Meet Isobel - resident at our New Wycliffe home
“It’s not my first time involved with Vista. I sat on the management committee for 26 years.” A resident of New Wycliffe for the last 5 years, Isobel is now very happily reaping the rewards of her careful planning sat on the Vista board of trustees. “I like this place; I feel very safe and secure.”
Fluent in braille and shorthand, which took her a whole year to learn, she’s happy with the opportunities and equipment available for her at the home that she can use the “audiobooks and braille stories”. Born with severe sight loss and with the last of her sight fading before her teenage years, she has never known better and refused to let it slow her down. “No one knew I was blind,” she said, “I just seemed to be quite clumsy, walking into doorframes and walls.”
A keen fan of the theatre, she really enjoys the visits with Vista to The Curve in Leicester city centre. Last Christmas she enjoyed the production of White Christmas, being joined by her family. Due to the accessible nature of the theatre it was very easy for her to get in and comfortable. But that wasn’t the most important thing she took away from the experience: “The loos are magnificent.”
The New Wycliffe Home has their own two-seater cycle which Isobel revels in riding. “It was wonderful” she said, although “I kept forgetting to pedal, and I was too busy sitting there thinking ‘oh, this is good!’” The New Wycliffe Home is forging new links with local charity Leicester Wheels for All to give more residents an opportunity to ride bikes and experience the wind through their hair. “It was thoroughly enjoyable”.
“It’s really relaxing here”, Isobel continued, “I quite enjoy watching movies when I can.” The lounge at the New Wycliffe home is equipped with a large television and an extensive collection of films and television boxsets for the residents to enjoy. “I’m quite the fan of a good Bond film and the classics like Hitchcock. He told fabulous stories.” Isabel enjoys the peace and quiet that you can get in the home and in her private room. “It really is calming.”