Fundraising Gallery
Congratulations to the Three Peaks Challenge team who climbed the three highest peaks of the UK on 7-8 September 2024. A tough feat with all mountains presenting their different challenges: surprisingly intense heat on Ben Nevis, a brutal downhill climb for Scafell and running from the storm on Snowdon. An incredible experience that will live in their memories forever. www.justgiving.com/pages/visionsciencepeaks
A big thank you to Sapphire Eye Care for sponsoring the costs of the mini bus to take the Three Peaks Team between the mountains. They also kindly donated water bottles for the team to use, which kept their electrolyte drinks exceptionally cool!
www.saphhire-eyecare.co.uk
Joe Marsden began his 7 marathons in 7 days in Southampton, raising funds for albinism research. Dr Helena Lee, who is leading the research, joined him for the final few miles of his first marathon on 1st September 2024. After a second marathon in Southampton, he heads to Leicester, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and ending in his hometown of Liverpool.
We were delighted to meet Southampton's Sheriff James Baillie and former Test Valley Mayor and Mayoress, Councillors Alan and Celia Dowden at the Southampton Archery Club fun day on Saturday 20th July. A brilliant day to 'have a go' at archery, take part in the fantastic activities organised by the Club whilst raising funds for Gift of Sight. Thank you to all those involved!
The archers supplied some visually impaired simulator glasses to allow sighted people to experience the visual impact of common eye diseases. And then try to shoot an arrow whilst wearing them! People who tried it found their other senses kicked in and under the expert guidance of Southampton Archery Club coaches, were able to hit the target.
A big thank you to Longdown Activity Farm, Paultons Park, Harbour Lights Picture House, Bay Leaves Larder, Haskins Garden Centre, Toby Carvery and Waitrose Portswood who kindly donated prizes for the raffle.
Congratulations to Mike Larcombe who took on the impressive feat of hiking 2200km along Croatian's Long Distance Trail - in 54 consecutive days! He made it his mission to raise awareness and funds for Nystagmus - a condition he himself has had since childhood. He raised more than £3000 for both Gift of Sight and Nystagmus Network, thank you to everyone who supported him!
Many thanks to the parents and staff at Nightingale Primary School, Eastleigh for raising funds to help our research. Parents ran a mile with their children and then children sponsored teachers to get soaked by a bucket of ice! Well done to all the team for being such great sports!
Guests enjoyed a lovely gathering at 820 Spirits on 7 June 2024, for gin tasting and canapes, and a talk by Professor Lotery. Thank you to everyone who made this event a success.
Thank you to the local companies who kindly donated raffle prizes for the Gin tasting event: Elliots of Lymington, Gozemetics Beauty Studio, The Imaginarium Book Shop, Karen's Pet Market, BrockIce, Cook Lymington. Pages of Lyndhurst and 820 Spirits.
Congratulations to Rodney Mansbridge, who celebrated his 80th birthday last week by climbing Scafell Pike and raising more than £2000 for Gift of Sight and Help for Heroes! What a fantastic achievement and thank you to everyone who supported him. He was overwhelmed with the response and said the day after the climb:
"I climbed Scafell Pike with my family in support. I found it very challenging indeed, I've been in bed for most of the day. Although I can climb the stairs quite easily, coming down I still ache (a lot). I had no reward with beautiful views from the top - very thick cloud and freezing hailstones. Scafell Pike is 3100 feet tall and my target for the charities is £3100. This will be the best reward! Thank you tremendously, Rodney"
Congratulations to Josephine Bates who completed the Great West Run on Sunday 26th May 2024, raising £350 for Gift of Sight. She says "Very happy to have raised this much with everyone's help. New personal best: 2:06:29. Great fun, and double win!".
Thank you to all those who supported Portswood Knitwits by purchasing some of the wonderful knitted creations.
Thank you to Portswood Knitwits for hosting their annual knitting sale in aid of Gift of Sight. Here PhD student, Sarah Macdonald is pictured with Councillor Marie Finn at Portswood Library.
