News and What's On

2010 - Torch Year of Promise

Posted: 5th January 2010 by Dr Gordon Temple

2010 – Torch’s year of promise!

A New Year message from CEO Dr Gordon Temple

During 2009 Torch Trust celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Our vision, our passion has been and remains that every blind or partially sighted person may:

explore and discover the Christian faith
grow as a Christian
have a fulfilling devotional life
join a church of their choice
develop their invaluable God-given gifting
contribute to the life of the church

We have experienced the faithfulness of God in the 50-year story of Torch. Our sights are now on the future, our faith strengthened by our experience of God’s faithfulness in the past. Though so many lives have been touched and so much achieved, the need has never been more compelling:

In the UK, 100 people learn every day that they are losing their sight and 1.8 million people live with sight loss beyond correction with spectacles – a statistic that will double by 2050.
Worldwide, 160 million people are blind or partially sighted. They are counted among the poorest people on the planet, and arguably with the least access to the Christian message.

If the needs are greater, so are the opportunities!

Never have we known such an appetite for what Torch does among blind and partially sighted people and among the organisations that serve and support them – with growing interest in our Fellowship Groups, our specialist holidays and, of course, our Christian literature in a range of formats. We are welcomed at exhibitions, events and conferences run by ‘blindness’ organisations of all kinds. We are encouraged by the UK Vision Strategy published by Vision 2020 and the RNIB in 2009, particularly in that it identifies the emotional support needs of people experiencing sight loss – an issue which Torch has long recognised and to which we respond though several aspects of our work.

2010 to be Torch’s Year of Promise!

We enter the New Year with a sense of expectation – despite the financial challenges of the present time, to which Torch is not immune. Looking back over the past 50 years we have seen God’s faithfulness and we are encouraged in our faith as we grasp the opportunities before us. The seeds of good things are evident in every area of our work:

· Our Foursight for the Church initiative has attracted registrations from almost 600 churches.

· Increasingly we are finding ourselves in mutually constructive relationships with other organisations working in areas of access for those with sight loss, and that includes a new initiative to make worship resources more accessible.

· We are working towards the launch of a new MP3 disk service for audio readers.

· Following the outstanding success of the DAISY format audio Bible, a King James DAISY version will be ready next year in time for the 400^th anniversary of the translation’s first publication.

· There is interest from many areas in starting up new Torch Fellowship Groups.

· Growing numbers of people with sight loss are coming on Torch Holidays.

· Our international work is experiencing fresh growth, with an increasing network of mutually supportive partnerships and the prospect of a facilitating role in a massive project providing braille Scriptures in many more languages starting in 2010.

In Luke 14 we read Jesus’ story of a great celebration. Invitations went out to those who expected to be invited but their response was indifference. With the banquet ready but an absence of guests, the host sends his servants out onto the streets to those who would never expect a party invitation – blind people among them – to invite them personally. Torch has a global vision for its work – but it’s realised in a myriad of personal encounters. So much now depends on each of us – the Master’s servants – to bring the personal touch. A Happy New Year to all our friends and supporters! Please pray with us that 2010 will be for Torch a Year of Promise fulfilled!

God bless you, Gordon

CHRISTIAN PERSONALITIES CONTRIBUTE TO CHARITY'S BOOK

Posted: 16th December 2009 by Torch Trust

A dozen leading Christians have contributed comments on their favourite Bible verses to a devotional book of 50 Bible readings just published to mark the 50th anniversary of Torch Trust.

Richard Atkinson, Marilyn Baker, Richard Bewes, Steve Brady, David Coffey, Mike Endicott, Michele Guinness, Peter Jackson, Jonathan Lamb, Jennifer Rees Larcombe, Jeff Lucas, Roy Searle and Derek Tidball are among those who have written for 50 STEPS FORWARD. Alongside them are writers drawn from Torch staff and volunteers, from those who use Torch services and from those who enable Torch work to happen around the world. Almost half the contributors are blind or partially sighted.

‘Since prayer and God’s Word are foundational to the work of Torch Trust, this book of short Bible readings, comments, praise and prayers is a really appropriate way to mark our golden jubilee year,’ said Torch CEO Gordon Temple.

‘As well as marking the historical milestone, the book is an invitation to everyone to join us on a 50-day journey of prayer which we believe will be a personal blessing to readers as well as to Torch Trust,’ he added.

50 STEPS FORWARD, a 128-page paperback, is published simultaneously in print, giant print, braille and audio formats. It’s available from Torch Trust at £5 a copy (plus postage where applicable) by calling 01858 438260 or emailing info@torchtrust.org

'Fantastic and memorable weekend!'

Posted: 30th November 2009 by Lin Ball

Well over 400 people attended the thanksgiving service at the Harborough Leisure Centre on Saturday 28 November. Representatives came from local churches; groups of blind people came from all over the UK and from several European countries. The music for the afternoon was led by Torch chair of trustees Marilyn Baker and the Torch Singers. Presentations were made by the four leaders of the different aspects of Torch work – Janet Stafford for the international ministry, David Palmer for the regional fellowship groups; Gail Millar for the holidays for blind people; and Lydia Tebbutt for the literature work, the transcribing of Bibles and Christian literatures into braille, giant print and audio formats. Gordon Temple presented Torch ambitions for the future – that no blind or partially sighted person should be denied the opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel message, to grow in their faith, or to become a fully valued member of a local church community. Tributes were also paid to the co-founder of Torch, Stella Heath, who died recently.

