We’re currently raising funds to refurbish the Lena Anderton Meeting Room. Our meeting room is used for our Keighley Social Centre and it is also rented out to local community organisations.
Last refurbished in 2007, as part of our centenary celebrations, the new meeting room will feature a more contemporary colour scheme designed to be dementia friendly, a new audio system and screen that can be used for training or video conferencing. The meeting room is an important source of income and we want to give local organisations access to hotel quality meeting room facilities but at an affordable price. We also hope that this will allow us to expand the number of activities that we provide.
We’d like to say thank you to the following:
We also hope to announce an exciting fundraising event for late next year in the next edition of SeeFact.
There’s still lots we want to do, which includes:
We don’t have the funds to do everything at once, so will be making changes as funds allow. If you know anyone who is looking for a cause to fundraise for, please let them know about us.
We hope to finish the room by 2027, which will be our 120 year anniversary.
Welcome to the January edition of SeeFact, we hope you have had a good summer. Thank you to everyone who attended our open day in July. The event raised £150 which will go towards the refurbishment of our Lena Anderton Meeting Room.
Work is underway to refurbish our Lena Anderton Meeting Room. We hope to create a modern, cosy meeting space for our activities and for local organisations to hire.
We’d like to welcome Warris Ali to Team Sight Airedale. Warris has been a long-time volunteer for Sight Airedale and joins us as our new activities co-ordinator. Thanks to a grant from the National Lottery, we will be expanding the range of social activities we offer.
In July we heard news of the death of Sandra Brigg, a longtime volunteer and friend of Sight Airedale.
Work on the design of the new Airedale Hospital is now underway. The Securing the Future team, who are responsible for the project, are keen to hear the views of visually impaired people, either as patients, volunteers, visitors or staff. We’ll be holding a series of events over the next few months to allow you to have a say in the future of your new hospital.
Our 2026 range of calendars and diaries are now on sale. Order yours today.
Registered Office: Sight Airedale, 1 Albert Street, Keighley, BD21 2AT.
All these events take place at the Lena Anderton Meeting Room, 31 Scott Street, behind the library, Keighley, BD21 2JH. For further information contact the helpline on 01535 602354, Monday to Thursday, 9.30am to 12.30pm.
Join our 100+ Club for the chance to win £15 in our monthly prize draw and support local people living with sight loss. Membership costs £10 annually, renewable each October. Your subscription includes one club number, with the option to purchase more. We conduct monthly prize draws at our board meetings, with a special larger draw at Christmas. Winners are notified. Of your £10 subscription, £7 supports our funds, while £3 contributes to the prize pool.
We were very sad to learn of the death of Sandra Brigg in July 2025. Sandra had been a friend of Sight Airedale since the 1980s. Both Sandra and her husband John were volunteer helpers at the Keighley Social Centre, and they were also regular helpers at our street and store collections.
In 2009, Sandra won our Edith White Achievement Award, an award to recognise people who have helped improve the lives of visually impaired people. In 2002 she was also awarded the Mary Arnold Award in recognition of her work as a volunteer. In 2015 Sandra’s husband John Brigg was awarded the Mary Arnold Award.
Thank you to the friends and family who donated money in memory of Sandra. The money was split between The MS Therapy Centre in Leeds and ourselves. This will go towards the refurbishment of the meeting room.
We are now taking orders for 2026 large print calendars, date planners and diaries.
The calendars are available in A3 size, the size of this newsletter open, and are available in two styles: a calendar grid style with a column for each day and each row representing the weeks, or in a two-column format with the day name and number and a large space to write in your events. In both formats, each page represents a month.
The date planner isn’t tied to any particular year. Each month has a dedicated page that displays the dates of that month. Next to each date is a large blank space where you can write important events or notes about that particular day. It is ideal for recording events that happen every year on the same date, such as birthdays and anniversaries.
We also have a range of large print diaries, with sizes ranging from pocket diaries up to desk diaries. For more information, call the helpline.
We’d like to thank everyone who attended our summer coffee morning. The day raised £150, which will be used towards our meeting room refurbishment.
Hello everyone, my name is Warris and I am very excited to be joining Sight Airedale as the new Activities Coordinator. I am really looking forward to meeting friends of Sight Airedale, volunteers and supporters.
Thanks to funding by the National Lottery, over the next two years my role will be to increase the range of social activities that Sight Airedale offers, and get more people using the centre. Some of these will be in-person activities and others will be virtual or a mix of both. So hopefully there will be something to suit everyone.
