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Alan will be talking about his personal situation and the importance of the charity. Alan's talk is very much from the heart and as he has lost his sight so late on in life he is able to offer a very real picture of what its like to be blind.
Alan Fletcher was an engineering manager at BMW when he lost his sight in his 50's due to a genetic condition.
In May 2006 Alan received his first guide dog called Joy. Until Joy arrived Alan was one of 180,000 visually impaired people in the United kingdom that couldn’t leave their house alone. He completely lost his confidence and independence and his wife Shirley had to take him everywhere.
After a month long training course from home Alan was told that he and Joy had qualified. He could now go out alone with Joy.
Quickly Alan learned he could put his trust in Joy and she kept him safe wherever they went and a great bond grew between them.
Joy gave Alan back mobility, freedom, confidence and independence.
Together Alan and Joy spread the word about Swindon Guide dogs starting with talks in schools and to all sorts of community groups in the Swindon and North Wiltshire area.
Joy guided Alan to to talk to about 20,000 people over a five year period and was a great ambassador for Swindon Guide dogs as well as the national charity too.
Sadly, at the age of eight and a half years Joy had to be put to sleep.
Shirley and Alan were absolutely devastated and Alan was instantly back to losing his confidence, independence and freedom.
Alan now has a new guide dog called Nutmeg. Together they continue their work of not only raising funds to train the next generation of guide dogs but also highlighting the truly brilliant work that The guide dogs do for blind people within our community.