Lions Club supports World Sight Day

Club member's George Coleman, and Fred Thorns said that in addition to emphasising the importance of taking regular eye tests, they were also giving the, 'Lions Awareness Week' a kick start.

Distributing promotional leaflets from a stand outside Barraclough & Styles opticians in Western Road, Fred explained that World Sight Day's aim is the elimination of avoidable blindness and said: "We want to awaken people locally to the necessity of having an eye test, which nowadays includes the glaucoma test '“ an extremely important test that detects early signs of blindness."

He added: "You could say it's a double whammy for us today, as we're also promoting the Lions Club Awareness week."

The world's largest volunteer organisation, Lions Clubs are an international organisation and have approximately one and a half million members worldwide, in a hundred and three countries.

Aiding people throughout the world by helping to treat and prevent blindness, the Lions have an on- going multi-million pound campaign called the SightFirst initiative '“ an integral part of Lions Awareness week.

Fred said: "Lions have helped millions of people by saving their sight throughout the world and have also helped many local people to get cataract operations."

Bexhill Lions President David Burstow said the Lions dedication to blindness and sight impairment began in 1921 when Helen Keller challenged members of Lions Clubs International to become, "knights of the blind." A challenge, David said, they have since, "upheld in unmatched involvement in working for causes associated with blind and sight impaired people throughout the world."

The initiative also includes the collection of old spectacles in Bexhill, which the Lions refurbish for distribution in developing countries; the permanent collection point can be found within Barraclough and Stiles opticians.

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