Dexter’s Braille Books

The BMCF (Bucks Masonic Centenary Fund) recently donated a £1000 to purchase a large guillotine, and artwork materials, to help produce braille books for young sight-impaired children.

Back in 2018 Buckinghamshire Freemasons raised over £3500 which included a donation of £500 from Winslow Lions to buy young Dexter Ward, who is severely visually impaired due to Congenital Glaucoma, a braille machine. This machine enabled his parents to make him braille books as there are very few available for young children.

Since then they have produced four books which follow the adventures of ‘Scruffy the Uffy’ These books are all giant font, tactile and in braille All the illustrations have been prepared with sight impairment in mind. Dexter loves the books and very soon, his mother, Julie-Ann received requests for the books from other families with sight impaired children. The books cost £8 and take an hour each to make so the donation from the BMCF will make it possible for her to produce many more books

Recently Dexter, who is now 4, was visited by Bucks Freemasons Phil Blacklaw & John Waller to see how he is doing.

They took him a TLC (Tender Loving Care) teddy which he loved (TLC is another charity that Bucks Freemasons support which supplies Teddy bears for young children in hospital). Julie-Ann showed them the impressive set of books she has produced and told them of her plans to continue to produce age appropriate books as Dexter grows and make them available to other sight impaired children