Before and after the service, Torch House was open and hundreds of people visited to see the displays and buy materials for those with sight loss. About 90 people stayed at nearby Hothorpe Hall for a full weekend programme of anniversary events.

‘There was a great sense of reunion throughout the whole weekend,’ said Gordon Temple. ‘People who had been associated with Torch throughout its half century came together to reinvigorate old friendships and make new ones.’

COME AND CELEBRATE WITH US!

Posted: 26th November 2009 by Lin Ball

Torch is celebrating 50 years since its foundation as a charitable trust. We will be thanking God for our history and praying for his blessing and direction for the future in a wonderful weekend programme of events.Central to the weekend is a SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING and THIS IS YOUR INVITATION TO JOIN US!When: Saturday November 28 from 2.30pm.Where: Harborough Leisure Centre, Northampton Road, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9HF.What: A lively 90-minute programme of celebration in song, prayer, special guests and memories, concluding with the cutting of an anniversary cake and sharing in refreshments. Additionally, Torch House, adjacent to the leisure centre, will be open from 12 noon to 2.30pm and from 4pm to 6pm with special displays, sales and refreshments.WE’D BE DELIGHTED TO SEE YOU!

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND - 27-29 November 2009

Posted: 17th November 2009 by Gordon Temple

Our year of golden jubilee will come to a fitting climax in a thanksgiving weekend at Hothorpe Hall, a Christian conference centre not many miles from Torch House in Leicestershire.

Gordon Temple, Torch CEO, looks back on the 50 years of Torch Trust and on this year of celebration:

Looking back, looking forward

Fifty years ago, on 8 June 1959, Ron and Stella Heath formally took on the trust formed by the elderly Trench sisters and The Torch magazine which the sisters had started in 1931. The Torch Trust was born. Today Torch Trust, still proifty years ago, on 8 June 1959, Ron and Stella Heath formally took on the trust formed by the elderly Trench sisters and The Toviding Christian literature and fellowship for blind and partially sighted people, has around 40 staff supported by more than a thousand volunteers. Seven magazine titles serve a readership of over 14,000 spread through almost 100 countries. Up to 200 Christian book titles a year are transcribed into braille, giant print and audio to make them accessible to those with sight loss. Almost 1,900 borrowers use the Torch Library, one of the largest Christian lending libraries for blind people in the world, with about a hundred books a day being exchanged. Torch runs over 20 specialist holidays and houseparties for blind people every year. It supports over 120 Torch Fellowship Groups around the UK.

Torch is also very active internationally, fostering partnerships to reach out to blind and partially sighted people around the globe. There are around 80 fellowship groups to support people with sight loss in Malawi and others in surrounding countries, and Torch’s braille production centre in Malawi has been turning out African language scripture portions for nearly 10 years. It’s particularly good to extend a warm welcome to some of our overseas friends who are with us this weekend.So there is much to thank God for. Indeed, we have spent this whole year celebrating what, through his grace, has been achieved. To mark the golden jubilee of Torch we have organised or been present at a significant number of special events this year:

· We celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of the extraordinary Louis Braille with a unique and moving non-denominational service of thanksgiving at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, London.

· We have raised awareness of the world of blind and partially sighted people with some highly original interactive displays and seminars for thousands of Christians who attended Spring Harvest at Skegness and Minehead at Eastertime, the Christian Resources Exhibition in May and at other events through the year.

· We launched the new DAISY complete Bible – the most accessible audio Bible ever for blind and partially sighted people.

· We held a Day of Prayer at Torch House and at Torch Holiday & Retreat Centre on 8 June, the actual anniversary date of the birth of the Torch Trust and planted trees at both centres to mark the occasion.

The joy that we experience in looking back gives us great confidence in looking forward. We know that the same God who has provided for Torch in dedicated staff and volunteers and in funding for our work will continue to bless and equip for all he plans for us to do.

Though much has been achieved there is much more to be done. Though we serve thousands of people with sight loss there are many thousands more who know nothing of what is available to them through Torch – people who need the touch of Jesus on their lives. And too often Christians who lose their sight go for years before they discover Torch and the resources that can support a fulfilling Christian life of worship and service. There are too many places without a Torch Fellowship Group, too many books never published in accessible formats, too many living lonely lives who could be blessed by a Torch Holiday, and too many places across the world where blind and partially sighted people are without Scriptures and trapped in poverty.

Pray for us as we seek God’s direction and the resources to respond ever more effectively to the needs before us.

STELLA HEATH -

Posted: 30th September 2009 by Lin Ball

The loss has been announced of ‘a very down-to-earth visionary’ who left behind a lasting legacy which has touched the lives of thousands of people with sight loss in the UK and around the world.

