TAVISTOCK Lions Club this week issued a big 'thank you' to the many people in the area who have donated pairs of unwanted glasses which have been sent abroad to people in need in third world countries.

Recently, the club made a further shipment of around 300 pairs and the Lions would like to take this opportunity of thanking everybody who has been kind enough to donate their unwanted specs — and Tavistock Library for acting as the collecting point.

Lions Clubs world wide have always been great supporters of sight related projects and as far back as 1925, Helen Keller, who was blind as well as deaf, challenged the Lions to become 'knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness' and in fact the Lions Clubs in America were responsible for promoting the use of the white stick by the blind.

Through the Lions International project 'Campaign SightFirst', nearly £330-million has been raised worldwide since it was started in 1990.

The money has been used in more than 1,000 projects in 102 countries to restore sight to nearly eight million people through cataract surgery, prevented serious vision loss for 30 million people and improved eye care services for hundreds of millions.

It has also been used to help expand eye hospitals and clinics, educate the public, distribute sight-saving medication, train eye care professionals and establish sustainable eye care systems in underdeveloped areas.

Tavistock Lions Club supports this project by making donations from their fundraising activities and in the last two years have organised public events in Bedford Square highlighting the worldwide problems with preventable blindness and what the Lions Clubs are doing to help its eradication.

However, used spectacles are still desperately needed and the club hopes that when people have new ones that they will donate the old ones to this worthy cause by taking them to Tavistock Library.