As a local society supporting people living with sight loss our demographic is typically made up of older people. This means that quite often we receive that dreaded phone call with the bad news that one of our members has sadly passed away. We mourn every single one of them but this week I feel we must mention that our oldest member, Ivy, has sadly passed. Ivy was in her 103rd year and to the end fiercely independent. When I asked her once if I could write up her story I was dismissed abruptly as she couldn’t see how remarkable she was but it isn’t just her story I wanted to tell. You see Ivy had an extraordinary history with the society as her mother was also a member. Ivy used to tell the story of how her mother would take the tram to the society which must have been pre 1949 as that was when they stopped running in Southampton. What an incredible memoir for an organisation that has supported people with sight loss in Southampton since 1899. In times where we all scrabble for funding and constantly examine ourselves to develop strategies and fundraising plans and want to get bigger we must remember why we were formed, why we exist and who really matters. That is the legacy that Ivy has left us.
Ivy’s legacy – we must remember why we were formed, why we exist and who really matters
