For over twenty years there has been a support group in Sutton for people suffering loss of central vision (macular degeneration).

Meetings are held monthly at the Friends Meeting House, Cedar Road. We are currently looking for two volunteers to take over the roles of Group Leader and Group Secretary and hope that two of your readers will consider taking on these worthwhile jobs.

The Macular Society, a charity based in Andover, will give all necessary help and advise and the retiring leader and secretary will work alongside the new recruits to ease them into the roles.

They are interesting and rewarding voluntary jobs and would be best suited to someone newly retired who would like to become involved with those who live with Age Related Macular Degeneration or may even have a friend or relative who has the condition. This is, in fact, the most common form of sight loss in older people.

The aim of the group is to bring together those who are suddenly given the information that they are likely to be registered as blind or partially-sighted in a matter of months. The future for them is suddenly very bleak.

Car driving, golf, reading and knitting, or seeing the faces of dear grandchildren become things of the past as life is suddenly viewed through "black blobs".

The group member discuss ways of coping with reduced vision and are kept up to date with progress being made towards finding cure. We like to reassure everyone that they can still enjoy a quality of life, friendship, holidays, outings etc and we offer a warm welcome at Cedar Road.

There is no funding from the government so we also organise fund-raising events to keep the group solvent and also to contribute towards the Macular Society Charity which helps fund the major research projects working towards a cure.

If anyone is interested please telephone Ruth James on 020 8661 1886 or e-mail: ossjoy@hotmail.co.uk.

Joy Osborn; Chairman, Macular Society Sutton Support Group

Send your letter to: letters@suttonguardian.co.uk.