About SRSB

Our Vision

To continue to be the primary source of services and support for people with sight loss in Sheffield and sight/hearing loss in Rotherham.

Our Mission

Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind (SRSB) and Rotherham Sight and Sound (RSS) provide opportunity, support, friendship and services to 5,500 people with sight and/or hearing loss in Sheffield City Region, helping them to achieve whatever they wish to do and whatever they aspire to be.

What we do

Formed in 1860 SRSB has a wide range of services to meet the needs of children and adults of all ages. This includes a team of 7 outreach workers advising people on a range of issues aimed at maintaining a person’s independence - a comprehensive welfare rights service, an outreach service with experienced staff supporting clients (pre-Covid visits in their own home), a specialist equipment centre, and a range of online activities. Pre-Covid in excess of 300-400 people per week visited our centres and we held a wide range of social, sport and leisure activities. More recently, we sent weekly activity packs to over 200 clients and children’s craft packs 6 times a year. We work closely with the health/social care sector to promote our services and we have a completely open referral system, including self-referral.

Our services improve our clients’ quality of life. In normal times we deliver these services primarily in the community, supported by the facilities at our Mappin Street Centre in Sheffield (see attached leaflet).

We support over 3,600 visually impaired people in Sheffield and a total of 5,500 across the Sheffield City Region. Our residential care home, Cairn Home cares for up to 30 people.

In addition, we are able to offer some support for people from outside Sheffield City Region if you are able to visit us at our Mappin Street Centre or our Ship Hill Centre in Rotherham.

SRSB Client numbers in Sheffield as at February 2021

Age Group SRSB

0 to 5 = 72

6 to 11 = 116

12 to 25 = 192

26 to 35 = 139

36 to 50 = 251

51 to 64 = 416

65 to 74 = 406

75 plus = 2,045

Whilst we are an independent charity we also work closely with government departments, local authorities, national charities, local charities and support groups to enable blind and partially sighted people to receive the most suitable support in an efficient manner.

Scope of the Organisation

As the predominant causes of sight loss in the UK are all linked to an aging population, we are experiencing a steady increase in the numbers of people we are supporting year on year. With the forecast explosion in the elderly population, we need to ensure that we have increased resources at our disposal to meet the anticipated increased demand for our services.

Covid 19

During lockdown our team of volunteers phoned all our clients to ensure they were okay and ask if SRSB could offer any additional support. One of the major issues for our clients was the feeling of isolation, loneliness and lack of mental stimulation. They missed the activities and social interaction provided by our centre. We have responded by providing a range of these activities online – some of which is referred to earlier in ‘What we do’.

Fundraising information

SRSB receives no government funding and relies on donations and bequests to fund its support services to thousands of local people with sight loss.

During Lockdown, social distancing restrictions have resulted in no public fundraising activity, face-to-face activities stopped and major charity events cancelled. Although we now have a planned route out of lockdown, the move to a cashless society and our continued need to socially distance, mean that community fundraising will continue to be impacted.

We are also aware that post pandemic, many people will have lost their jobs and reduced levels of disposable income mean many people will still not be in a position to donate. As society begins to get back to “normal”, it still may not be possible for SRSB to immediately recover our fundraising income, no matter how much we may need to.

Board of Trustees

For further information visit https://www.srsb.org.uk/Our-Board-of-Trustees/

We have 75 full and part-time, Mappin Street, RSS and Cairn Home.

We are supported by over 200 volunteers.

Additional information

Visit our website at www.srsb.org.uk