Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 28^th September 1953

A Look Round Darsdale

Living happily together in the rambling three-acres Darsdale Home Estate at Raunds, Northamptonshire, are 15 women.

Their days are spent cheerfully and contentedly despite their one common    handicap—blindness.

The oldest inhabitant in the home, jovial 89-years-old Mrs. Rachel Sarah Jolley, is an example to everyone at Darsdale. She always has a cheerful world for the other residents, and never appears depressed or irritable.

Many of the women at Darsdale are elderly. In fact, six are over 80 and another seven over 70.

Few go out to work, but many like to help with the light housework in the home. In their spare time they can interest themselves in such handicrafts as cane work and knitting. They also go for walks in the rambling gardens, using guide ropes to show them the way round.

Many find pleasure in listening to the wireless.

£1,500 extension

One of the younger women, Betty Humphries, has a job in a Raunds factory making dolls' clothes. She spends half the week in the factory, and the rest of her time she helps with the housework at Darsdale.

Do blind people work well? If Betty Humphries is anything to go by, they certainly do. Everyone thinks the world of her at the factory.

When Darsdale was opened in 1948, by the Duchess of Gloucester, there were six blind inhabitants; to-day the home is full with 15.

But now because some of the elderly residents find difficulty in climbing the stairs, an extension is being built. This will provide six extra ground floor bedrooms and will cost £4,500 to complete. This is yet another outstanding example of how Northamptonsihire people, through tine Northamptonshire (Town and County) Association for the Blind, care for the local blind.