A BOROUGH charity for people with sight loss has issued a fresh appeal for volunteers.

The Pocklington Resource and Information Centre in Stourbridge has run its lottery funded Visually Impaired People (VIP) project for almost three years but to continue to provide its free home-visiting scheme for blind and sight-limited people more volunteers are desperately needed.

Volunteers typically visit service users in their own homes either weekly or fortnightly for about one-and-a-half or two hours to offer company, help with reading and correspondence or to accompany people on trips within the community.

Jan Lacy, volunteer co-ordinator at the centre, said: “We have had great success with the services we provide, but we are reliant on volunteers coming forward to offer their services.

“We are looking for people who have the time and willingness to offer support, are reliable, self-motivated and have good communication skills. All volunteers will receive a full induction as part of the role and are then carefully matched to people with sight loss who have been referred into the service.”

Based at the Mary Stevens Centre, Oldswinford, the resource centre is part of the Thomas Pocklington Trust charity which aims to improve the quality of life of people with sight loss.

Serving the whole of the Dudley borough, the centre is open five days a week between 9am and 4pm.

Anyone interested in volunteering can call Jan Lacy on 01384 440333 or email: jan.lacy@pocklington-trust.org.uk