Thank you to Hugh Hadfield (centre) and his clarinet and saxophone quartet, 'Second Wind'. The musicians played a delightful array of toe-tapping tunes to a packed audience at Portswood Residents' Gardens Pavilion in Highfield. Professor Lotery gave a speech about eye research during the interval, after guests had enjoyed some delicious homemade cakes and tea made by volunteers. Thank you for raising more than £1200 towards eye research - and for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon!
A wonderful performance of Bach's St John Passion at Winchester College Chapel to celebrate the 300th anniversary of this masterpiece. This was a truly moving event, with phenomenal singers and musicians. Pictured here is some of Musica Poetica, the period instrument ensemble who provided the music accompaniment for the choir.
Dr Ellie Keeling gave an update on vision research during a pre-performance drinks reception.
Some guests enjoyed a pre-performance drinks reception at Winchester College Chapel
Congratulations to Prof Andrew Lotery and his daughter, Lizzy, who completed the TTP Cambridge Half Marathon in 1 hour 55 mins on 3rd March 2024! This is a fantastic achievement - and a great way to raise money for Gift of Sight. Thank you to everyone who has supported and sponsored 'Team Lotery'. https://www.justgiving.com/page/team-lotery-1705515044350
On behalf of Ellie the Elf scientist and all the vision research team, thank you to Butterflies Healthcare for such a delicious hamper! Your support, as always, is hugely appreciated.
Congratulations to Christine Willsher who has walked 10 miles non-stop as a fundraising activity for Gift of Sight ahead of her Golden Wedding anniversary. She raised an incredible £1323 from friends and family - what an achievement, thank you so much!
Huge thanks to the brethren at Mayflower Lodge No. 8815 for their incredible £2,000 donation to help eye research. This is an amazing sum and hugely appreciated, thank you Provincial Grand Lodge of Hampshire & Isle of Wight.
Lovely to see Neil Constantine-Smith, of Specsavers Lymington, who held a fundraising day to celebrate the branch's 15th Anniversary, raising £510 for Gift of Sight. The team have been wonderful supporters since their branch opened and we are incredibly grateful, thank you!
It was wonderful to meet so many families at the Open Sight Fun Day in October 2023, where Dr Jay Self also gave a talk. He held a Q&A session and answered a variety of questions on children's eye diseases, particularly nystagmus.
Thank you to the Southampton Solent Rotary and 70 Club Supporters Club for donating all proceeds from the raffle at their annual quiz event to Gift of Sight. David Chalmers, Club Chairman presented an incredible £1500 to Professor Andrew Lotery. Then the President of Southampton Solent Rotary, Stuart Hill surprised us with a further £500, as Gift of Sight was one of his three chosen charities for his year in office. A fantastic contribution towards eye research at University of Southampton, thank you to all those involved.
Thank you to the Foresters Friendly Society - Court 2201, who generously raised money for Gift of Sight. Jane White, Chief Ranger, Court 2201 presented Ailsa Walter with a cheque for £500 at a lovely Afternoon Tea event held at Furzey Gardens in September 2023. We are hugely grateful to all the supporters who contributed to this donation.
Congratulations to Gift of Sight's Jennie Mugridge, vision scientist Helena Lee and University of Southampton team mates Naomi Irving and Beccy Cowdrey who completed the challenge of walking 25.5 miles along the Test Way in September 2023. The team walked an incredible 60,000 steps each in one day, raising more than £1300 for eye research. Thank you to everyone who generously supported them, it was a fabulous team effort!
Plenty of fun was had by all at the Testvale Squares Hoedown for Gift of Sight on 15th July, kindly organised by Carol Gerrey to support AMD and Retinal research. Despite the inclement weather, the event was a great success and raised more than £1300 for Gift of Sight. Thank you.
We are very grateful to the local companies who supported the raffle at the Hoedown on 15th July:
Paultons Park, Setley Ridge Farm Shop, New Forest Aromatics, Pig Beer, Furzey Gardens, Paws in the Forest, The Swan, Lyndhurst and Waitrose, Portswood.
Adams Morey are a large supplier of DAF trucks and parts across the south coast. They held a customer and staff day at Thruxton race circuit near Andover to support their round of the BTRA truck racing championship on the weekend of 8th/9th July. We're delighted to report that they raised a fantastic £250 for Gift of Sight children's eye research by asking for donations towards hats and cups on the day. A truck load of thanks to you!
