Wiltshire Sight has received £4,516 to fund specialist IT equipment for their Sight Advisers in the county.

The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation which offers grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities

Wiltshire Sight is an independent charity supporting people living with sight loss in Swindon and the surrounding area. The grant will provide the charity’s Sight Advisers with assistive technology including iPads and laptops to enable those with sight loss to enjoy content on their handheld devices through magnification, colour contrast and text to speech functions. These devices will also improve the information available to members at Wiltshire Sight Drop-Ins.

Sarah O'Rourke, Assistive Technology and Resource Coordinator at Wiltshire Sight said: "It’s really important to us that we have a range of equipment for our members to try out. This grant is great news for Wiltshire Sight as we can now demonstrate how much an IPad can support daily living as well as assist those living with sight loss in work, education and volunteering."

Anna Harding, Branch Manager, at Santander’s Devizes branch said: "The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations every year to good causes throughout the UK. Our branch is committed to playing a key part in the community and we are delighted to be supporting Wiltshire Sight, and hope the donation makes a real difference to local people with sight loss."

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Note to Editors
In 2015 the Santander Foundation donated £5 million to charities across the UK.


Media Contact

Sarah Webster at Santander           Tel: 020 7756 5533
George Wilson at Wiltshire Sight      Tel: 01380 723682

About Wiltshire Sight

Wiltshire Sight is an independent charity supporting people living with sight loss in Wiltshire and Swindon. We assist more than 2,500 people of all ages, as well as their families and carers. We offer information, advice and guidance, as well as giving people practical and emotional support to help them in their daily lives. We have a fully equipped resource centre at St Lucy’s in Devizes, offering state-of-the-art assistive technology products and low vision aids. For more information please visit: http://www.wiltshiresight.org/

About Santander

The Santander Foundation provides grants to UK registered charities that help disadvantaged people in communities where Santander has a presence. The Community Plus fund provides donations of up to £5,000 to small, local charities nominated by customers, staff and the charities themselves. Our Central Grants programme has grants of up to £10,000 available for education, training and financial capability projects. In 2015, £5 million was donated by the Santander Foundation to charities across the UK. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk/

Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its 1|2|3 products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. As at 31 December 2015, Santander UK was the most switched to bank, attracting 1 in 4 new retail customers. The bank serves more than 14 million active customers with c. 20,000 employees and operates through 921 branches and 66 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.