The residents at The Princess Alexandra home are looking to raise funds for an Interactive Touchscreen table. Many of the residents are visually impaired and hard of hearing so your usual laptops, tablets and mobile phones are not the best for communicating with loved ones. The Interactive touchscreen table however is built with speakers and size of the table means that it is more user friendly for the residents to connect with loved ones. Some of the residents families do not live close and being able to connect like this would certainly help with their mental well being.

In addition they can also use the table for individual and group sessions as it has many apps where they can play games and interact, keeping their minds active whilst having fun. The table is also wheelchair friendly and is portable so for residents that are less able in mobility this would be fantastic as we can take the table to them in the privacy of their own room so it will be inclusive for all.

More recently we were approached by a Care home, Resthaven in Australia to see if we had a particular resident staying with us. The lady called Maureen, 84 was looking to reconnect with her pen-pal that she had written to for years. Shirley, 88 was the lady that Maureen was looking for and she now lives at The Princess Alexandra Care Home, part of N-Vision; The Blackpool Fylde and Wyre Society for the Blind. They have now continued their friendship with with each other by upgrading from traditional handwritten letters to Zoom calls.

Shirley and Maureen became Pen-pals when they were at high school at the age of 14 when it was arranged by the schools they attended. Since then, they have shared a lot of their life experiences with each other. Over the years, they have sent so many letters and photographs, but, for some reason, they had never actually seen one another in person.

They have only spoken on the phone twice-once when Maureen's daughter Pam won a radio competition for the first international phone call placed from local radio station 5MU in Australia, and once again many years later.

After connecting through the staff at both Care homes, Shirley and Maureen were keen to take their friendship to the next level. The next three months consisted of back-and-forth communication between staff at N-Vision and Resthaven Murray Bridge to plan a Zoom call, taking into consideration time zone differences and COVID restrictions.

Shirley and Maureen were finally able to speak and see one another in real-time via Zoom in May.

Needless to say, there were tears of joy from both of them.

They now both look forward to regularly being able to communicate with each other and share stories in the future with the help of modern technology. The purchase of the interactive table would make the zoom calls so much easier for Shirley as they have better sound and the larger images than that of a laptop. They have been friends for so many years and have lived through so much together and now have a monthly zoom call set up to continue their beautiful relationship.

Please help us to raise the valuable funds to enhance the lives of these wonderful people who live at The Princess Alexandra Care Home. It would mean so much to them.