Celebrating the coronation at SeeAbility
Here at SeeAbility we are extremely proud of our heritage and how far we have come as a charity.
In 1799 SeeAbility was established and became the first school for young blind people in the south of England, with the goal of teaching people with sight loss key skills in the hope they could learn a trade and become self-sufficient.
In 1911, the school was granted by Royal Patronage by King George V and became The Royal School for the Blind. Since 1999 The Duchess of Gloucester has been our Patron and we are honoured and grateful for the support that The Royal Family have given us over the years.
Our colleagues and the people we support are excited to be joining the rest of the UK to celebrate the King’s Coronation on the 6th May and taking part in The Big Lunch between the 6th – 8th May.
Our royal heritage
From Queen Victoria to the Duchess of Gloucester, we've been connected to the royal family for over 200 years.
Find out about the many different royals who have supported SeeAbility.
The Big Lunch
This year we are inviting you to support SeeAbility by hosting your own Big Lunch to bring your friends, neighbours and community together. You may already have some celebrations planned, so why not add some fundraising activities to your event. We’ve added some ideas below.
Fundraising is simple, whether it’s collection pots on the table or a cake sale, take a look at some easy ideas below:
- Bake some royal theme cakes – a classic Victoria sponge or recreate the King’s favourite fruit cake. Bring your baked goods to your event and ask everyone for a donation to enjoy a baked treat.
- Quiz your neighbours and friends with our Royal themed questions. Charge each team £5 to play and simply download our ready made quiz below.
- Raffle off some items donated by your local community. Everyone loves a raffle and our fundraising team can help you get started with asking for prize donations.
- Fancy dress with a Royal twist could add a fun flare to your big lunch with a £2 donation entry fee and a prize for the best dressed.
- Guess how many sweets are in the jar is a firm favourite at community events, just 50p a go and the closest guess wins the item in the jar!
The Big Help Out
To mark His Majesty The King’s Coronation, SeeAbility are joining forces with The Big Help Out to encourage people around the country to help out in your local community.
Whether you can spare a few hours, a day or two or it becomes something regular, we have many volunteering opportunities available and you will be a part of making a difference in people’s lives.
By volunteering with us, you’ll be supporting people to connect and participate in their community and contribute to making inclusion a reality for many more people with learning disabilities.
As well as being incredible rewarding, volunteering also has many benefits for you, such as learning new life skills, social interaction and work experience. There are many ways to get involved and we have a variety of roles that could be right for you.
Community fundraising – Our community fundraising volunteers play a vital role in helping us raise value income as well as awareness for the people we support.
Befrienders – Our befrienders play an important role in the lives of the people we support, by being a reliable companion to attend activities they enjoy taking part in. These might include walking, going to a concert or going out for a meal.
Gardeners – Our gardener volunteers support our homes by helping to maintain the outdoor spaces, so that people we support can enjoy spending time in a nice environment.
Drivers – Our friendly drives make a difference by taking the people we support to appointments and activities. We are looking for both car and mini bus drives.
Meet some of our volunteers
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The variety in volunteering: Ken's story
Ken has supported people to trampolining, church, carriage-riding, boating and more!
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Peter's volunteering journey
When Peter met Ivan, they clicked right from the start. Now they're firm friends.
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Sandra and Edward: Meet our volunteer gardeners!
For Sandra and Edward, volunteering together with SeeAbility means they can enjoy their new-found passion in retirement for gardening while making new friends and doing something useful.
Let us know how you got on!
Tell us about your event to celebrate the Coronation by emailing s.walker@seeability.org! We can send you some fundraising materials and your community might even get a shout out on our social media.