North East Sight Matters

28/06/2025

We have had a lovely time with Veronika from The Pasta Shop in Darlington. Making fresh pasta from scratch was a wonderful sensory/tactile experience, and a bit of a work out!

This simple but delicious mixture can be fashioned into so many varieties of pasta. We tried a few different tools, and fillings and had great fun shaping the dough.

Everyone took a variety of their creations home to eat and we’re sure they’ll love it 🇮🇹

We have a few mini chefs going to try making their own at home.

Basic recipe;
100g ‘00’ flour 1 egg 🥚 or
45ml of a liquid.
Lots of kneading to help the gluten activate and then create your culinary delights 💙

Pasta provides energy and is a source of fibre.

What’s your favourite?

27/06/2025

Fabulous news. We can’t wait to visit again in August with our families 💙

🎉 Huge congratulations to Beamish Museum - officially crowned Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025! 🏆

From Georgian and Edwardian eras, to the 1940s and 1950s, Beamish brings the region's past to life like no other, and now the world’s largest museum prize (£120,000!) is heading to the North East. 👏

Chief Executive Rhiannon Hiles accepted the award from comedian and judge Phil Wang in Liverpool last night, calling it “a phenomenal achievement” and paying tribute to the incredible staff, volunteers, and supporters who make Beamish such a special place. ❤️

Over the past year, Beamish has:
🧱 Opened a new 1950s Town co-created with 32,000 community members
🏘️ Celebrated pioneering welfare history in new aged miners’ homes
👧👦 Welcomed 40,000 schoolchildren through immersive learning
🏅 And become the region’s most visited museum with over 838,000 visitors!

From all of us, a massive well done to the team at Beamish Museum. You’ve made Durham and the North East proud. Here’s to the next 55 years of living history!

Photo by David Oates.

27/06/2025

Thanks to our generous funders, we can now offer a fantastic residential weekend.

Some of our families have visited before and had a great time. We have since returned and delivered Vision Impairment Awareness Training, so centre staff are more aware of the needs of our families. 💙

Open to families registered with NESM.

We are returning to Carlton Lodge Activity Centre, Thirsk for two days of activities, independent living skills, and lots of fun. This residential stay is for VI children and young people aged 8 years and above, accompanied by a parent or carer. Adults are not expected to partake in the activities t...

27/06/2025

We are delighted to joining forces with VICTA UK and offering our children and young people the opportunity to be part of the young achievers awards.

Keep a look out for more details. We also have Tiffany Woods, Head of Activities and Strategic Programmes presenting at our Parenr/Carer meeting in July to provide further information 💙

26/06/2025

This is so easy and costs you nothing!
If you sign up to easyfundraising, we get paid when you shop.

25/06/2025

What a fantastic North East VI sports event. So wonderful to meet so many children, young people, parents, HAB specialists, support workers, QTVI’s and sports facilitators.

So many familiar faces, and even some of our NESM families taking part 💙

Accessible sports taster sessions including, cricket, goalball, tandems, baseball 💙

Well done to everyone involved!

24/06/2025

We now have a pair of the Ray Ban Meta Glasses to demonstrate.

These are proving to be a game changer for people with a sight-impairment. We will have them with us at our activities and events for our members to try. 💙

24/06/2025

We help families throughout the North East who have a child or young person impacted by sight impairment and often other disabilities or illnesses.

We have created a safe, non-judgmental and supportive organisation where children, young people and their families can enjoy accessible activities, events and skills workshops.

We are making a difference to the families, but we need money to operate. All our funding is through grant-making trusts, fundraising, and donations.

Since the beginning, North East Sight Matters (NESM), have been very grateful to individuals who, in their time of grief, have been kind enough to support the work we do by generously giving us a donation. This may be from a legacy or a collection at a funeral.

Gifts in Wills are crucial in supporting NESM, helping us provide essential services for sight-impaired children, young people, and their families. Many people who use this service choose to leave a gift to NESM but of course, there is no obligation to do so.

We know it’s easy to put off writing a Will, but having one in place is incredibly important. It ensures your wishes are respected and that the people and causes you care about are remembered in the way you choose.

We offer a FREE online will writing service via Octopus Legacy and would respectfully ask that anyone contemplating leaving a gift in their will, however small, consider supporting the work of NESM. Please click on the link below

Write an online will in 15 minutes. Save time and money, so you can focus on what's important. All online wills are checked by experts.