Graham was one of SRSB’s longest serving volunteers who supported our charity in various roles. He become a well known face in the organisation whilst carrying out office work, guiding, collecting and helping at events as well as raising sponsorship! He was a very active volunteer who helped several charities and he was previously nominated as a ‘Diamond Champion’, which is a national award supported by The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

However, Graham was no stranger to Royal acknowledgment, as he had received an MBE previously!

Graham, a retired steelworker and D-Day veteran, first became involved with SRSB after seeing an article in a local paper. He initially contacted Dyane (who was SRSB’s Volunteer Co-ordinator) and took part in our Visual Impairment Awareness Training which aims to give our sighted volunteers a better understanding of sight loss.

He began working in the office as a Tele-Friend, contacting visually impaired people at home. This service aims to reach clients who may be quite isolated and not able to get out of their own homes very often. Graham also facilitated discussion conference calls with several clients at once.

He became involved with the Sheffield Visually Impaired Walking Group as a guide walker and made many great friends because of this role.

Graham was a regular volunteer at collections and fundraising events and has helped with many events including our ‘Walk for Sight’, concerts and our running events to name a few!

He took part in many races and he ran the Sheffield Half Marathon and also completed the London Marathon in just 3hrs 40mins at the age of 60! He also ran in the Great Yorkshire Run several times!

Graham explained why he enjoed volunteering so much ‘It just makes me feel good, knowing that you are helping others and not thinking about yourself. I wanted to help SRSB because I have a lot of empathy for people with sight loss. I also enjoy the social side of volunteering because you get to meet lots of people’.

We were lucky to have Graham as a volunteer considering his extremely busy lifestyle! We certainly think he was a ‘Diamond’, and were devastated when he passed away in 2020.