Galloway's Society for the Blind, also known as Galloways, is a

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

based in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England, which supports people with sight loss. It is one of Lancashire's oldest charities, established in 1867 following a public meeting in the Corn Exchange, Preston. It was originally the Preston Industrial Institute for the Blind, then the Institute for Blind Welfare and until 2000 the Preston and North Lancashire Blind Welfare Society. It is now named after William Wilding Galloway, a

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

merchant from Preston who left £40,000 to local charities including £10,000 to the society when he died in 1936.Information about William Wilding Galloway and the first two names of the Society was provided by the Society on its Facebook page 10 March 2012 The Society renamed itself in July 2000, to avoid its cumbersome previous name which was commonly abbreviated to the ambiguous "The Blind Society" and to honour its greatest benefactor. The charity now provides many services to over 7000 blind and visually impaired people across the county from its headquarters in

Penwortham Penwortham () is a town and civil parish in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, on the south bank of the River Ribble facing the city of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The town is at the most westerly crossing point of the river, with major road ...

near Preston and its offices in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

and

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

. The charity has developed an extensive programme of adult education and works in partnership with

Lancashire College Lancashire Adult Learning is an adult education college located in Lancashire, England . Courses offered by the college are aimed primarily at adult learners rather than recent school leavers, and include short courses, weekly courses, ESOL pro ...

The Adult College, Lancaster The Adult College was an adult education college located in the centre of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. The college was established in 1975, and moved to a site on Quarry Road overlooking the Lancaster Canal in 1990. The Adult College was n ...

, and

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Dar ...

. The provision of Talking Newspapers and Magazines is another one of its services producing over 3500 USB memory sticks and CDs each week. Current titles include ''Lancashire Evening Post'', ''Ormskirk Advertiser'', ''Lancaster Guardian & Morecambe Visitor'', ''Longridge News'', ''Garstang Courier'', ''Farmers Guardian'', ''

Methodist Recorder The ''Methodist Recorder'' is an independent weekly newspaper that examines events and current affairs within the Methodist community in Britain and worldwide. It has been published continuously since 1861, absorbing its major rivals the ''Watchman ...

'', ''The Catholic Voice'', ''

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

War Cry'', and ''Asian Awaz'' in Urdu. The charity provides Blind Awareness training to local organisations and undertakes

Braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

and CD transcription services. Galloways operates four Sight Advice Centres across Lancashire at Chorley, Preston, Southport and Morecambe from where a range of specialist equipment is available. The Society relies on

legacies Legacy or Legacies may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * " Batman: Legacy", a 1996 Batman storyline * '' DC Universe: Legacies'', a comic book series from DC Comics * ''Legacy'', a 1999 quarterly series from Antarctic Press * ''Legacy' ...

and donations to fund its activities and needs to raise over £1 million each year. A regular fund-raising event is the annual walk across

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is an estuary in north-west England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second largest ga ...

, which in 2017 had to be cancelled twice because

Queen's Guide to the Sands The King's Guide to the Sands, or, during the reign of a female monarch, Queen's Guide to the Sands, is the royally appointed guide to crossing the sands of Morecambe Bay, an ancient and potentially dangerous tidal crossing in northwest Engla ...

Cedric Robinson could not find a safe route because of high water levels. The

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

cafe "Brew Me Sunshine" in Morecambe, operated in association with Galloways, won the 2021 award for "Work and Training Social Enterprise of the Year" from Selnet, the Social Enterprise Lancashire Network. Its name derives from the

Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew; 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman; 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working ...

song "

Bring Me Sunshine "Bring Me Sunshine" is a song written in 1966 by the composer Arthur Kent, with lyrics by Sylvia Dee.Derek B. Scott, ''Sounds of the metropolis: the nineteenth-century popular music revolution in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna'', Publisher: ...

References

External links

* * * (history of Galloway's Society) Blindness organisations in the United Kingdom Charities for disabled people based in the United Kingdom Health and disability rights organisations in the United Kingdom Charities based in Lancashire {{UK-charity-stub