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Blind Veterans UK
Blind Veterans UK, formerly St Dunstan's, is a British charity who support blind and vision-impaired ex-Service men and women and National Service personnel.
The charity provides bespoke rehabilitation, wellbeing services, and lifelong support. Its specialist services promote and enable veterans to regain their independence, meet new challenges and achieve a better quality of life. Blind Veterans UK supports anyone who has served in the British Armed Forces and is experiencing sight loss, no matter how they lost their sight.
Blind Veterans UK is a registered charity in England and Scotland and operates throughout the United Kingdom. It has its head office in London and a centre in Rustington.
Established in 1915, Blind Veterans UK was founded by Arthur Pearson, who lost his sight due to glaucoma. Due to the increasing numbers of blind British soldiers returning from the front lines during the First World War, Pearson established a hostel for these soldiers as well as blinded sailors and airmen. The intention was that, with training and assistance, they could go on to lead productive lives.
The Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Hostel's first location was in Bayswater Hill, London. Shortly after, the organisation moved to St Dunstan's Lodge in Regent's Park (the site of Winfield House), along with its first 16 members. The committee's work was praised by the London press at the time – a reference to the Lodge appeared in The Illustrated London News in 1915, which said: "in a corner of London's most beautiful park is a house where miracles are worked." American opera singer Pauline Donnan worked with the newly blind soldiers there, teaching vocal techniques and assisting some in finding singing or teaching jobs.
On Pearson's death in 1921, the chairmanship fell to Ian Fraser, who had been placed in charge of the charity's after-care activities by Pearson, providing assistance and social events such as reunion meetings for the blinded veterans after they had left the hostel in Regent's Park. Fraser had served during the First World War in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and was blinded by a bullet on the Somme. Having become generally known by the name of the building in which it was based, the organisation then formally changed its name to St Dunstan's in 1923. Fraser remained as chairman until his death in 1974.
St Dunstan's opened its flagship training, convalescent, care and holiday centre in Ovingdean, Brighton, in 1938. The Brighton centre was one of the first buildings in Britain purpose-built for those with a disability and every aspect of its construction was specially designed for blind and partially sighted visitors and residents. Shortly after its opening, The Architect and Building News praised the centre's "magnificent views over the Downs and out to sea", as well as the thought that had gone into making the building ideal for the blind. The centre's residents included World War I veteran Henry Allingham, born 1896, who was briefly the oldest man in the world until his death in 2009.
During the Second World War, the charity admitted those who had lost their sight through their work in the auxiliary services, women's services and munitions factories, besides service personnel from Poland, Netherlands, United States, Canada and South Africa. Due to concerns about potential air raids on Brighton during the Blitz, the charity evacuated its operation from Brighton to the town of Church Stretton, Shropshire, where it occupied the Long Mynd Hotel and other buildings, setting up an industrial training centre and a hospital. In 1946, it returned to Brighton.. It officially closed in August 2023, marked by a ceremonial standing down that featured a Spitfire flypast and the symbolic relocation of a time capsule. As of August 2023, the centre moved to a new facility in Rustington.
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Blind Veterans UK
Blind Veterans UK, formerly St Dunstan's, is a British charity who support blind and vision-impaired ex-Service men and women and National Service personnel.
The charity provides bespoke rehabilitation, wellbeing services, and lifelong support. Its specialist services promote and enable veterans to regain their independence, meet new challenges and achieve a better quality of life. Blind Veterans UK supports anyone who has served in the British Armed Forces and is experiencing sight loss, no matter how they lost their sight.
Blind Veterans UK is a registered charity in England and Scotland and operates throughout the United Kingdom. It has its head office in London and a centre in Rustington.
Established in 1915, Blind Veterans UK was founded by Arthur Pearson, who lost his sight due to glaucoma. Due to the increasing numbers of blind British soldiers returning from the front lines during the First World War, Pearson established a hostel for these soldiers as well as blinded sailors and airmen. The intention was that, with training and assistance, they could go on to lead productive lives.
The Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Hostel's first location was in Bayswater Hill, London. Shortly after, the organisation moved to St Dunstan's Lodge in Regent's Park (the site of Winfield House), along with its first 16 members. The committee's work was praised by the London press at the time – a reference to the Lodge appeared in The Illustrated London News in 1915, which said: "in a corner of London's most beautiful park is a house where miracles are worked." American opera singer Pauline Donnan worked with the newly blind soldiers there, teaching vocal techniques and assisting some in finding singing or teaching jobs.
On Pearson's death in 1921, the chairmanship fell to Ian Fraser, who had been placed in charge of the charity's after-care activities by Pearson, providing assistance and social events such as reunion meetings for the blinded veterans after they had left the hostel in Regent's Park. Fraser had served during the First World War in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and was blinded by a bullet on the Somme. Having become generally known by the name of the building in which it was based, the organisation then formally changed its name to St Dunstan's in 1923. Fraser remained as chairman until his death in 1974.
St Dunstan's opened its flagship training, convalescent, care and holiday centre in Ovingdean, Brighton, in 1938. The Brighton centre was one of the first buildings in Britain purpose-built for those with a disability and every aspect of its construction was specially designed for blind and partially sighted visitors and residents. Shortly after its opening, The Architect and Building News praised the centre's "magnificent views over the Downs and out to sea", as well as the thought that had gone into making the building ideal for the blind. The centre's residents included World War I veteran Henry Allingham, born 1896, who was briefly the oldest man in the world until his death in 2009.
During the Second World War, the charity admitted those who had lost their sight through their work in the auxiliary services, women's services and munitions factories, besides service personnel from Poland, Netherlands, United States, Canada and South Africa. Due to concerns about potential air raids on Brighton during the Blitz, the charity evacuated its operation from Brighton to the town of Church Stretton, Shropshire, where it occupied the Long Mynd Hotel and other buildings, setting up an industrial training centre and a hospital. In 1946, it returned to Brighton.. It officially closed in August 2023, marked by a ceremonial standing down that featured a Spitfire flypast and the symbolic relocation of a time capsule. As of August 2023, the centre moved to a new facility in Rustington.