We (Chichester LC) have been collecting and sorting used spectacles for almost 22 years. It all began in 1980 with specs collected in and around Chichester, and a delivery of 700 sorted specs to the Missionary Optical Society (MOS) in Devon for use in their clinics in Kenya and India.

Our collecting area soon grew and other Lions Clubs started feeding their collections to us. Over the next four years some 50,000 specs were sent to MOS. in Devon.

In 1985 we linked up with the Le Havre Lions and Medico France and over the following five years some 100,000 specs, 43,000 lenses, and 10,000 frames were sent to Medico France while still delivering to the Missionary Optical Society as many pairs of sorted specs as they needed.

In 1988, another outlet was established through Vision Aid Overseas, and in 1990 Boots the Chemist and Help the Aged joined us in a national campaign which produced 460,000 pairs of specs in six months. Once sorted they went to places such as Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka, India, Zanzibar, Jamaica, Bolivia and Brazil. All that took more resources than the Club could sensibly provide.

Today we are receiving used spectacles from Lions Clubs throughout the UK, as well as from opticians and supermarket sources within our own city. Spectacles are delivered to us in boxes and bags of all shapes and sizes and are processed by our club members and other volunteers in our workshop at the Apuldram Centre south of Chichester

We use our considerable experience to select the items that are suitable for recycling and to sort them in preparation for onward transmission to Medico France in Le Havre. Medico France has the necessary equipment to clean and grade the spectacles ready for use in eye camps in Africa, India and Eastern Europe.

Last year we sent over 300,000 pairs of spectacles to Medico France. Through Chichester the UK Lions Clubs provide more than 50% of the spectacles processed by Medico France - more than any other national group including France itself.

Recycling of scrap material from broken and unsuitable spectacles yields funds which support the sorting operation and enable us to give financial support to eye related projects in the UK and overseas.  Since the inception of our Sight project we have donated approaching £135,000 to sight related schemes.