Radio show with Sophia Endberg - Gail

In June 2017 I was asked to meet Sophia Endberg, a student from Sheffield University who wanted to go out with a blind person in the town centre around Sheffield. I was to speak into a microphone and speak all the noises I heard in the street around me.

Sophia is from Bonn, Germany and spoke excellent English and soon we were off on our travels.

As we left SRSB Sophia was quick to pick up the tactile marking which my cane was rolling over and she discovered that she had not noticed it when arriving and was fascinated to learn more about tactile markings as we went along.

I carry a Trekker Breeze (a sat nav designed for blind people) at all times. This gives me information about the street I am on and also junctions coming up.

As we went along the busy streets (it was Friday afternoon) and alive with people all going about their business, I was telling Sophia about the tram I could hear rattling along, suitcases being rolled on the pavements, also some noises from a nearby building site.

When we got to the town centre the Town Hall clock started chiming and there must have been five different lots of street musicians all at various points on Fargate.

I find the singing quite disorientating as I am relying on my cane to pick up noises.

I also told Sophia about the rotating cones underneath the control boxes at pelican crossings as she was fascinated by these and she has told me she is pointing them out to her friends.

Sophia has produced the radio work for her university and here is the link to listen. Sophia and myself were out two hours and she has had to cut it down but I feel you can still appreciate the work she has produced.

Pancake Day - Gail

When I was growing up in the 60's Pancake Day was always a large pancake the size and thickness of a pizza now. It would be fried in a frying pan which was well used with ridges and the pancake always had these ridges printed on the pancake sometimes slightly burnt which made them taste nicer. I would have this with either jam, lemon or orange juice and sugar. After one of these there was no room for anything else.

Around Pancake Day we would always buy whip and tops. The whip was about 18 inches long with a leather thong threaded at the top with a knot. With this we chose a top which we would whip with the thong. We always used to take out the leather thong and swap it for a shoe lace which we frayed at the whipping end to give the top extra spin. We would have the choice of a carrot top or spinning top (mushroom shaped) with a long stem. Both these tops had a screw at the bottom to spin on.

I would always go for the spinning (mushroom) top as it went further when whipped.

We also decorated them with chalk and drawing pins to personalise them as when we played with them in the school playground it would differentiate between the dozens of tops.

I only remember playing with them around Pancake Day perhaps because the evenings had got lighter and we could play with them after school.

We do not see them now but great fun at the time.

Disabled Access Day at Barclays Bank in Sheffield - Gail

One Friday in March I went to Barclays Bank on the corner of Pinstone Street and Barkers Pool with Jane from SRSB as part of their Disabled Access Day.

We were warmly greeted by Stuart the Manager who introduced us to several members of staff. After an introduction by Jane she told them about SRSB and their role in supporting people with sight problems. I then spoke about what SRSB meant to me as a client.

The staff then all tried on the 'Sim Specs' which demonstrate what it is like to be visually impaired and asked lots of questions. The staff were very friendly and the atmosphere was very relaxed.

Next, Jane set up her stall, I volunteered for balloon blowing and Jane had also taken some equipment from the shop at SRSB.

Stuart spoke about their talking cash machines and as I have never tried one I quickly volunteered in trying this out. After a brief orientation of the cash machine Stuart handed me a pair of headphones and I was ready to start. After plugging the headphones in I was asked to press 5 to begin, asked to put my pin number in then asked to press 1 for a receipt or 2 if not needed, then asked to press 1 for £10, 2 for £20 etc.

After pressing the amount required to my great amazement the money popped out. I have not used a cash machine for 30 years and it was quite exhilarating. This simple task that sighted people take for granted really does seem like a great mystery to me as a blind person. I now feel confident in using this branch taking along my headphones and drawing out cash independently.