Ilkley INSIGHT Group supports the visually impaired

Wednesday, 19 November 2025 18:51

Ilkley INSIGHT group meets the first Thursday of each month at the Clarke Foley Community Hub in Ilkley.

The Ilkley INSIGHT group offers an opportunity for visually impaired people from Menston through to Addingham to socialise and to access support agencies.

Elizabeth from the groups describes how the monthly meetings provide a mix of entertainment, especially music and even more especially, a good sing-a-long!

“We include a variety of talks on a wide range of subjects interspersed with fun sessions, games and quizzes. We mark special national occasions and twice a year we go out for a summer lunch and for a Christmas lunch.

“Always guiding our decisions is an awareness that our members, many of whom are elderly and have underlying health problems, live very limited and lonely lives.

“At INSIGHT they revel in a good chinwag, exchanging news and views and with ready access to the help from our volunteers in reading, understanding and responding to the plethora of printed matter that comes through everybody’s letter box.”

Volunteers are always needed and gain from it themselves as Elizabeth explains:

“In return our volunteers hear about the good and bad times our members have experienced over many decades, how life has changed for them and how they have adapted to these changes. It is a win-win situation.”

Beth and Mabel, two long serving and loyal Ilkley INSIGHT members said:

“Being diagnosed with Macular Degeneration felt like a body blow and one that was leading me into a dark place both literally and figuratively. Finding and joining the Insight Group, meeting others who had accepted and adapted their lives to accommodate this visual disability, helped to change that outlook. Like the chap who had bought radishes in mistake for cherry tomatoes and then found “they were quite tasty when fried with a bit of bacon.”

“How Elizabeth and her wonderful helpers manage to put together an annual programme tailored to our needs is a minor miracle, this includes regular favourites like the group of folk singers who take us back to the days our youth with still remembered songs.

“The speakers, who are happy to demonstrate their skills, stimulate our imagination and broaden our knowledge. as do the impromptu quizzes conjured up when there is a blip in the programme.

“Other regular visitors are the guide dogs, gentle and valued, their owners show us how to overcome the most challenging of obstacles and live life to the full. We have also heard from local government officials who outlined plans in hand to make the environment safer to traverse, and from others with advice on dealing with day-to-day problems. Trips and meals out to establishments that are fully aware of and cater for our needs are a blessing.”

“Through the Insight Group, Elizabeth and her loyal 'Band of Hope' colleagues show us that there can still be light at the end of the dimmest tunnel.”

To find out more about the Ilkley INSIGHT group, as a member or volunteer, please email Elizabeth ehughesbd20@gmail.com

The groups meets 9.30am to 11.45am the first Thursday of each month at the Clarke Foley Community Hub on Cunliffe Road.

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