Monmouth Vision Impaired Group held its first meeting of 2023 recently and was well supported.

In the absence of the chairperson, the secretary Angela Hoyle was pleased to welcome new members and ensured everyone had a programme of events for the year.

The guest speaker was Stuart Ling from Humanware who gave a very impressive demonstration of the latest solutions for improving the quality of life for people with vision impairment.

These ranged from a simple hand-held device that could be easily put into a pocket or handbag to hands-free devices useful for reading, hobbies, removing splinters etc.

Device screens can now offer a choice of background colours with contrasting fonts and some will take instant photos of a page enabling it to be read back with a choice of natural sounding voices.

Members were able to try out various devices during a lively session and were particularly impressed by the one that facilitated the reading of prices on low and high shelves in supermarkets.

Mark Brock the Rehabilitation officer for Monmouthshire later joined the event.

MONVIG is a friendly group where regular members make newcomers welcome over tea and cake.

The next meeting will be an informal coffee morning from 10.30 am onwards at Estero on Thursday, February 16. Anyone interested in the group is welcome to join us.