THE Bude and Holsworthy Macular Support Group, as with many other clubs and societies during the lockdown, have not met face-to-face with other members.

With other members who may be living on their own and being poorly sighted, coupled with the lack of computers, Zoom and other technology, it has made social contact out of the question.

However, the group leader, David Golding, with help from his wife, Laraine, devised a quiz they called the ‘Macular Mastermind Competition’ to be carried out on the telephone.

The quiz started with 27 members and friends and the first round of questions was mainly about the ‘50’s’ which brought back a lot of happy memories from our senior members. Using a knockout system, our ‘final’ was between Marjorie Williams and Sandra Willetts who was the winner by just one point.

The two finalists provided an insight in to their personal stories and experiences of sight loss.

Marjorie said: “In 2017 I moved to Devon with my daughter and son-in law, having previously received treatment for 10 years for Macular degeneration. I started to attend Barnstaple Hospital who have been marvellous and shown great care — not only with my eyes but also their kindness to me. In the hospital waiting room I started to read ‘Sideview’ magazine which gave details of the Bude and Holsworthy Macular Group run by David Golding.

“My daughter took me to my very first meeting (I didn’t really want to go) but everyone made me so welcome that it very soon became a meeting that I would really look forward to once a month. I’ve learnt a lot about the local area and listened to some wonderful talks and enjoy taking part in the raffle. The summer outings to the seaside by coach have left me with happy memories and I certainly look forward to the outings resuming when they can.

“I will be 91 in October and so hopefully have many years to come enjoying our Macular meetings, as after all, our oldest member is 103 and as bright as a button, so I’ve plenty of time.”

Sandra said: “Many people may know me through various voluntary groups since my family moved to Devon in 1986, having previously been born and lived in West London. As my sons became teenagers we loved coming to the West Country for holiday camping and decided to move here. We wanted to ‘fit-in’ with the local community, so we both joined different groups which was a great way of meeting people without trying to change things. However, once people found out about my working background, banking, administration and voluntary groups, I was ‘recruited’ and life got busy, but I do like people and being involved.

“As most people know, one of the main things was the League of Friends for Winsford Hospital in Halwill. We challenged the NHS about their closure and managed to keep the hospital open for a further three years, and when the property came up for sale in April 1999 we managed to raise the funds and buy it within that year. Unfortunately after a few years the trustees found it difficult and sold it [The Landmark Trust].

“One good thing that resulted from it was the group of volunteers who still wanted to continue with some of the things which had happened within Winsford, and they are a great community looking after each other. That’s the really good thing about living here, the community becomes your extended family.”