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We have been collecting and sorting used spectacles for almost 27 years. Collecting spectacles for recycling was a club activity as far back as 1967, however it became a major project for the club in 1980 with a delivery of 700 sorted specs to the Missionary Optical Society in Devon for use in their clinics in Kenya and India. 

Our collecting area soon grew and other Lions Clubs started feeding their collections to us. Over the next four years some 50,000 specs were sent to M.O.S. in Devon.

In 1985 we linked up with the Le Havre Lions and Medico France and over the following five years some 100,000 specs, 43,000 lenses, and 10,000 frames were sent to Medico France while still delivering to M.O.S. as many pairs of sorted specs as they needed.

In 1988, another outlet was established through Vision Aid Overseas, and in 1990 Boots the Chemist and Help The Aged joined us in a national campaign which produced 460,000 pairs of specs in six months. Once sorted they went to places such as Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka, India, Zanzibar, Jamaica, Bolivia and Brazil. All that took more resources than the Club could sensibly provide.

Today we are receiving used spectacles from Lions clubs throughout the UK, as well as from opticians and supermarket sources within our own City. Spectacles are delivered to us in boxes and bags of all shapes and sizes and are processed by our club members and other volunteers in our workshop. We use our considerable experience to select the items that are suitable for recycling and to sort them in preparation for onward transmission to Medico France in Le Havre. Medico France have the necessary equipment to clean and grade the spectacles ready for use in eye camps in Africa, India and Eastern Europe.

We have recently developed, with the help of the Inside Out Trust, facilities for grading spectacles in the UK and have shipped directly to Ghana, Papua New Guinea, Nepal and recently to Nigeria. In each case, the glasses are sent directly to known or Lions club contacts. We have also developed contacts with individuals and charities based in the UK who are carrying out eye-camp projects overseas, who are able to use spectacles that we are recycling and supplying to them. 

We are very grateful to the Apuldram Centre who have made land available for our workshop, the many Lions clubs who collect spectacles and send them to us, the shops, surgeries and organisations who provide facilities for collection bins, Parcelforce, without whose help the scheme could not function - and also to the members of the Chichester club who have committed their time and expertise to the project. Pictures.

Last year we sent over 300,000 pairs of spectacles to Medico France. Through Chichester the UK lions clubs provide more than 50% of the spectacles processed by Medico France - more than any other national group including France itself.

WITH YOUR HELP!

THANKS TO THOSE THAT HELP.

Firstly a big THANK YOUto all those Lions Clubs, opticians, and all the various organisations in the medical field and outside it who have helped collect and deliver to us the thousands of used specs we have processed during the last year.

Then a rather special THANK YOU to PARCEL FORCE for transporting so many specs from all parts of the country FREE OF CHARGE and to FRASER FREIGHT of Portsmouth for transporting sorted spectacles FREE OF CHARGE to Medico France in Le Havres.

A final special THANK YOU to The Apuldram Centre for providing us with the land and facilities for our workshop.

HOW SHOULD YOU SEND SPECS TO CHICHESTER?

To avoid unnecessary handling, we would be grateful if you would throw away the following before shipment:

• Cases other than those in excellent condition.
• Loose lenses which have already been shaped to fit frames.

There are 2 methods of shipping specs to us:

• Bring them personally to our workshop at The Apuldram Centre (map) where the specs are sorted. A bin is located outside the gate into which specs can be deposited. Let us know when you are coming and if possible we can welcome you and show you what we do.

• Send them free via Parcelforce to The Apuldram Centre. 

  Pack the specs loose in stout well sealed boxes, each measuring no more than 50 x 33 x 33cm (20 x 13 x 13 ins) with a maximum weight of 10kg. 

  Address them to: Chichester Lions Club, c/o The Apuldram Centre, Common Farm, Appledram Lane South, Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 7PE.

  Mark each parcel: ARTICLES FOR THE BLIND - CONTRACT No. R233259

Please include your name and address, preferably on a separate sheet inside the box. We like to send an acknowledgement and we will also ensure that you receive our newsletter.

Phone the Parcelforce Datapost Collection Centre on 08708 501150 and quote the contract number R233259 in order to request a collection (48 hours).

If you have any difficulty please contact Lion Sue Boucher on 01243 785737 or email to sight@chilions.org.uk

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SPECS YOU SEND?

	All the specs you send us are sorted by a team of Lions in a small workshop at the Apuldram Centre. Visits can be arranged if you let us know in advance - perhaps when delivering specs to us. Sorted spectacles are graded by Medico France in Le Havres, or by Inside Out Trust in the UK using equipment provided by Chichester Lions. Graded spectacles are supplied to order to developing countries for use in clinics and eye hospitals.
Sorted spectacles awaiting shipment to Le Havres	Workshop at Medico France

We have shipped spectacles directly to known contacts undertaking eye clinics in Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria and Nepal.

Email received from Papua New Guinea: Just to let you know how useful the glasses are here in PNG , and to thank you and Medico for all the work you did to make their safe arrival so successful. The eye clinic is developing in leaps and bounds and it is quite exciting to see so many people benefiting from the spectacles. We have now started school screening and have improved the vision for a lot of children. Last year we did over 200 operations for cataract. There is a huge demand for surgery as this island had never had any eye care. We are due to do another two week operating session in a month’s time, so there is a lot to organise. The Fred Hollows Foundation, which I am now working with and developing a project proposal for extending eye services through out West New Britain, have been enormously supportive. One of their sustainability projects is to supply low cost ready- made glasses, for which we make a small profit , and this enables us to buy more and supplement the cost of medications.   We are so grateful to you for kick starting this project and would like to thank Lions for all their hard work and encouragement.   This is an amazing country but with a desperately underfunded health service and eye care is not seen as a priority. The recipients of glasses have been thrilled to be able to read and study again.
Photos from Tamale in Ghana

FUNDS FROM RECYCLING

Recycling of scrap material from broken and unsuitable spectacles yields funds which support the sorting operation and enable us to give financial support to eye related projects in the UK and overseas. 

Since the inception of our Sight project we have donated approaching £150,000 to sight related schemes.

In 2006/2007 we donated £6,000 to the Lions sightFirst II campaign. This campaign, which aims to raise $150,000,000 worldwide, follows on from an earlier fundraising campaign which has enabled Lions International to be a major funder of treatment to combat preventable blindness through disease. To read more about SightFirst II click here.

COLLECTION BINS

We have supplied local hospitals, opticians and Lions Clubs throughout the UK with specially prepared collection bins. These have proved a great success, we can provide the signage to other clubs for locally purchased bins. Please contact Lion John Lanham on 01243 785345 or email sight@chilions.org.uk.

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