Bexhill Club of Past Rotarians

The guest speaker at the recent occasion was Rotarian Harold Lawrence. He captivated the audience by telling of his involvement with the 1066 Specials. This imaginative concept enables people with disabilities (both junior and adult) to play football in a friendly club atmosphere with coaching by qualified FA coaches. We hear so much about the bad things in society that it comes like a fresh breeze to hear of this stimulating project: a heart warming example of a life enriching enterprise.

That is a story of simple goodness. Another example of goodness unsung is Homecall. Mrs Jenny Private spoke to us at our November meeting about it. Homecall is a charity consisting of volunteers, each of whom becomes the personal friend and mentor of one blind or visually impaired person.

There are several forms of sight loss that affect people as they grow older. Some lose their main sight, but can see the periphery. Some lose their peripheral vision, but can otherwise see partially. They walk into things and, not surprisingly, they lose confidence. Most of the clients of Homecall are over 80 and live alone; 40% are over 90.

All of the Homecall helpers are volunteers. It is one of the strengths of the system that each volunteer is dedicated to one person, thus establishing a close relationship of friendship and trust. Care is taken to provide the most compatible pairing of client and volunteer. A visually impaired person may feel insecure about some things and feel some degree of 'fear' of authority. The dedicated volunteer helps the client to maintain his independence and knows of other services that can be made available.

Home Call provides items that can be used by the visually impaired - such as a 'speaking clock and calendar', dominoes with raised dots, etc. There are also social events.

Recently, Home Call lost its funding from the Local Authority and has to rely on various grants, legacies and its own fund raising. However it has been awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service and other local awards. The Bexhill unit needs 20,000 a year to keep up the good work.

Past Rotarian Dennis Silsby gave a well informed vote of thanks. He has been a volunteer for many years, but few of us knew this - yet another example of goodness unsung.