Love of swimming rekindled by CamSight befriending service
Ms Zhang said Lucy's recent assistance at the Cambridge Lido helped her get back into swimming."The lido is fantastic for visually impaired swimmers and I feel safe, supported and free," she said."As the pool is 90m in length, I feel less anxious about doing full strokes and I'm not going to run out of room quickly to turn at the end."She added lido staff had been "so helpful and happy" for her to have her guide dog, Amber, sat poolside.
The pair had also been to a yoga class.Lucy said: "I taught Jean some key poses for her to use at the next class when we go again. "The centre was incredibly accommodating and let Amber sit in the corridor while we had our class. I also helped Jean to outline the countries on some large maps in her study with a glue gun so she could learn geography of the world."I have learned so much about guide dogs and, of course, loved getting to know Jean too."Zoe Dunstan, a senior volunteer coordinator for CamSight, said: "When you match a befriending pair together, it's essential that you find out about lifestyles and interests. "Befriending is more than just conversations, though sometimes a good chat is all it takes to make a difference. "It's about enabling service users to reconnect with a hobby or activity they may have enjoyed before they became visually impaired and showing them how they can still try new ones."
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