100 Years and Still Serving

In late 2014 Sight Support Derbyshire was awarded funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund to embark on a project, entitled 100 Years and Still Serving, to commemorate both the centenary of the First World War and 100 years since the start of our charity.

It involved 30 of the charity’s blind and visually impaired members, young and old, meeting regularly to research the history of the war through talks, visits to museums and the Staffordshire Regiment. In response to this, they then worked with community arts organisation Spiral Arts to create a piece of tactile artwork.

This was a decorated banner made from three army blankets joined together with military brass buttons, inspired by embroidered postcards sent home by soldiers to their families.

Following its unveiling at a celebration event in August 2015, the banner has been exhibited at various locations across the county and is available for display.

With the help of members we compiled a booklet of top tips for working with blind and visually impaired people on community heritage projects.