Congratulations to Ken and Marjorie for celebrating an incredible 70 years of marriage! They celebrated with a party and kindly asked for donations to be made to Gift of Sight in lieu of gifts, which raised more than £500, thank you. Thank you also to Christine, pictured alongside them for helping with the arrangements.
What a beautiful evening we had for the Little Court Garden Party on 15th June, rasing over £2,000 to help our research team. Thank you to Mrs Patricia Elkington who hosted the event and for all the wonderful volunteers and supporters who attended and made the event such a success.
A huge thank you to the local companies who kindly donated raffle prizes for the Little Court Garden Party:
Bombay Sapphire Distillery, Hattingley Valley, Chococo, Hiller Garden Centres, Winchester and Waitrose, Winchester.
A team of four including David Simpson, Martin Gorman, Simon Martel and James Beaver rode from St Malo to Cahors covering 500 miles in the 2022 CAC Cahors Challenge. The route took the riders through Angers and Limoges and were pleased to present a cheque to Gift of Sight for £2,500. Thank you so much for your support!
Congratulations to Professor Lotery and his children, Lizzie and Chris, who successfully completed the ABP Southampton Half marathon 2023 for another year, finishing this time in 1 hour 58 minutes. The weather was kind to them this year and the atmosphere in Southampton was buzzing. Well done Team Lotery!
Our intrepid explorer, Mikey Sheen, was back in December 2022, taking on his next challenge for Gift of Sight and Nystagmus Network. This time riding a bicycle along the longest two rail trails in Australia over New Year. 310km in just TWO DAYS! Congratulations Mikey on another epic achievement, and thank you for your incredible support in raising funds and awareness of the 'wiggly eyes' condition.
Grateful thanks to Christopher and Sarah Saunders-Davies for their generosity in allowing us to use their garden for a fete on Sunday 31 July 2022. The event was opened by Lady Mary Fagan, a Patron of our Appeal, who was introduced by Jay Self one of our paediatric ophthalmologists. A guest appearance by 'Granny Bean' amused the children present and our thanks to everyone who attended the fete and supported us. Thanks also to everyone who helped out on the day - great teamwork! We raised £1600 for children's eye research which will be a massive support to Jay's team.
Grateful thanks to the members of Bournemouth Probus Ladies Club for donating £500 to support children's eye research. It was lovely to meet some of the members at Dudsbury Golf Club and to chat with the President, Maureen Peters, whose grandson lives in Australia and has fundraised energetically to help research into nystagmus.
Congratulations to Professor Andrew Lotery and daughter Lizzy on completing the Southampton ABP Half Marathon on the 24 April 2022. Finished in a time of 122 minutes, Lizzy made sure she popped across the line in front of her Dad. Thanks to you both for raising £651 to support our vision science research.
Grateful thanks to Josephine for signing up to and completing her half marathon at The Great Birmingham Run on the 1 May 2022, raising £105 for Gift of Sight. As a medical student Josephine understands the importance of research and we wish her luck in her future career.
Intrepid Mike Larcombe has completed his 17 day adventure to raise funds for nystagmus research at the University of Southampton. Congratulations on cycling 1,212kms/750 miles around Tasmania. Despite long days, rough terrain and a broken pedal, Mike carried on and has raised nearly £1,000 whilst also raising awareness of the condition. A truly tremendous feat. THANK YOU.
Our warmest congratulations and thanks to Mrs Bette Whittle who completed her challenge of walking 90 miles before her 90th birthday in November. She raised the amazing sum of £1,550 to support our research into age-related macular degeneration. Thanks to all her family, friends and supporters for their donations. Also a huge shout-out for Jennifer in Barrowby Post Office and to the local butcher shop for their amazing support for Betty.
We are thrilled to announce that Richard Curtis, his team of staff, friends and customers at The Portsmouth Arms, Basingstoke have raised a fabulous £8,839.70 in the last year. This is a tremendous help to the work of our paediatric research team. THANKYOU for your continued support..