Friends of The Bournemouth Eye Unit
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  • Eye Unit University Hospitals Dorset
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  • RNIB
    • RNIB LIBRARY
    • RNIB TECHNOLOGY AND INDEPENDENT LEARNING
  • Thyroid Eye Disease Charitable Trust
  • Wendy Wade - Sight Loss Advisor
  • Archives
    • PREVIOUS AGM REPORTS
  • Home
  • Please Donate
  • Become a member
  • Latest Newsletter, April 2020
  • Eye Unit University Hospitals Dorset
  • Bournemouth Blind Society
  • Bournemouth Talking Newspaper
  • Community Low Vision Scheme
  • Diabetes UK
  • Dorset Blind Association
  • Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
  • Hospital Radio Bedside
  • Information on Eye Drops
  • International Glaucoma Association (IGA)
  • Low Vision Aids
  • Macular Society
  • RETINA UK (inherited sight loss conditions)
  • Retinitis Pigmentosa (RNIB)
  • RNIB
    • RNIB LIBRARY
    • RNIB TECHNOLOGY AND INDEPENDENT LEARNING
  • Thyroid Eye Disease Charitable Trust
  • Wendy Wade - Sight Loss Advisor
  • Archives
    • PREVIOUS AGM REPORTS
Friends of The Bournemouth Eye Unit

friends of the bournemouth eye unit

ENQUIRIES AND CORRESPONDENCE EMAIL:    friends2eyeunit@gmail.com             Our Facebook Page:  f
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Ground floor entrance to Acute Referral Clinic and main Eye Clinics
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The Sight Loss Adviser's desk in the main Eye Outpatients Department
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First floor corridor and entrance to Eye Wards, Day Case Unit, operating theatres and administrative offices
We welcome you to the Friends of The Bournemouth Eye Unit 

We hope that you will enjoy our web site and that it will introduce you to the support The Friends give to patients and staff from resources to research.

Membership of the Friends is open to all patients and their families, carer givers, staff and their families and supporters of the Eye Unit at The Royal Bournemouth Hospital.  
The AGM marks the start of the Friends' year and takes place early in the summer of each year.


Why not contact us by email:     friends2eyeunit@gmail.com     and we will send you a membership application form.  A lifetime subscription is £25.00 or, if you prefer, an annual payment of just £3.00 per annum includes all newsletters and a light buffet and guest speaker presentation at our summer AGM.
​Click here for more details on becoming a member of The Friends.
Click here for Charity Commission details on The Friends
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic the Committee has continued to meet via video conferencing and has just had it's first "safe" face-to-face meeting in over 18 months!  It is hoped that a "reduced" AGM will be arranged for later in 2021 (the 2020 AGM having been cancelled).
Fundraising continues and we would welcome any donation of any size to enable The Friends to continue supporting the Eye Unit with the most advanced and up-to-date diagnostic and treatment equipment for the benefit of current and future patients.
​Please see the DONATE page for further details.

​Why support the Friends?

Your support will contribute greatly to the work of the Friends in their fundraising, publicity and planning.  Friends of the Bournemouth Eye Unit enjoy supporting one another by sharing social events, exchanging information and learning about the valuable work of the Eye Unit.

Where and when do we meet?

The Friends of the Bournemouth Eye Unit meet once a year at their Annual General Meeting.   This is held in the Education Suite at Bournemouth Hospital.  A light supper and animated conversation are enjoyed during the early part of the evening. The formal business meeting reports on the work of the Committee throughout the year, detailing resources and research projects supported by fund raising activities. The evening continues with an entertaining, enthralling and educational presentation by Guest Speakers who introduce us to their link with those with sight difficulties.

Who represents the Friends?

The Friends of the Bournemouth Eye Unit are led by their President Mr David Etchells FRCS FRCOphth (recently retired Bournemouth Consultant Ophthalmologist) and represented by a Committee of nine.  The Committee meet quarterly.
Newsletter

The Friends aim to publish a newsletter three times a year, keeping members up to date with the latest developments.   It is sent to all members by post, or electronically (see Newsletter tab on the left of this page for the latest, and previous, newsletters).  Read it on line with a screen reader or request a Braille copy.   We will be delighted to help you access our latest news.

Members, do you know that you can read our Newsletter on line?   We print each issue using a large font which you could adjust to suit just you on any device. 

Please send a message to:     friends2eyeunit@gmail.com     
and we will add your name to our growing list of e-readers.  You would be helping The Friends of The Eye Unit by reducing our postage costs.

​Membership, Donations and Gift Aid  -  Thank you to all who paid their subscriptions at the last AGM and especially to all of you who have paid outstanding subscriptions.  Please keep your membership up to date, or consider becoming a life member.  If you have not paid for 2021/22 yet you can leave cash or a cheque in our post box in Outpatients or pay by electronic bank transfer.  Do ask us for a Gift Aid form if you would like to effectively increase your subscription by 25% at no cost to yourself or you can download the Gift Aid Declaration pdf file here.​  We can then claim 25p for each £1 of your gift or membership from the HMRC.​  Click here for the Membership page with more details on how you can make payments.
Click on this link to Gov.UK Gift Aid website for more details
Please consider setting up a regular monthly or quarterly Standing Order payment to The Friends.   A donation of £5 per month, together with Gift Aid, would amount to an overall annual benefit to The Friends of £75.   Click here for the donations page.  


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Wendy Wade - Sight Loss Adviser

   Please click here for more details about contacting Wendy and the service.


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How we have spent some of our funds
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We have been delighted to receive a number of legacies which have made a significant difference to the support we can give to the Eye Unit.  These substantial donations have enabled enhanced surgical, diagnostic and other state of the art equipment to be purchased.
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A short video (with sound) explaining the laser and digital photographic equipment recently purchased for The Eye Unit by The Friends:-

​Laser, Corneal Microscope, Visual Field Machine, Original Artworks and Eye Day Surgery Unit - all recently funded by The Friends:-
Collect 20p's from your loose change in a Smarties tube!
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​Each filled tube would contain £12 in coins and will help us to buy equipment for the Eye Unit.  Would you like to join our campaign and fill an empty Smarties tube this summer with donations from your family and friends?
Put your name on a label on the tube and pop it into The Friends post box in Outpatients next time you visit The Eye Unit.


​Train Travel

 
Accessible stations and Stations Made Easy
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) have produced maps of the mainland National Rail network that provides at-a-glance information about the accessibility of many stations.
Sometimes it can be helpful to have an idea of what a station looks like before you get there. Stations Made Easy allows you to plan a route around a station.  Links to Bournemouth and Poole stations follow:
 
www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/BMH/details.html
 
www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/POO/details.html
 
Discounts
If you have a disability you may be eligible for a Disabled Persons Railcard.
If you do not have a Railcard and you are blind or partially sighted and travelling with a companion, or if you use a wheelchair, you can get a discount on Anytime tickets.
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​SEEING AI  -  An App by Microsoft Corporation which is only available on the App Store for iOS devices.

Seeing AI is a free app that narrates the world around you, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to describe nearby people, text and objects. The app has a number of features, including speaking text as soon as it appears in front of the camera, providing audio guidance to capture a printed page and reading handwritten text. The app is an ongoing research project and as the research progresses, more channels may be added. 
Click here for link to iTunes Seeing AI

GDPR Statement 
The GDPR came into effect on 25th May 2018. The Friends of The Bournemouth Eye Unit hold records of members' names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. These can only be accessed by the Trustees of the Charity. We do not use them for anything other than administration and they are never shared with any third party, NHS provider or any other Charity or Ophthalmic related researcher or commercial business.

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