A blind charity worker who colleagues describe as ‘chatty’ is to take on a personal challenge as part of as fundraising campaign to mark the 220th anniversary of Norfolk’s sight loss charity – a 12 hour sponsored silence.
Ed Bates, who is the co-ordinator at Vision Norfolk’s Great Yarmouth hub, will remain unaccustomedly mute from 8am until 8pm on Wednesday 16th July – a day which will include a coffee morning for local vision impaired people, a yoga session run by the charity, and a session with his personal trainer at the gym after work.
Mr Bates is taking on the silence as part of Vision Norfolk’s 220 challenge, which is an ambitious fundraising campaign with the aim of raising £220,000 to boost the support if offers people living with sight loss across the county, during its 220th year.
“The fact that my colleagues describe me as ‘chatty’ says it all about how big a challenge this is going to be for me,” he said. “I’m not quite sure how I am going to be able to resist the temptation to join in the many conversations which go on during the course of every day here at the hub.
“When you have no sight, speech becomes even more important, because of course you don’t have access to the various visual cues and forms of communication which sighted people can use.”
Anyone wanting to support Mr Bates’ quiet fundraising efforts can do so by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/page/edward-bates-2.
