Eight Lions Clubs met at Gillingham Town Hall for the annual pooling of spectacles collected across the district. This year 24,282 pairs of glasses were amassed of which Trowbridge residents donated over 4,200 pairs.

The spectacles will now be sent to France where an organisation called Medico France sorts, washes and grades them before sending them to Third World countries. Medico France is run by French Lions Clubs.

Lions have a long history of helping people who are blind or partially sighted. They were responsible for the development of the white stick, after a Lions Club member in 1930, watched as a blind man attempted to cross the street with a black cane which was barely visible to motorists.

The annual Spectrek is part of the Lions’ promise to the late Helen Keller to help the blind and partially sighted around the world but nothing would be possible without the generosity of Trowbridge residents – thank you.