Welcome to Friends of Bristol Eye Hospital

Treatment for all patients has been greatly enhanced by our supporters.

For every £1 raised, we spend 95p supporting the hospital, 2p running the charity and 3p on publicity or raising funds.

Become a Friend

Join us for just £5 a year or support us in other ways.

Make a donation

You can donate in many ways, including cash, cheques, BACS, debit or credit card.

Read our newsletters

Please have a look at recent editions of our In Sight newsletter.

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To contact us, we recommend that you telephone or email (details in Contact).  We all work from home and post sent via the hospital can be delayed.  If you need to post anything, please call or email and we will give you a home address. Thank you.

Successful wine-tasting evening

The Friends recently held a fund-raising wine-tasting evening, which those attending said was a ‘great success’. Held in the prestigious Clifton Club, the event was a complete sell-out, with over a thousand pounds raised for the charity.

Hosted by Clifton wine merchants DBM Wines, six different wines were tasted – three white, and three red – from countries including Lebanon, Georgia and Romania. DBM Wines director Richard Davis related the history of each of the wines being tasted, which added enormously to the evening’s enjoyment.

There was also a raffle of prizes that had been generously donated. This, together with the sale of the charity’s Christmas cards, all added up to the final sum of money that was raised.

23 September 2024

Petition asking NHS to cover the cost of thinner lenses for children with myopia

As a charity we do not normally suggest to members and friends that they might like to support an online petition.

However, we recently saw one on the change.org website that we felt worth sharing.

The petition, which was started by Jessica Powell, explains that at the age of just four, her daughter was diagnosed with myopia and astigmatism in both eyes.

Please click the button below for the full story and a link to the petition.

12 September 2024
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Thanks to Heather Walker on her retirement

One of the longest-standing trustees of the charity that supports the work of the Bristol Eye Hospital has retired after 44 years as a member.

Heather Walker became a trustee back in 1979, shortly after the charity was launched.

The former secretary and later chairwoman of the charity, Dinah Harrison, has given a special thank you to Heather for the enormous amount of work she has carried out over this time.

13 September 2024
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New murals on Level 3

The Friends recently funded the painting of murals on Level 3 of the Eye Hospital. These are intended to boost the morale of patients and their families, and offer a momentary distraction from their time in the hospital, which may be stressful or anxiety inducing.

According to the Paintings in Hospitals charity, “art can help us stay well, aid our recovery from illness and injury, and support us to live longer, more fulfilling lives.”

The murals were designed and painted by Lizzy Naden, who is both an ophthalmic technician at the hospital and a professional visual artist.

13 September 2024

Staffroom kitchen area refurbishment

The Friends had last refurbished the Queen Anne Building’s staffroom kitchen in 2009, so it was not surprisingly showing signs of general wear. It had also suffered from two major water leaks and some of the kitchen cupboards had been damaged beyond repair.

The room is used by a much higher number of staff members than previously and was no longer fit for purpose. With the hospital trust currently only supporting urgent requests (and predominantly those relating to clinical areas), FBEH approved a request for new equipment, cabinets and wipe-clean worktops, a wipeable sofa and the removal and replacement of tiles with hygienic wall cladding.

13 September 2024

Staff recruitment video

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Click here to view the video on YouTube.

13 September 2024

The Five Brick Murals

Patients, staff and visitors to the Bristol Eye Hospital in Upper Maudlin Street are praising the FBEH-funded clean-up of the famous brick murals that are set into the wall to the left of the main entrance.

They were installed when the eye hospital was renovated in 1986. At that time they were the largest non-reinforced brick reliefs ever carved and were acclaimed as one of the finest public works of art in the country.

13 September 2024
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Thank you to all our many supporters

We strive to thank all our donors promptly – unless we are specifically asked not to thank them.

We receive many donations from people who choose to remain anonymous or who do not give us any means of contacting them to say thank you.  We regret being unable to thank such donors other than by expressing our grateful appreciation here.

There are also currently over 60 people who donate regularly – and some have done so for very many years.  Our longest regular donor made their first payment in June 1983!  The number of regular donors and the total they donate increases steadily every year.  We do not thank you regularly but please be assured that your donations are very warmly received and we are most grateful for your ongoing support.

27 September 2021, updated 17 January 2024

Chocolate can save your sight – perhaps

Good news for chocaholics – but only those who enjoy plain chocolate.

Italian researchers discovered that eating six small squares of dark chocolate a day can boost blood flow to the retina.

The retina is the delicate layer of tissue at the back of the eye, which converts light into signals for the optic nerve to send to the brain. It needs a constant flow of oxygen-rich blood to remain healthy. Retinal diseases are a major cause of sight loss, including age-related macular degeneration, a condition that affects one and a half million people in the UK.

The research, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, says that “a reasonable amount of flavanols-rich chocolate in healthy subjects has benefic functional short-term effects in retinal vessels.”

13 September 2024

From our archives

A young patient admires the inmates of the aquarium purchased by the Friends in 2011 in the then-new children’s unit in the Outpatient Department on Level 1.  The aquarium has been maintained by the Friends ever since and remains very popular with children.