The Trust seeks to integrate the children into everyday life, to improve the quality of life of each child and to enable him or her to participate in as many as possible of the things that normal children enjoy.

Organisation

The Trust is supervised by a Board of Trustees. It employs 13 medical social workers, whose job is to visit the children and their families. They provide a personal and flexible support service according to the needs of each child and his or her family. Their aim is to support the families in the care of their child at home and to promote the child’s potential and independence. The social work team is managed by the Social Work Administrator who is accountable to the Chairman and who is always available to discuss problems and particular cases. There is also a Social Work Advisor who works with the Administrator. In addition, there are two training seminars each year for the social work team which gives them the opportunity to meet and discuss their work. The social work team between them cover the whole of Great Britain, each being responsible for one of the following areas:-

North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Pennines
Mid and South Yorkshire and South Lincolnshire
North Scotland
South Scotland
Tyne and Wear
The Midlands
East Anglia and Cambridgeshire
Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset
London
Cotswolds and West Midlands
Wales and Cheshire
Liverpool, Manchester and the Lake District
Northern Ireland

Our Aims

The Trust aims to:
Ascertain the whereabouts of the children and their families. Sometimes the children are not correctly diagnosed at birth and their parents are unaware of the medical treatment that they need and the specialist help that is available.
Visit each child at home and identify particular problems and needs. In addition to blindness or impaired vision, these children may have developmental and behavioural problems or other mental or physical disabilities.
Offer counselling to the families.

Give advice to the families on the availability of medical treatments and special support, on issues such as education and safety, on coping with the particular problems of their child and also advice regarding statutory grants.
Investigate the availability of statutory help and, where necessary, to provide financial assistance for special expenditure arising from the child’s particular needs and treatment, such as respite care for hard-pressed families, independence training for young people, computers, holidays and costs of visits to hospitals.

Trust Board, Trustees, Patrons & Staff :

PRESIDENT:
The Right Reverend David Connor, MA. Dean of Windsor

VICE PRESIDENT:
The Rev’d. John Witheridge, MA, FRSA, Headmaster of Charterhouse School
The Rev’d Michael Boag, BA (Hons), Succentor St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle

FOUNDER:
Mrs. Lillian Ramsay, MBE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE:
Mr Graham Booth CIPFA

DIRECTOR OF SERVICES:
Mrs Mairi Everard MA, MSc

TRUSTEES:
Mr Hertford King (Hon Chairman)
Mr Michael Smith FRICS (Vice Chairman)
Mr David Baxter
Mr Colin Brown
Mr John Heller MA (Cantab)
Mrs Eileen Howard
Mr Roger Wilson Hines
Mr Richard Wood MA (Cantab)

PATRONS:
Jeremy Bowen
David Gower OBE
Edward Guinness CVO
Nigel Havers
David Hempleman-Adams LVO, OBE
Geraldine James OBE
Sir Patrick Moore CBE
Richard O’Callaghan
Nicholas Parsons OBE
Andrew Paul
Libby Purves
Sir Tim Rice

MEDICAL ADVISORS:
Richard Collin MA FRCS DO
(Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon Moorfields Eye Hospital)
Nicola Ragge MD FRCOphth FRCPCH
(Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon Moorfields Eye Hospital)
Danny Morrison BSc (Hons), FRCOphth MD
(Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmic Surgeon, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust, London)
Isabelle Russell-Eggitt FRCS FRCOphth
(Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon Great Ormond Street Hospital)

INCOME/ADMINISTRATOR:
Mrs Jenny Miles