Every couple of years Bishop’s Stortford local Chris Lewis and his friends organise a pub crawl.
A pub crawl like you’ve never seen before!
Chris has been blind since he was a young child and so everyone taking part in this ‘pub crawl with a difference’ agrees to wear a blindfold for the duration! The idea is to raise awareness of the issues blind folk experience every day of their lives, whilst at the same time raising money for a local charity-US here at the Bishop’s Stortford Food Bank!
This year there were 6 people walking and a handful of fabulous volunteers who were tasked with explaining to the Stortford townsfolk what on earth was going on and collecting donations whilst trying to stop us from crashing in to street furniture and falling over!! It was quite an eventful afternoon and really does bring home how difficult simple tasks can be for blind and partially sighted people if, for example, cars park up the pavement or shops put A frames inconveniently!
We shuffled our way along using sticks to feel the edge of the kerb, and check for obstacles ahead (which often turned out to be someone’s legs!!) stopping at The Bridge House, The Castle, The Rose and Crown, The Dogs Head, The Star, The Half Moon and the Wheatsheaf where we were welcomed and supported by the wonderful Stortford public the whole way.
The sense of being totally dependent and vulnerable was evident as soon as we entered our first stop. Background noises, loud voices, uneven floor, obstacles such as chairs and bar stool all become problematic, not to mention knowing which card you’re handing over to buy a round! We were also baffled that not all of the road crossings we used had beeps! We would have had no idea that the Green Man was up had it not been for our helpers!
We were constantly asking which shops we were passing so that we could feel a bit more in control of the situation, and picture where we were, but we had the privilege of forming that picture, something that blind and partially sighted people would not have. We had our volunteers with us keeping us safe, however in a real situation, anyone could take advantage of us, or leave us, or ignore us Quite an overwhelming concept for us all, and we were only “blind” for an afternoon! It really did made us all think.
Thank you so much to the volunteers and to the blindfolded crew for taking part. Thanks mostly though to Chris Lewis and the wonderful Pam! They were incredibly patient with us all and we are so grateful to Chris for helping us out like this.
And lastly, thank you to YOU-the people of Stortford.
We raised an incredible £345! Way more than we thought!! INCREDIBLE!!
We could not do it without you!
