Birthday for club for visually impaired children

Activities for children are subsidised by Club Wilber

A club which organises activities and offers support for visually impaired children and their families is marking its fifth anniversary.

The York-based charity Club Wilber, which is part of the Wilberforce Trust, organises activities across Yorkshire for children and young people between 0 and 25.

Activities coordinator Megan Horner said the club subsidises activities, which include days out and trips, to make them as financially accessible as possible to the 70 families who are members.

The Wilberforce Trust has been supporting people with visual and hearing impairments since 1833.

The trust offers housing and living support, sensory impairment assessments, sight registrations and rehabilitation support.

Ms Horner said Club Wilber aims to add some fun alongside the practical.

“They get support on learning how to use a cane or learning how to be sighted-guided or using a guide dog if that’s something that works for them, but there’s no fun in it at all," she said.

The club offers activities including pizza making, Forest School, theatre trips and theme parks.

Ms Horner said a trip to Alton Towers last week had proved popular with members.

“There’s a few children who went with us who had wanted to go for years, but their families knew they couldn’t do it on their own,” she said.

“They’ve not just got their visually impaired child. They’ve got other children who might also have other disabilities and it’s a massive undertaking to go to somewhere like Alton Towers and organise everything yourself.”

The club also provides support for families enabling siblings and parents to find others who know what it's like to live with a visually impaired child.

“We’ve had parents say it’s fantastic for their siblings to be able to see other children who use a long cane, like their sibling does,” said Ms Horner.

She said it helps them realise they are not alone in having this experience.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.