What's On
Upcoming events in conjunction with Guide Dogs and Berkshire Vision
Save the dates
Berkshire Vision are running a full list of activites in April. Some events have funding and are shown as free. Please use the attached booking form:
APRIL DATES | EVENT |
Monday 7th April For those who attended Travel 1 event. FREE | Travel 2 – trains and the underground. Following our successful run of workshops run by Southeast Communities Rail Partnership, we now have the opportunity to have two travel experiences. This event follows on from the trains and bus event in February. You will need to have attended that event to book on this one. |
Wednesday 9th April Age 7+ FREE | Tandem cycling with Newbury Velo: come and have a go at cycling on tandem bikes with trained pilots. Cycling will be around an athletics’ racing track and not on the roads. |
Thursday 10th April 10.30 – 2.30 Age 7-11 FREE | Cooking skills run jointly with Berkshire Sensory Consortium and Guide Dogs staff. This is for primary school age members only to attend without a parent. Please note, that booking is via your child’s Habilitation Specialist. There is limited transport available. |
Friday 11th April All ages FREE | Fire station visit We will have an organised tour of the fire station, learn about fire safety, explore a fire engine and maybe even try on a fire fighter’s uniform. |
Monday 14th April All ages £5 per family contribution | Thames Valley Adventure Park We will again have exclusive use of this safe, self-contained family friendly adventure park with plenty of parking on site. There is Crazy golf, accessible play area with a zip wire, a fort, outdoor table tennis, and bikes to ride on in an allotted area. We will also run craft sessions inside. |
Wednesday 16th April Age 7+ DEPOSIT £10 per family | Skiing session, Hemel Hempstead: come and have a go at skiing on snow with trained instructors. Spaces are limited and priority will be given first to Berkshire Vision members and then to siblings and parents if we have spaces available. Please indicate on the booking form. Please note: Hemel Hempstead is about an hour from Reading, 40 minutes from Slough & over 90 minutes from Thatcham. |
Thursday 17th April Ages: 7 – 18 | Ufton Court Activity Day. Following a great residential event last August, and a fun activity day last October, we have been offered the opportunity to go to Ufton Court for a day of outdoor and indoor activities. We will be in a more accessible part of the site. More details about the activities on offer will follow. |
Usually on the 4th Thursday of each month: 24th April, 22nd May, 26th June and 24th July Ages 0-4 FREE | Preschool group, Penn Road Children’s Centre, Slough – Come and join in the fun with other families. Younger siblings are also welcome to come along too. The sessions involve a sensory story, music, playing, craft and snack time. There is also an outdoor space we can use if the weather is dry. It is an opportunity for parents to chat to other parents and for children to enjoy playing together. |
Please note that for all of the April events, you will need to book using the form enclosed as some events will be limited in numbers. Please do not book unless you are sure you can come!
To book on any of the events, please email the attached form (or send a photo of your completed form) to: children@berkshirevision.org.uk.
Some events have a limited number of spaces and some are age specific. As we now have nearly 120 young members, do book as soon as you can but please remember last minute cancellations are costly for the charity and we can’t always fill the spaces at short notice.
TRANSPORT
We are very proud to be one of the only Sight Loss charities in the UK offering transport to our activities and we are committed to continue to provide this wherever possible.
Please remember to book transport as early as possible and at least 5 working days before the event as we cannot guarantee this for any late bookings and some events do not have transport available. Transport is £10 per family or can be arranged from the nearest train station to the event for a £2 contribution each way. If this cost would stop your family from being able to attend, please come back to me. We don’t want anyone to miss out!
PAYMENT:
For some April events, we will need a non-returnable deposit and this is indicated in the details given and on the April booking form.
To make a payment, deposit or contribution to any of the events, you can do so via the internet, by cheque or over the phone with a card. Please note that the website is for donations only but do give your child’s name/Children’s work as a reference if you do so.
The Bank details are as follows:
Internet Banking Payment: Berkshire County Blind Society
Bank Name - NATWEST
Sort Code - 60-17-21
Account Number - 90292189
Reference: Activity/Your child’s name
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries.
Kind regards,
Carol Barnfather,
Children, Young People and Families Officer
carol.barnfather@berkshirevision.org.uk or children@berkshirevision.org.uk
Telephone: 0118 987 2803 (Press 1 for Activities) Mobile: 0778 8256760
CSSEF have lined up some amazing events for Deaf children in Berkshire, London, Surrey and Hampshire. They do also have a few more things in the planning stage. They do not operate a first come, first served system. They allow everyone to place their booking and then work out a fair system for all.
Voluntears arrange trips to Costa Rica, Peru, India, Montenegro, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Morocco. All trips are designed to be fully inclusive for D/deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing people. Enjoy travelling to exciting destinations with the support of friendly VoluntEars staff and a BSL interpreter on every trip. Help at local deaf school and visit all the must-see sights! Open to all ages. Join as an individual, or with family or friends. Contact VoluntEars for more information: www.voluntears.info Email: contact@voluntears.info SMS/Whatsapp: +447713752124
Did you know Goalball is a sport especially designed for the visually-impaired? Would you like to have a go to see what it is like?
Winchester Goalball Club is a fun and friendly club open to players of all abilities from age 8 upwards. Our members come from across Hampshire and the adjoining counties.
