Blind Veterans UK

Blind Veterans UK, formerly St Dunstan's, is a large British charity, providing free support and services to vision-impaired ex-servicemen and women and National Service personnel. Blind Veterans UK is a registered charity in England and Scotland and operates throughout the United Kingdom. It has its head office in London and centres in Brighton and Llandudno. Description Established in 1915, Blind Veterans UK provides free services and lifelong support to ex-Service men and women with visual impairments. Its specialist services promote and enable these veterans to regain their independence, meet new challenges and achieve a better quality of life. Blind Veterans UK supports anyone who has served in the British Armed Forces and is experiencing sight loss (be that due to age, accident or illness), and the charity's duty of care extends to all beneficiaries and their families for life. Blind Veterans UK has pioneered many advances in care for the blind and partially sighted; for example, it co-developed the first talking books with the RNIB. History Blind Veterans UK was founded by Arthur Pearson & Sir John Alexander Spencer Fawcett, 1st Baronet of Woolwich. Arthur had himself lost his sight due to glaucoma. Because of the increasing numbers of blind British soldiers returning from the front lines during the First World War, Pearson & Fawcett established a hostel for these soldiers as well as blinded sailors and airmen. The intention was that, with training and assistance, they could go on to lead productive lives and would not have to depend on charity. The Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Hostel's first location was in Bayswater Hill, London. Shortly after, the organisation moved to St Dunstan's Lodge in Regent's Park (the site of Winfield House), along with its first 16 members. The committee's work was praised by the London press at the time – a reference to the Lodge appeared in The Illustrated London News in 1915, which said: "in a corner of London's most beautiful park is a house where miracles are worked." American opera singer Pauline Donnan worked with the newly blind soldiers there, teaching vocal techniques and assisting some in finding singing or teaching jobs.