We’ve not got a definitive list of activities yet, but some ideas include:
The group will listen to a different audiobook each month and then meet to discuss it. Meetings may be online or in person, depending on what people prefer. Ideal if you enjoy reading and discussing books, or just want to discover some new authors.
Did you know you can get accessible versions of board games? We hope to provide a space where board game fans can have fun and socialise.
If you’ve done crafts in the past, but had to give up due to your vision, or maybe you’re looking for a new hobby, we hope to offer craft workshops where you can try new things or get advice on alternative ways of doing the activities you enjoy.
Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a condition where people with vision loss experience visual hallucinations. We want to set up a peer support group for people to share experiences and gain support from others.
We will have film screenings with audio description. There will then be an opportunity to have a cup of tea and a chat during the interval and at the end.
I am very grateful for this opportunity to work with Sight Airedale. I look forward to meeting you all, hearing your ideas and making our activities engaging and enjoyable for everyone. If you have any ideas you can contact me via the helpline or email enquiries@sightairedale.org.uk.
So what did you get for Christmas, a new iPhone, iPad, Kindle or laptop? Could you do with some help setting it up? Choosing the right technology can be challenging for people with sight loss. Our service helps you find and use technology that suits your needs. We do this by providing information before you buy a product and by offering training or support after you buy. We also have a number of resources to help you get the most from technology.
Choosing a new mobile phone, tablet or computer can be confusing. We help by letting you try out different products before you buy. We also answer questions to help you make an informed choice. Some of the types of equipment we have available include:
If you’ve bought a new device or need help with an old one, we can help you get the most from it. Often, simply adjusting settings makes a device easier to use.
Maybe you want some training. Our one-to-one sessions are customised to your needs. Some people want a single session for a specific problem. Others prefer a structured course. Either way, we can help.
We encourage people to learn with their own equipment. We also have equipment available for use.
All training is one-to-one and takes place at our Scott Street office in Keighley.
Or maybe you just want to know more about what is out there. Our YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/sightairedale, features a selection of tutorials and product demonstration videos.
Or you could join one of our monthly technology sessions via Zoom, run in partnership with five other local sight impairment charities. Each month, we have a guest speaker who talks about various technologies for people living with sight loss. These take place on the fourth Thursday of the month at 10am. You can join the Zoom call by visiting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4580437872.
If you’d like to know more, please contact Antony via the helpline.
The Orcam Read is a handheld, pen-sized reading device ideal for quickly checking documents like appointment letters. To use it, hold it above your document, press the trigger, and align the laser guides with the text. Release to hear the text read aloud. You can also ask questions about amounts, dates or phone numbers.
When connected to a computer or tablet, it functions as a video magnifier with a stand, allowing you to scan and read text on your screen or ask AI questions.
Priced at £1,890.
The Optelec Compact 10 is a portable video magnifier. Around the size of a tablet, it can scan an entire A4 page. As you adjust the magnification, the text reflows on the screen to fit as much text as possible. Many people find different colour combinations of text and background easier to read. The Compact 10 allows you to customise the text’s appearance.
If you’re feeling tired, the Compact 10 can read the text aloud to you.
Like many charities we have seen a fall in income due to the pandemic.
To make a one-off or regular donation visit our website at www.sightairedale.org.uk or call our helpline to learn how to set up a standing order.
For details on future performances at the playhouse visit www.keighleyplayhouse.co.uk.
To renew you can either:
Renew at our open day on Saturday 26 November.
Call into the office, Monday to Thursday, 9.30am to 12.30pm, or post a cheque made payable to Sight Airedale.
Renew via bank transfer. Please call the office for our bank details.
Drawn on the second Monday of the month. Winners will be notified.
Small change makes a big difference.
Our Social Centre Keighley, award-winning virtual events and talking book library with over 2,000 titles on MP3, CD and memory stick help alleviate isolation and loneliness.
We provide support to local sight support groups in Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale and the Airedale Macular Society.
We help people retain their independence through our daily living shop, magnifier assessments and technology information service.
We give people the opportunity to learn new skills through our one-to-one computer classes and Braille for Beginners course.
We keep sight impaired people informed about important issues through our free newsletter, available in five different formats.
We want to be sure that there is someone available to give you the best service we can. Please ring our helpline to make an appointment for the shop, magnifier assessments and technology information service.
If you would like more information on any of these groups, please call our helpline.