Food for thought: Dine in the dark hosted to raise awareness for guide dogs

Leading Berkshire developer David Wilson Homes Southern has hosted a ‘dine in the dark’ event at its development The Chase at Newbury Racecourse to help raise awareness of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

The VIP event was attended by Mayor of Newbury Cllr Margo Payne, who joined Kym O’Shea and her dog Harvey along with Guide Dogs volunteers.

As well as sitting down to eat a two course lunch whilst blindfolded in one of the show homes, the guests took part in a series of everyday tasks whilst wearing sight impaired glasses in order to put themselves in the shoes of someone with sight loss.

Denise Clark, Community Fundraising Development Officer at Guide Dogs, was among the guests alongside Kym, a visually impaired guide dog user, to talk about the important work the guide dogs do and help run the activities.

Puppy Walker Jenny Eaton and My Guide volunteer Wendy Newman also shared their experiences volunteering for the charity.

Denise said: “These events are a great way for sighted people to experience, for a short time, what challenges blind and partially people face on a daily basis. I would like to thank David Wilson Homes for inviting us to the Dine in Dark lunch and for the kind donation.

“As a charity, we rely on donations to continue our life changing work. And every pound raised makes a big difference to people living with sight loss.”  

The Mayor of Newbury, Councillor Margo Payne said, “It was a very enlightening experience eating with the visually impaired glasses on and really interesting discussing with Kym on how day to day activities are challenging to anyone with sight impairment, however she is abley supported by the lovely Harvey her Guide Dog and the local branch of Guide dogs for the blind.”

David Wilson Homes is also donating £250 to the charity to support their work.

Rob Allen, Sales Director at David Wilson Homes Southern, said: “We are delighted to have supported the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in raising awareness for the work they do and we hope everyone enjoyed the event.

“It was fantastic to have people from Guide Dogs share their experiences and give us all a new perspective on life with a visual impairment. It was a brilliant event and we hope to continue working with the charity in the future.”

For more information on The Chase at Newbury Racecourse, please contact the sales team on 0844 811 4333 or visit www.dwh.co.uk.