Feast your Eyes on this Ruby Anniversary Celebration

A COUPLE have marked 40 years of marriage by hosting a dine in the dark celebration and have raised over £700 towards vital eye research, as part of Fight for Sight’s Feast your Eyes initiative. 

Pauline Hayward, 61, and her husband Paul, 62, hosted their foodie fundraiser at Isla Gladstone Conservatory in Anfield on Saturday 29 October, along with 120 of their friends and family.

Pauline, a former nursery teacher at Hope Valley School and Paul, a retired Wavertree GP, asked their guests to experience the dessert element of their party in the dark by providing blindfolds to bring home the message of sight loss and the importance of eye research.   

The event was part of Feast your Eyes, which sees people from local communities and businesses across the UK come together throughout October to host a dinner party with a difference that will challenge their senses and help fund pioneering eye research.

The couple, from Allerton, were inspired to support Fight for Sight, the UK’s main eye research charity, and host a Feast your Eyes event as a result of their family and friends’ experiences with eye related conditions.

As Pauline’s close friend, Naomi, who attended the event, has nystagmus and optical atrophy and Pauline’s aunt also lost her sight through macular degeneration, the couple were keen to raise funds for the charity.

Commenting on the success of their Feast your Eyes event Pauline said: “Paul and I have seen first-hand how sight loss can have such an impact on a person’s life. We wanted to mark our anniversary and it’s a great way of getting everyone together and raising funds for an important cause.

“Not only was the event a lot of fun, we generated awareness of sight loss by wearing the blindfolds and it gave our guests a small taster of some of the challenges faced.

“It’s been fantastic to celebrate our ruby anniversary in such a unique way and raise over £700 for such a worthwhile cause – it has certainly been a milestone we will never forget.”

As part of Feast your Eyes groups of friends and colleagues alike have joined in and hosted events such as: a blindfolded breakfast, lights-out lunch, pitch black picnic, challenging cheese and wine or dinner in the dark.

Sharon Petrie, Interim Director of Fundraising at Fight for Sight, said: “We’re delighted that Pauline and Paul chose to commemorate such an important milestone in their lives by raising funds for Fight for Sight and thank them very much for their support.    

“Feast your Eyes offers a chance to play a part in raising vital funds for pioneering eye research.  We rely on the generous support from fundraisers to help fund vital eye research. Every day 100 people in the UK start to lose their sight and nearly two million people are living with sight loss. Fight for Sight funds pioneering research into a number of different eye conditions to help make sight loss a thing of the past.”

To make a donation to Fight for Sight please visit www.everydayhero.co.uk/event/FYE and click “Donate now”.