About British Blind Sport
Activity Giving visually impaired people the opportunity to participate in sport and leisure activities
Website http://www.britishblindsport.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 271500
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British Blind Sport
British Blind Sport is a small national registered charity, set up in 1975 by visually impaired people, to enable them to have the same opportunities as sighted people to access and enjoy sport & recreational activities.
We believe in the many benefits that sport & recreation can offer visually impaired people, including improved health and mobility, broadening horizons, making new friends, and becoming more independent. We try to encourage as many blind and partially sighted children and adults as possible to participate, at whatever level they choose, from \'grassroots\' and leisure activities to the heights of the Paralympics.
The charity is a membership organisation open to all visually impaired children and adults. All our activities are run by the members themselves through sub-committees - we have committees for archery, athletics, bowls, cricket, football, goalball (a sport devised for the blind and for which BBS is the Governing Body), judo, shooting, swimming and ten-pin bowling. In addition there is considerable interest in chess, golf, riding, sailing, skiing & watersports. We also encourage visually impaired people to pursue their chosen sports through membership of their local able-bodied sports clubs.
We help our members organise and raise funds for all their sports activities, such as Schools and Adult Championships in athletics, swimming, goalball and five-a-side football. A knockout cricket competition is held during the summer and the final staged at Lord\'s Cricket Ground.
In 1989 we introduced "Have A Go" days to encourage blind and partially sighted people (particularly children) to try out a range of sports available to them. Two or three a year are held at various venues around the country and have proved to be very popular and helpful.
At International level committees select and coach children\'s and adult\'s teams, who are very proud to represent Great Britain at European and World Championships, and we raise funds to enable them to go. We work with the British Paralympic Association in selecting teams for the Paralympic Games, which follow on from the Olympics.
Our members receive a bi-monthly newsletter, which is also available to those interested in the work of the charity.
The charity has four full-time and three part-time staff, responsible to a Board of Trustees, the majority of whom are visually impaired. We need to raise a minimum of £400,000 per annum towards our activities, which is achieved through the efforts of our fundraising officers and members themselves. We do not have any regular income, and depend entirely on donations from companies, Trusts and individuals.