Following the appointment of Cathryn Bradley as the new chief executive officer of Sight Matters, formerly Manx Blind Welfare Society, she spoke to Rebecca Brahde about her hopes for the charity.

Sight Matters has just over 600 members, and provides support to individuals who are blind and partially sighted.

Ms Bradley joined the charity 18 months ago as social welfare inclusion officer.

She said: ‘I was 50 when I retired from the police force in June 2021, so I always wanted to do something else.

‘When I retired, I was chief inspector in protective services for the police and we had a good working relationship with Manx Blind Welfare, as it was named then through some of the inclusion work. So I already knew about the service and knew the vibe of the place.

‘My mum also had macular degeneration, a form of central vision loss, so she had become a member.

‘I had seen it from two sides. I had seen the services from my professional side, but I had also seen the personal side with mum.’

‘ My mum’s world became very small when she started to lose her sight. It had a significant impact on her mental health and she became very isolated, it doesn’t help that she lived out in the sticks.’

One of Ms Bradley’s aims in her new role is to reach more people, and for them to use the charity’s services before they reach crisis.

She said: ‘The future is to build on the fantastic legacy that Ian Cooil [her predecessor] left, carry on delivering the services we provide, and get more people through the door.

‘We want people to come to us when they have an issue, so we can help them earlier than later, as we tend to find people come to us when they are in crisis,

‘If they come to us earlier, we can help them manage safely and independently whilst they adjust to their changing circumstances.’

Ms Bradley added: ‘I think the biggest issue that visually impaired people face is a lack of awareness of what it can mean to have sight loss or a visual impairment.

‘People often don’t realise that many who are blind, do have some vision, some people say, “they are blind but they can see the edge of the pavement, so they are not really blind” but just because you are classified blind, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t see anything.

Ms Bradley explains how beneficial the social side of the charities services are.

‘Running the social activities and interacting with others who have sight loss is a service that our members find overwhelmingly positive,’ she said.

‘That peer support can be every bit as valuable as anything that we can offer, because they can learn from each other.’

Yet, like many third-sector organisations and charities, Sight Matters has faced its economic challenges recently.

‘I think ourselves, along with many other third-sector not-for-profit organisations, are aware of the challenges through no fault of anybody.

‘The economic situation has an impact that is out of anybody’s control, it is a concern for us, so we do look to raise funds to be able to deliver these services.’

Despite this, Ms Bradley is excited to take on the challenge and said: ‘I have the best job in the world.’