They are hosting UK's Goalball Academy Aspire Day at Peter Symonds College, Winchester on Saturday 17th August, 10.45am - 4.30pm for 11-18 year olds and VICTA have provided a travel offer
See Flyers below for more information
Based at Bisham Abbey, just outside Marlow, Accessible Boating Thames is a charity dedicated to opening up the river to those that might, for whatever reason, find it difficult to gain access to it. For more information click here
Berkshire Deaf Children's Society often have lots of events coming up for all ages-
to find out more about all their events click here Contact BDCS for more information
As we hope the sun will make its way to us soon we have been actively planning our summer events for our children. We hope to bring you a varied and jam packed events list where our children can make friends and have peer-to-peer interactions, take part in new opportunities and allow time for siblings and parents to connect also.
Sun 16th June - Fathers day Adventure Park and crafts, Taplow
Mon 19th August - High Score arcade, Newbury
Thurs 29th Aug - Bushcraft, laser tag and BBQ, Pangbourne
In planning: Nets and high ropes, family fun day, Go-Karting
Thomas Pocklington Trust’s vision is a society where blind and partially sighted people can participate fully. Our mission is to support blind and partially sighted people of all ages to live the life they want to lead and we do this with the help and support of blind and partially sighted volunteers.
Young Voices will make a difference by working to improve experiences within education, employment and engagement whilst focusing in on health and wellbeing in the VI community, making sure communities are inclusive and helping VI young people to develop life and employment skills.
Please see the attached leaflets for more information about Young Voices.
Supporting visually impaired young people to thrive. Look provide online Parent Support Groups to expert-led webinars, Youth Forums and Music Groups - , get your diaries out and make a note of these fab events from LOOK!
Watermill Theatre in Newbury have some opportunities for watching and making theatre that you might enjoy and have provided this information:
Deaf/hearing loss
Duologue is our weekly youth theatre group for young people aged 11-16, held at Arlington Arts in Newbury. Deaf, hard of hearing, hearing, CODA, all are welcome. We always have an interpreter at the sessions. We’d love to welcome some of your young people! www.watermill.org.uk/duologue
Vision impairment
All of our youth theatre activities can be made accessible to support needs. Visit our webpages for more information about what’s on offer.
Blind in Business have some fantastic opportunities coming up this term with employers. Alongside this, they still provide the following:
- 1:1 mentoring
- School and county in person and virtual careers workshops
- Technology advice
To sign up for any of the below events or for more details, email. info@blindinbusiness.org.uk
More information about Blind in Business events
Wokingham Children with Additional needs (CAN) Network is an information and support service for children and young people with additional needs and their families. The PDF gives some ideas of what is on in Wokingham and the surrounding areas this Summer
Our house is a unique accessible play centre where families can meet and all children are celebrated. It is a safe haven where disabled children can relax, have fun and be truly valued and accepted for who they are.
Soundabout have unveiled a brand new timetable for their online music provision. We have a variety of fun, interactive and educational sessions on Facebook, YouTube and Zoom.Sessions are free to access except for those held on Zoom. Please view their website for more details.
Please visit the RNIB website for more details.
British Blind Sport have designed an innovative pack to provide children with all the tools they need to take their first steps to leading a more active life. In addition to receiving the First Steps Pack, our First Steps families will receive ongoing support and will be invited to Family Days organised by BBS which not only bring young people together but also introduce them to new activities and inclusive clubs in their local community. For more information, please visit our website.
New College Worcester have lots of great events happening throughout the year. See their event directory for more details.
Learn how young people can manage low mood and depression during COVID-19. On this course, young people, parents, carers, teachers, and other professionals can learn helpful, practical techniques to cope with low mood and depression during the lockdown period and beyond. You’ll examine how to help young people structure their day and improve sleep and diet. For more information please click here.
We are a national charity getting more children with disabilities learning how to swim. We have recently launched a new programme in Slough in partnership with Everyone Active at The Centre and are offering lessons immediately.
We fund lessons for children: aged 4-11, who cannot currently swim 10 metres, with a physical disability or sensory impairment. For more information, please email contact@levelwater.org or visit our website.
We want to introduce to you a research project called the READY study (Recording Emerging Adulthood in Deaf Youth) and offer your child the opportunity to take part if they wish. The READY study is a 6 year research project about deaf young people between the ages of 16 and 23 years old. It is interested in the changes in deaf young people’s lives from their point of view as they move between childhood and adulthood. The project is being conducted by the University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh. For further information, please see the following documents:
The University of Birmingham is undertaking a research project regarding the experiences of students with VI applying for Higher Education. In particular they are interested in how useful, or not, parents, students and teachers have found the information available on the RNIB’s website regarding applying for university and life at university, and the 'Supporting the achievement of learners with vision impairment in Higher Education' available on the NatSIP website. These documents can be accessed here:RNIB and Supporting the achievements of learners
If you would like further information about the project or would like to complete an online questionnaire based on your experiences of using them, then please contact Rachel Hewett, Birmingham University at R.G.Hewett@bham.ac.uk
Speech and Language Therapy details of how to make contact with the team can be found here.
The Ear Foundation have a team of clinical and educational practitioner who run a variety of interesting and relevant programmes. Please see their website for more details.
The NDCS hold many events and these can be found here: https://www.ndcs.org.uk/our-services/our-events
Wokingham Parents - There is a new local offer link for parents looking for what’s on which should make it easier to find activities:
https://directory.wokingham.gov.uk/kb5/wokingham/directory/lo_whats_on.page
Subtitled/Captioned Accessible Cinema! 1,500+ shows nationwide! Clifford the Big red dog, Spiderman West Side Story, Captain Underpants, Despicable Me 3, The Beguiled, Baby Driver, Transformers, Wonder Woman & more! All cinemas can show all the films listed above with English-language subtitles. Click the link for more details: http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/films.html