By Graham Stearn

Graham entertaining the kids at a previous Family Weekend

This weekend I was a volunteer for VICTA supporting young children who are blind or partially sighted together with family members on activities at one of their great Family Weekends. This took place at Dearne Valley Kingswood near Doncaster.

I have now volunteered on a few of these great weekends and have learned a lot from them. I enjoy spending time with the families and their children who attend the weekends. I especially enjoy meeting up with returning families and hearing about how their children have progressed after attending a VICTA Family Weekend.

Here are just a few activities that took place this weekend:

  • Archery
  • Climbing
  • Zip Wire
  • Canoeing
  • Raft Building
  • Problem Solving
  • Low Ropes/High Ropes

I have a visual impairment myself and didn’t really know much VICTA until I was in my 20’s. It was at this point that I took part in several of their Youth Weekends and attended some of their international trips. VICTA has helped build my confidence to travel and venture all over. I will now quite happily attempt a new train journey, travel through London using assistance as well as local train journeys that I am familiar with. I even now feel confident to travel abroad using assistance at the airport.

Graham and the rest of the volunteers at this year’s superhero themed fancy dress party!

I enjoy taking part in all kinds of activities, so I though why not consider volunteering with VICTA and seeing what support I could offer to younger people with similar conditions to myself. After being a regular user of services from VICTA myself, I thought it was a good thing to do.

I look forward to helping and supporting more people and volunteering on many more VICTA events.

If you would like more information about volunteering for VICTA visit our volunteer area to find out how you can get involved!

Visit the VICTA volunteer area and get involved

You can read more from Graham on his blog site >

 

Written by Graham Stearn
VICTA Volunteer