Dear Friend,
As chairperson of the Society for the Blind of Dewsbury, Batley and District, I would like to welcome you to our organisation.
You may not feel like reading this letter right now, well don’t, give yourself time to digest the bad news which you have just received, sit down, have a cup of tea, take a good deep breath and try not to think of all the implications and changes your news will have on your life. This is going to take time to come to terms with, and will not be done overnight.
You may be thinking what does she know about how I feel, the answer is, that in my case in August 1994 I got the following news. During an operation to remove a very large brain tumour, they damaged the optic nerves of my eyes and then told me that I would never see again. HELP. How was I going to cope? I had a family and husband to care for, meals to cook, washing, ironing, cleaning, and all the other duties of a wife and mother that hold a home and family together. However, help and support was only a phone call away.
This is where the Society came to the rescue; they not only helped me to cope, but also my family. I attended the centre in Soothill, where I was among many people with the same problems as myself. If I made a mistake, and believe me I made plenty of those in the early days, I learned to laugh at the stupid things a grown woman could do. The other members will laugh with you, not at you, because they had already been through this stage, but you are among friends and from experience, I can tell you this will help you.
Please do not sit there feeling lonely, afraid of the future, or isolated, please ring our centre, where we have a wonderful team of social workers, who are always more than willing to call and see you or just talk to you on the phone.
If you feel that you would now like to talk to me someone who had been through what you are going through just ring the centre and someone will give you my phone number or they will ring me and ask me to ring you.
However, you feel right now remember you are not on your own; there will always be someone in the Society who will be willing to help you, they are just a phone call away.
Kind regards and best wishes,
Christine Woodcock
Chairperson of the Society for the Blind
