History

View Craft started in January 2004 following the closure of the Leisure-Link project which was administered by the Royal National Institute for the Blind and funded by a three year grant from the National Lottery. Leisure-Link ran various craft groups and activities for the blind and partially sighted people across East Sussex. When it closed down, View Craft was set up as an independent organisation run by volunteers and the visually impaired members to continue the craft group based at Herstmonceux. It obtained funding as a new project from the National Lottery (Awards-for-All) and has continued to raise funds for its annual running costs from various sources.

View Craft began in 2004 as a group of 35 people (22 blind and partially sighted members, 3 tutors and 10 volunteers). It became a registered charity in July 2005 and, over the years, has added more crafts and more members. Our more recent membership has seen a doubling of the original figure, but has dipped slightly since Covid. However, we are looking to increase both our membership and our volunteers, going forward.

We receive no state funding and raise money through the members' small weekly contributions, private donations, bequests, fund-raising events (e.g.coffee mornings, raffles, 20p collection tubes, sponsored walks etc) and by various grants from community groups and other charities