Volunteers in vision

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'I realised there were people in the UK who needed help, particularly the homeless,' Paul says.

Gathering forces

Calling on friends and colleagues, he brought together a group of like-minded optometrists and dispensing opticians who were also keen to volunteer their skills.

The group decided to run a trial clinic at the offices of Crisis, which provides a host of services and resources for London's homeless. Volunteering their own time, the group ran the clinic for a week, and the demand for eye tests among homeless people proved to be so great that it was decided the clinic could run on a weekly basis. Thus Vision Care for the Homeless was formed, and each Monday the volunteers would attend to the visual care of some of London's most vulnerable people.