Norfolk blind community to benefit from grant

Visually impaired people living in the Norfolk area will benefit from new radios thanks to a grant British Wireless has received.

Visually impaired people living in Norfolk will benefit thanks to a grant received by British Wireless.

We have recently been supported by the Paul Bassham Charitable Trust, which has donated £1,158 to help people living in Norfolk.

The money will be used to provide six of BWBF’s popular multimedia players, the Concerto 2. As well as an easy to use radio, it also has a CD player, tape deck, SD card slot and USB slot for users to play their audio content in whichever format they choose.

Many visually impaired people are unable to read a newspaper or watch the television, and often spend a lot of time alone at home, so a radio is their way of accessing news, entertainment and information.

For many who often lead lonely lives, it can also provide companionship.

British Wireless is currently supporting almost 400 people in Norfolk, but there are around 700 more who are eligible for its service but not accessing it.

Trusts Officer Frances Fielding said: “We are so grateful for this grant and would like to thank the Paul Bassham Charitable Trust for its support.

“We know from research we have undertaken that there are many more people we could be helping in Norfolk so we hope this grant could help us reach some of them.

“As we receive no government funding, we rely on donations such as this to continue providing our service.

“Radio can be a vital lifeline to someone who has sight loss.”