 The charity moved to its base on Brighton seafront in 1939 |
People helped by a charity for blind ex-servicemen and women have been marking the cause's 90th anniversary. St Dunstan's, based in Brighton, was set up during World War I by newspaper proprietor Sir Arthur Pearson, who had lost his sight through glaucoma. He started the charity when men blinded in combat began to return from the battlefields of World War I Europe. Originally based in London, it moved to Ovingdean in Brighton when a specialist base was built there in 1939. Mr Pearson set up the charity with the idea that, given training, the blinded servicemen could lead independent lives rather than relying on charity.
 |  If you accept it and come into St Dunstan's with an open mind and say 'yes, I'll accept whatever you'd like to throw at me, I'll have a go at it', of course it's rewarding |
Since then it has helped people blinded in various wars, through treatment as prisoners of war, in the conflict in Northern Ireland, bomb blasts in the UK and abroad and accidents such as car or helicopter crashes.
In 2000 St Dunstan's extended its services to people who had served their country and had become visually impaired through unrelated accident, illness or old age.
During 2004, more than 400 people joined the charity, some as young as teenagers.
World War II veteran Fred Bentley, who lost his sight in France after landing there on D Day, told the BBC: "When you first lose your sight, you're devastated, you think your life's come to an end.
"Some men threw their hands in the air and said 'no, I can't learn anything' - well, they were the losers.
"If you accept it and come into St Dunstan's with an open mind and say 'yes, I'll accept whatever you'd like to throw at me, I'll have a go at it', of course it's rewarding.
"I got a job when I left St Dunstan's and I stayed there 33 years."
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
