Events
Our heartfelt thanks to all friends and supporters who organise fundraising events on our behalf. Please scroll down to see all our events and do let us know if we can help with your planning - we're always happy to get involved!
Photographs of some of our events can be seen on our 'Gallery' page.
2024 Events now live!
Second Wind - an afternoon of light music, tea and cake!
When: Sunday 28th April 2024, 2.30pm
Where: Portswood Residents' Gardens Pavilion, 16B Abbotts Way, Southampton, SO17 1QT
How much: Free entry - Retiring collection. Interval refreshments provided.
Second Wind Clarinet and Saxophone Quartet invite you to join them for an afternoon of music, including an interval with home-made cakes!
The musical journey takes you from Classical to Swing with Ragtime along the way. With most of the tunes being very well known, come for a toe tapping time, all in a good cause.Second Wind Ensemble is a group of amateur musicians who enjoy frequently playing together, and occasionally performing!
They are delighted to have this opportunity to entertain you while supporting Gift of Sight. Professor Andrew Lotery will also be there to say a few words.
Portswood Knitwits - Annual fundraising sale
When: Saturday 25th May 2024, 10.30am - 1pm
Where: Portswood Library, Portswood Rd, Portswood, Southampton, SO17 2NG
Thank you to members of Portswood Knitwits who meet on Monday evenings at Portswood Library to knit and chat. This year's annual fundraising sale will be for Gift of Sight.
Everyone is welcome.
82O Spirits - Gin Tasting Event
When: Friday 7th June 2024, 6-8pm
Where: 82O Spirits, Shallowmead Nurseries, Lymington, SO41 8PA
Cost: £25 per person
Booking link: Visit the University of Southampton Store to book your tickets. If you have any issues with the online booking process please telephone 023 8059 7239 to talk with one of our colleagues.
Enjoy a lovely relaxed evening sampling 820's gins and enjoy the surroundings at Shallowmead Nurseries. Professor Andrew Lotery will give a talk about eye research from both clinic and the laboratories. Warm thanks to Tom Simpson for hosting this event and our congratulations to him on winning a University of Southampton Award for Young Person in Business 2023.
Southampton Archery Club named Gift of Sight - Chosen Charity for 2024
Join us for their Charity Fun Day on Saturday 20th July 2024
We are delighted to have been named as the 'Chosen Charity' for Southampton Archery Club for 2024. The members will be generously raising funds at various events all year round, including the main Charity event on 20 July 2024.
When: Saturday 20th July 2024, 10am-4pm
Where: Hardmoor Sports Ground, Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh, SO50 9HT
All abilities and ages welcome. Please come along to try your hand at archery, enjoy fun games and activities as well as BBQ and refreshments. For more details about Southampton Archery Club, please visit their website here.
Thank you to our incredible individual fundraisers for 2024:
Walk for Wiggly Eyes is back again with Wiggly Eyes 4!
In May 2024 Mike Larcombe will be walking Croatia's national scenic long distance hiking trail, raising funds for Gift of Sight and Nystagmus Network. Covering a distance of over 2,200km (1,400 miles) in under 90 days Mike will be walking Croatia’s picturesque mountain trails, forest paths, coastal walks, and everything in between. Mike tells us that he ‘always feels really honoured to do these fundraisers for our two charities He’s very upbeat about it at the moment. Let’s hope the positivity lasts for the whole of the walk! Please encourage Mike on yet another massive challenge by donating to his JustGiving page.
Albinism Research - please support fundraising for this
A clinical trial was originally planned to start this year as part of the OLIVIA study, led by Dr Helena Lee. However, the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have requested data requiring a significant amount of additional work, before giving authorisation for the trial to proceed. Unfortunately, there are no funds available to carry out this work, which means that it is now necessary to apply for new funding to get the trial underway.
Some very kind parents have offered to fundraise to help Helena's team obtain the data that will be necessary to recommence the trial . We're hugely grateful for their generosity and will be delighted if you will generously support them. Here are the links to their Justgiving pages, which share their personal stories: Thank you.
Abby Arrowsmith is fundraising for Dr Helena's research with Gift of Sight (justgiving.com)
Team Lotery are running again!
Professor Andrew Lotery is running the Cambridge Half Marathon on 3rd March 2024 with his daughter Lizzie. Please do support him via his Justgiving page:
Team Lotery is fundraising for Gift of Sight (justgiving.com)
Josephine Bates is running for us in May!
Grateful thanks to Josephine who will be running the Great West Run on Sunday 26th May raising funds for Gift of Sight. This is the second time Jo has raised funds for us and we'd love you to help her if you possibly can by visiting her JustGiving page.
THANK YOU :
To everyone who has helped us out by fundraising in so many ways. Please see our Fundraising Gallery for past events.
If you would like to become involved or simply want to find out more about the work of our vision research projects, please make contact info@giftofsight.org.uk
Alternatively we'd love to chat to you! Please telephone Ailsa on 02380 599073 or Jennie on 02380 5995924.