British Wireless for the Blind Fund (BWBF) is a British charity and a private company limited by guarantee. Founded by Sir Ernest Beachcroft Beckwith Towse in 1928, the organisation provides adapted radios and audio players on free loan to registered blind and partially sighted UK residents over the age of eight, where hardship circumstances can be demonstrated by receipt of a means-tested benefit.
Organisation
British Wireless for the Blind Fund has been providing specially adapted radios to visually impaired people for more than 80 years. It prides itself on providing a personal service to each individual who receives a new set.
For people with sight loss, life becomes a challenge; not just the difficulty of getting out and about, but also the everyday tasks that we take for granted - like turning on the radio in the morning to listen to the news, so the charity exists to help improve the daily lives of visually impaired people, who are unable to afford a specially adapted radio, by providing the equipment on free loan.
BWBF is committed to providing a choice of high quality, specially adapted radio and audio sets on a free loan basis, undertaking to repair or replace equipment free of charge if necessary and is also committed to monitoring new developments in radio technology and endeavouring to adapt these to the needs of recipients where possible. It is made up of a small team of 17 staff, most based at its head office in Maidstone, Kent, and four regional development managers who work around the country.
The charity is supported by a network of local agents, usually blind societies or local authority sensory teams. It also has around 45 trained volunteers who help across the charity. There are currently around 40,000 people with BWBF sets across the UK and the charity aims to distribute around 3,500 new sets each year.
History
British Wireless for the Blind Fund (BWBF) was founded in 1928 by Ernest Beachcroft Beckwith Towse, who had lost his eyesight in action during the Boer War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross. for two acts of bravery, the second of which cost him his sight. At the time of foundation, radios were commonly known as wirelesses. Although concession had been made in the 1926 Telegraphy (Blind Persons) Act, waiving the license cost for a wireless, the price of a radio was still prohibitive for many blind people. BWBF aimed to remedy this situation.
Winston Churchill broadcast the first BBC radio appeal for funds for the newly formed BWBF on Christmas Day, 1929, starting a tradition of broadcast appeals that continued until the 1980s. He said:
Following the appeal, the first 100 crystal radio sets made by Burne-Jones & Co Ltd were issued to blind people at a cost of 31/6d per set. Headphones cost 7/3d a pair. Winston Churchill made another Appeal at Christmas in 1930 asking for a further £20,000 to provide another 10,000 people with radios. He reminded listeners that it had been a year since he first appealed for the cause and wondered whether the year had gone quickly for blind listeners. He said that wireless brought the blind each night a pageant before their mind's eye. "That mysterious lamp of inner conscientiousness will be continually fed by your unfailing care. The blind will hear, and by hearing, see." By 1931, £37,000 had been raised and 17,000 radio sets provided to blind listeners. In 1932 Lord Snowdon made the appeal, asking for donations to provide 2,000 more blind people with sets. James Ramsay MacDonald, Labour Prime Minister between 1931 - 1935, continued the tradition and appealed for additional funds on behalf of British Wireless for the Blind Fund from his home in Lossiemouth on Christmas Day 1933.
Legislation, passed in 1945, exempted blind people from having to pay purchase tax on radios.
BWBF has had many distinguished chairmen since Towse. Of note is Sir John Wall who was chair from 1977 to 1991. A distinguished lawyer and high-court judge, Wall did not consider his blindness an impediment to his career and outside of his professional life, served the blind community in a number of roles. The first president of the fund was H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. later to become King Edward VIII.