches to visit some place of interest within striking distance of Worthing. Either lunch or cream tea is included and a wonderful time is had by all! There are usually two or three mystery tours during the summer too, going to....... well, it’s a mystery of course! In December we have a Christmas party, to which all members are invited.

We also arrange theatre trips throughout the year within Worthing. Various music concerts and stage presentations are booked and tickets are sold on a first come first served basis; numbers being governed by space on the transport.

All the activities mentioned above are fully supported by volunteer helpers and for a very reasonable charge we provide transport for the outings and to and from our headquarters for the activities based there. Oh yes.....and did we mention that we offer tea and biscuits at our HQ!!

Point of interest: Did you know that the Braille system was based on a method of communication originally developed in response to Napoleon’s demand for a code that soldiers could use to communicate silently and without light at night called night writing?