I was privileged last Friday to be asked by Arwyn Jones, Chief Executive of Beacon Centre for The Blind in Wolverhampton, to cut the ribbon on the opening of the UK’s (and probably the worlds) first opticians owned and operated by a charity and to speak at their 140th birthday party and black tie event in the evening.

Everyone at Beacon made our visit special simply because they are so dedicated to the cause of looking after the nations eyes.

Beacons new opticians is a genuinely enterprising business model because it seeks to combine commerciality with genuine care of its customers. Any money made is ploughed back into supporting the visually impaired which is as worthy as it gets.

Taking care of our eyes is essential and Beacon Opticians are well placed to do just that.

It is not necessary to be seriously visually impaired to use Beacon as your opticians and they carry most of the prestigious and glamorous frames that you might expect from a high street chain.

If you live in the West Midlands or anywhere else come to that why not give Beacon Opticians a try for your next eye test by visiting www.beaconvision.org/beacon-opticians-plus

Once you have your prescription you can use the mail order division for additional glasses so even if you live many miles away you can be sure of getting the very best service.

I have mentioned Beacon Opticians to a friend in The United States who intends to visit when he is next in the UK so it really doesn’t matter where you live.

He was enthusiastic that a charity for the blind had created a social enterprise to look after the eyesight of the wider public- as he said it’s a brilliant initiative.

Who better to look after your eyesight than an organisation that has been doing it successfully for 140 years?

Beacon is a truly inspirational organisation with dedicated staff and supporters so by using them you are helping people whose vision may not be as good as yours.

Imagine what it must be like to be blind or have serious eyesight loss! Imagine trying to put the kettle on or remove a boiling saucepan from the stove.

At the dinner in the evening some of us tried eating pudding when wearing a blindfold. By the end of it I was mostly wearing pudding!

Reading has been a huge part of my life for 60 years so taking care of my eyes is important to me. For that reason and the fact that I can get all the best frames from Beacon I have chosen to use them as my opticians in future despite them being 100 miles away.

Once the eye test is done the rest can be done by phone or online so why worry about distance.

Try them yourself and let me know how you get on. I’m certain that you will get the best care from a highly qualified and dedicated team who are part of an organisation who have been caring for people’s eyes for 140 years.

I doubt that there is another opticians in the world with that accolade.