Volunteers saves Abingdon Macular Group from closure

* By Herald Reporter »


A GROUP set up to support blind people in Abingdon has been rescued from closure.

The Abingdon Macular Group has been a help to people with failing eyesight for eight years.

The only dedicated club of its type in the town, it lets people suffering macular degeneration meet up in Abingdon Baptist church hall, in Ock Street, to chat over a cup of tea with others who share their condition. Guest speakers also regularly visit the group.

But when organiser Daphne Baker, 86, decided to step down from her role after four years and other volunteers also left, it looked like the group would have to close.

Attempts to find new volunteers had failed, and Mrs Baker desperately appealed for help.

Now a Good Samaritan has stepped forward to save the group after hearing about its plight at a day to attract new members to clubs and societies in the town.

Audrey Samuels, 47, said she wanted to help the group after witnessing the effect of the eyesight condition on her late uncle.

She said: “I went along to the clubs and societies day, started speaking to Daphne, and offered to start helping with admin. I just wanted to get involved with something voluntary which would help people.

“My uncle did suffer macular degeneration, so that was a common factor. It really was not good at all.

“He lost a lot of confidence and he was scared that he was going to go blind. It really did upset him.”

Mrs Baker said: “We have been facing a difficult time with people about to go away and do different things.

“I’ve been doing it for four years and felt it was the right time to step down.

“Abingdon Macular Group is the only group for blind people in Abingdon and for people in that situation, it is a huge help.

“When you don’t have eyesight, it can cut you off from so much of the world and it’s nice to have someone else who you can chat to and who understands what it’s like.”

Frank Shearman, 84, from Wantage, is one of 20 members who attend the regular meetings.

He first noticed his sight deteriorating eight years ago and his GP recommended he go to a specialist clinic, which identified the condition.

He said: “It is a chance to meet people that suffer the same as I did. Quite a lot of them are far worse.

“I have been told I shall not go blind, but my finer sight has got worse. I am one of the lucky ones. We do not discuss what we have got to any extent, but the different ways of handling it and different things we can buy to help it.”