MORE help is on its way to people with sight problems living in rural isolation - thanks to the South Lakeland Voluntary Society for the Blind's £310,000 National Lottery windfall.

The charity's dedicated team is delighted that it can now recruit three new members, to offer even more support and advice to people who are visually impaired.

A full-time outreach worker will be employed to visit people in their own homes, discuss problems they are experiencing - such as claiming benefits or reading their mail - and show them equipment such as 'big button' telephones and 'talking' clocks which can make their lives easier.

The charity has more than 50 volunteers who perform tasks such as helping in the office at Kendal's Stricklandgate House, raising funds, and taking some of the 450 members swimming or bowling.

The society can now afford to employ a volunteers' coordinator, who will offer support and training, and recruit new volunteers.

To cope with all the extra work, another office assistant is being taken on.

Chief executive Helen Garnett said many people with sight problems would not leave home unless accompanied by a friend or relative.

"Many of our clients are doubly disadvantaged because they are isolated in rural areas and they've got visual impairment as well," she explained.

Half of visually impaired people also lived "at the margins of poverty".

Margaret McClure, resource and information coordinator, said the lottery grant would make "a tremendous difference".

She said: "I feel there's a lot of people we are not reaching, and we will be able to reach them in future with the outreach worker, and through the volunteers, as well."

The charity is keen to stress that, although it has £310,000 to spend over three years, it still needs donations from the public.

For example, £4,000 is needed to buy a hi-tech Braille embosser.

Meanwhile, the society is inviting Gazette readers to think of a new, modern name, to reflect the fact that it helps anybody with sight problems - not just totally blind people.

The society can be contacted at Stricklandgate House, 92 Stricklandgate, Kendal, LA9 4PU, telephone 01539-726613.