Redrow Homes chief donates £80k to activities for visually impaired
The personal charity of Steve Morgan, chief of Redrow Homes, has donated £80k to the Bradbury Fields' Be Active Project, which is aimed at helping blind and partially sighted people take part in activities to reduce loneliness and isolation. The donation will be used to employ a charity coordinator and brings the total donated to charitable causes by The Morgan Foundation to over £32m.

BLIND people across Merseyside are to get help to take part in a range of activities from tandem cycling to theatre visits, thanks to a donation from The Morgan Foundation.

An £80,000 cheque from Redrow Homes chief Steve Morgan’s personal charity will help develop Bradbury Fields’ Be Active project, which gets blind and partially sighted out and about.

Morgan Foundation administrator Jane Harris said: “We only fund those projects that fit our aims and objectives, and this one fits perfectly!”

The Be Active project helps reduce the isolation and loneliness felt by many blind and partially sighted people in Merseyside and beyond.

Set up 18 months ago, the project has already helped more than 60 people by identifying activities that they would like to be involved with and matching them with highly trained volunteers.

Activities have included tandem cycling, swimming, gym sessions, shopping trips, theatre visits, and dog walking.

Phil Longworth, Bradbury Fields chief executive, said: “We are delighted to receive this funding from the Morgan Foundation. It will allow us to employ a Be Active coordinator for the next three years.

“We plan to develop the scheme and help even more service users to live healthy and happy lives – despite their sight loss. We also hope that eventually loneliness and isolation for them will be a thing of the past.”

Bradbury Fields, previously known as Liverpool Voluntary Society for the Blind, have been providing services to blind and partially sighted people in Liverpool and Merseyside since 1857.

www.bradburyfields.org.uk

Since 2001 The Morgan Foundation has committed over £32m for good causes across Merseyside, North Wales, West Cheshire and North Shropshire, including support to more than 450 charitable organisations and providing 40 standard and wheelchair accessible Smiley buses.

www.morganfoundation.co.uk

PICTURED: Jane Harris with Frank MacFarlane (chairman, Bradbury Fields) and Nikki Barnett (deputy chief executive, Bradbury Fields)