Once upon a time in the days of Ulster Television’s Ask Anne, I worked with Deane Houston of the Belfast Blind Centre. When he mentioned that there was a shortage of spectacles in countries like India and Bangladesh, we decided to have an appeal.
The props boys made up a tall container and we put it in the studio foyer and invited the public to donate. And we weren’t disappointed; there was a constant stream of men, women and children until the container had been filled three or four times over; on one of the following programmes we unveiled the numbers and styles. Members of staff modelled them from Dame Edna Everage examples to John Lennon specs and everything in between, ancient and modern.
They were all, hundreds of them, handed over to Deane and both the public and the charity were delighted with the successful results of the appeal.
Now scroll on about seven years.
I travelled to Bangladesh with Concern Worldwide and on the day I arrived in the capital Dhaka I saw one of our specs on an old man walking along with a grandchild. What a thrill. But that wasn’t all. They were all over the place, worn with pride and providing a new view on the world.
What a result - taking what was surplus to the owners in Northern Ireland and recycled for those elsewhere with poor vision.
The same thing is about to happen in Newcastle, Co Down.
Spring Clean For Charity
This time it’s not only specs being passed on but bicycles, sewing machines and tools - you name it and the local Lions Club will accept it, give it the once over and dispatching the items to the developing world.
Dan O’Reilly explained about the annual appeal for recyclable materials.
“The location for the collection drop-off will be the vacant AIB bank in the Main Street,” he says.
“Once again the Lions are appealing for material that would in the past have gone to land fill. As the material can now be reused, this will help people in the developing world gain employment and improve their self-image.
“The Lions will be looking for donations including adult bicycles, whether in good condition or in need of repair, spectacles - with cases if possible - sewing machines, electrical or treadle and all kinds of tools, broken or good.”
In the past such projects have been well supported by local people, so much so that Dan now visits Lions clubs all over Ireland - and there are 90 of them - to encourage them to do the same thing.
Recently the club had to organise two truck trips to Dublin to cope with the number of donations.
President Liz Murphy has ensured that the Newcastle club has insurance cover and secured donations of two lorries to take the material to the Belfast-based Bike Aid Africa and Downpatrick’s Tools for Solidarity where volunteers will clean and sharpen and make them up into tool kits.
The bicycles are repaired and smartened up and then go by truck to Malawi, and the sewing machines are serviced, some used for spare parts, and taken to Tanzania and Madagascar; during the last appeal they received 45 machines.
Window On The World
Every three months boxes of glasses are dispatched via DPD Couriers to France where opticians measure and clean them and Lions clubs around the world can draw from this bank of spectacles for their own charity work.
The Newcastle Lions Club has an enviable record for supporting charity.
At Christmas they raised £3,000 with donations going to the Children’s Hospice and another to help homeless people. Senior citizens have also benefited as have a suicide support group and the club maintains 10 defibrillators in the Newcastle area.
This is a very active club when it comes o supporting charity but it is also a very social gathering, enjoying each others company and so members overcome the possibility of boredom or isolation.
Donations can be brought to the AIB Bank on Saturday March 23 between 9am and 3.30pm. More information at lionsnewcastlecodown.org
Shelling Out For Slugs
Another completely different type of recycling but also with beneficial results is the idea of collecting and crushing eggshells.
Instead of throwing them away, keep them and then pound them into powder and use them to sprinkle on the soil around plants, especially tomato plants as this provides calcium to the roots and so prevents blossom end rot.
I will be doing this because having blossom end is very upsetting. Apart from adding calcium to the soil and so feeding the plant, slugs and snails hate having to crawl over crushed eggshells. Boiled eggs can be painted for Easter and then crushed, so everyone wins.
