Users 'devastated' at charity's potential closure

Bosses at a sight loss charity said service users have been left "devastated" after they were told the service might have to close.

Staffordshire Sight Loss Association, based in Stoke-on-Trent, said it could be forced to shut for good as the team have been unable to raise enough funds to keep the doors open.

Chief executive Suzanne Roberts said it had launched an emergency fundraising appeal to try to raise £100,000 by the end of April, in a last-ditch effort to survive.

Asked how service users had reacted to news of the potential closure, she said: "They're just devastated. It's so sad for us - we've been going for eight years."

As well as helping visually impaired people with advice about independent living and general assistance, the charity also serves as a social hub for its users.

"A big part of what we do is bringing the community together," Roberts told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We've created a community and I think that's the really sad thing about it. People make friends and they meet people who understand because they're in a similar situation."

Roberts said she was concerned people who used the service would have nowhere to go for support and could end up isolated.

"I just feel absolutely gutted about the whole thing," she said. "So many people worked so hard. It's just unbelievable that we might lose it."

The charity covers the North Staffordshire area, where there are around 17,000 people living with sight loss, a figure estimated to rise to more than 19,000 by 2030, according to the organisation.

It was founded in 2018 and was funded through National Lottery schemes between 2020 and 2025.

It had recently applied for funding from the National Postcode Lottery but it was rejected because of the high demand for grants, with only one in 11 applications accepted.

Jeff, a service-user, said the charity changed his life as there was no-one to help him before with things like filling out forms or socialising.

"They've done absolutely everything and I've made lots of friends here, which I wouldn't have made without this place," he added.

He said the support he had received had helped his confidence "a hell of a lot".

"Before I was just sitting in my flat with nothing to do, bored every day," he added. "I count the days now until I can come to Staffordshire Sight Loss and meet people again.

"When we're all together, all blind and partially-sighted people, we get on well. When I'm at my home or anywhere else, I'm the outsider and nobody else really understands."

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.