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Club Projects
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The Primary Club
has provided sporting and recreational facilities to over 30 schools
and clubs for the visually impaired all over the UK
In 2006 the Primary Club made
grants totalling £200,000. Most of the money comes from members'
donations.
To apply for a grant from the Primary Club, please write to the Hon Sec whose details are available on the About Us page. We have produced a guidance note to assist grant applicants; to download it, please click here.
Here are some of the recent projects funded by The Primary Club.
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Golden Duck, a 56-foot canal boat, has been handed over by the builders to The Royal London Society for the Blind. The Duck is one of the Primary Club's biggest projects in recent years. She has 12 bunks for children, carers and crew on overnight trips. There are special hoists in the cabin to help severely disabled children into bunks, a roll-in bathroom for wheelchairs and foldaway desks so that the boat can become a floating classroom.
Jude Thompson, headteacher of Dorton House School, says " The lives of visually impaired children are often more boring than their sighted peers. For them, activities outside school are very limited. Part of our role is to put some excitement and fun into their lives. The Duck certainly does that."
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Last summer a grant from The Primary Club to the London Sports Forum paid for a week of activities attended by 28 boys and girls from the London area, aged between 7 and 18.
In the centre of the picture, with the ball, is 11 year old Ryan Jones, who attended football coaching at Arsenal FC during the week. With the guidance of the Arsenal coaches Ryan, who is severely visually disabled, now represents The Gunners in the British Blind Sport Junior Five-a-Side Competition.
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A grant to British Blind Sport is the first the Club has made to support blind riders. Bridge ' 04 was a four day residential course at Pittern Stables in Kineton, Warwickshire. Twelve visually impaired riders were given instruction in dressage to prepare them to compete on equal terms with sighted riders.
Shouted instructions tell blind riders which of eight letters, spread around the ring, they are passing. This is vital in dressage so that riders know when to walk or trot and when to turn. |
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A grant from The Primary Club paid for a set of conga drums for the Joseph Clarke School in east London. The three boys in the picture, all aged nine, have real problems communicating because of severe and complex disabilities, in addition to their visual impairment.
Regular music sessions with the conga drums play an important part in the boys' lives. Although they cannot speak to each other, they communicate through the drums. One boy will play something and another will respond. It is a short and simple form of communication, almost like a conversation through the drums. |
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The swimming pool at St Vincent's School for Blind and Partially Sighted Children was over 30 years old and badly in need of refurbishment. A grant from The Primary Club has given the pool a new lease of life.
Swimming is very important to visually impaired children. Being able to thrash around in the water gives them a sense of freedom and an ability to compete on an equal footing with sighted children. Hannah Astbury (l) and AshleyMiller are both freestyle sprinters. They will represent the school in the National VI Swimming Championships. |
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The young ladies on the left and right of the picture are not wearing the latest fashion in headwear. That is mud on their heads. They were part of a group of 11 children from all over the UK, aged 9 to 13, who went on an activity week organised by The National Blind Childrens' Society, paid for by a grant from The Primary Club.
Every kind of activity was on offer, ranging from abseiling to fencing and go-karts to trapezing. At times it was very demanding, but the children had a go at everything, never using their disability as an excuse. Unfortunately it rained and rained and rained. However, as the photo shows, they did not let this spoil their fun for a moment. |
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Actionnaires Clubs, one of The Primary Club's favourite projects, are spreading around the country. Working with Action for Blind People, nine Actionnaires Clubs are now open. By the end of 2005 there will be two more.
Actionnaires Clubs introduce blind and partially sighted youngsters to the opportunities open to them in sport. The picture was taken in Gravesend in Kent, when 26 boys and girls met for a variety of team-building games, including an obstacle course and cricket. Fourteen of the children were visually impaired and the rest were from Bizkids, a club for sighted youngsters. The children played happily together, regardless of disabilities. |
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A grant from The Primary Club paid for coaching fees and new equipment at the RNIB Vocational College in Loughborough. Goalball is the only game designed solely for the visually impaired.
The RNIB team, who have only been playing the game for a few months, have recently risen to sixth in the national league of 20 goalball teams around the UK.
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Donations from members of The Primary Club have
funded these projects for blind and partially sighted
sports men, women and children throughout the UK.
To join the Club click here.
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