Rotary Club helps eye project

Members of Shoreham and Southwick Rotary Club and friends got together last Saturday for a meal and presentation by John Miles, from Leatherhead Rotary Club.

Mr Miles told the 50 people present about the work of the Guildford Eye Project, started in 1997 by Rotarian Sam Das, a consultant eye surgeon.

He launched the project in and around Calcutta, with a personal ambition to restore the sight of 100,000 avoidably blind people.

Mr Das was aided by a generous grant system from the worldwide Rotary movement and went on to form partnerships with Rotary clubs in the areas of need, to help build and sustain eye hospitals there.

Dr David Gordon, from Shoreham and Southwick Rotary Club, said: “This wonderful project provides training for eye surgeons, microscopes and laser equipment, eye buses for hospital transport, mobile eye screening camps with facilities to deal with cataracts, glaucoma, retinal detachments and diabetic eye problems and so far has been responsible for sight restoring operations for about 250,000 people.

“This can only continue if the money is available, and thanks to the Rotary organisation and the generosity of so many people, Sam Das is confident that by 2015, 100,000 cataract operations will be carried out every year.”

He said they enjoyed a delicious meal, added to by a donation from Brio restaurant in Shoreham, and, with the help of a raffle, raised £950.

“With the knowledge that a donation of just £5 can enable a blind person to see again, the evening had been a great success,” he added.

President Alison Boram gave a vote of thanks to Mr Miles for his presentation, to Peter Venning and his international committee, who had organised the evening, and to the women who had prepared the food.

For more information about the project, visit www.guildfordrotaryeyeproject.org.uk and for more information about Shoreham and Southwick Rotary Club, email [email protected] for details.