Stella Heath died on September 29, aged 89, in the fiftieth anniversary year of the Christian charity of which she was a key founder – Torch Trust for the Blind.

Stella, together with her husband Ron who died 10 years ago, opened their Surrey home in the 1950s to young blind people from a nearby training centre. When one young woman responded to their Friday night gospel epilogues by deciding to follow Christ, Stella and Ron became concerned by the lack of Christian reading material for those with sight loss. They learned braille and recruited volunteers to make braille and giant print books, and later audio recordings. In the words of Dr Gordon Temple, current CEO of Torch Trust, ‘their God-given vocation began to crystallise.’ Their call came from the challenge of Jesus to the disciples before the feeding of the five thousand: ‘You give them something to eat.’

‘Some fifty years later, not five thousand but tens of thousands of blind people have been impacted for good,’ said Gordon Temple.

‘Over that time, I have never known Stella’s passion dulled or commitment waver, even in the aftermath of a stroke in 2006.’

Stella was a homemaker. The work with blind people took over her home and when it was outgrown she searched not for an office but for a larger home, and then one larger still. The family ethos of Torch has remained and is still nurtured.

Gordon Temple describes the Torch work from the time he first encountered it as ‘living witness to vibrant and authentic Christianity.’

‘Here was faith at work. It was a daily adventure in trusting God, praying and expecting answers - at the same time demanding and joyful.

‘Into the Heaths’ homes came many fragile and broken lives, young and old, often lonely, with the self-esteem crushed out of them, many of them blind and partially sighted. Each was made to feel significant. Stella was always able to capture the imagination of others and engage them in the work she found so compelling and indescribably worthwhile. Her homely straightforwardness belied her underlying strength as a great leader. And she opened the door to salvation in Christ for many, many people.

‘Stella’s focus was always on the individual. A blind person in need – whether those needs were practical or spiritual – was always her chief concern. Torch was built on a myriad of personal encounters.

‘Stella was a very down-to-earth visionary. She and Ron, with whom she had an extraordinary partnership, never worked at long term plans – not even an annual budget for Torch. They tackled each day as it came, eagerly seeking the clues to God’s leading for them and the work.’

From such humble origins, Torch today operates a large Christian lending library for those with sight loss from its Market Harborough headquarters, transcribing up to 200 Christian titles a year into accessible media. It sends out magazines to blind people in 100 countries, supports 120 fellowship groups and runs over 20 specialist holidays and houseparties a year. Forty years ago, Stella Heath launched the Torch work in Africa, where now there’s a production centre in Malawi transcribing braille and giant print scriptures and eighty fellowship groups giving a variety of support to blind people in several African countries. This international ministry remained close to Stella’s heart throughout her life.

A service of thanksgiving for Stella Heath’s life was held on October 16 at St Mary’s Church, Pulborough in West Sussex.

Just published is 50 STEPS FORWARD, a 128-page book of Bible readings, comments and prayers from 50 contributors – including Stella Heath and a number of well-known Christian names – produced to celebrate Torch’s fiftieth anniversary. It’s available from Torch Trust at £5 plus postage. www.torchtrust.org

This picture of Stella 'Mum' Heath was taken in August 2009.

Torch on national DAB radio

Posted: 22nd September 2009 by Gordon Temple

Premier Christian Radio has launched its national DAB radio service and so Torch's Insight programme goes national. Tune in at 4pm each Sunday afternoon to hear a welcome from Marilyn Baker and to listen to interviews, testimonies and more - all with a disability dimension.

Premier Christian Radio is also available on the internet via the Links page

Torch Foursight Video

Posted: 10th September 2009 by Gordon Temple

Torch has produced a video for use in churches to bring home the challenges that blind and partially sighted people often experience in church life - and to introduce Torch's Foursight for the Church initiative that offers churches helpful guidance and resources. Why not request a copy of the DVD to show to your church or group - and register at www.torch-foursight.org to get a copy of the Foursight church pack. The video can be previewed on YouTube.

The same book, at the same time, at the same price

Posted: 6th July 2009 by Lin Ball

Why shouldn't people with sight loss be able to borrow or buy books as easily, as cheaply and with as much choice as everyone else?

Torch Trust is passionate about giving blind and partially sighted people access to the Christian literature they need to find faith, grow in their Christian lives, develop their gifts and participate fully in church life.

To find out about Torch's membership of The Right to Read Alliance which campaigns for these rights, go to the Right to Read in the Literature area of the website.

Torch celebrates 50 years

Posted: 1st June 2009 by Lin Ball

Torch Trust, a Christian organisation serving blind and partially sighted people, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this month (June 2009).

The story began when Stella and Ron Heath opened their home to blind young men and women from a training school in Surrey. They were confronted with how difficult it was for blind people to be included in church life and to have access to the Bible and other Christian books. The Heaths learned braille and recruited volunteers to help them in the work of transcribing, later moving into making audio recordings. On June 8, 1959, they formally took over a magazine for blind people called The Torch and the formative trust behind it.

Under their pioneering and inspirational leadership, the work grew amazingly. Twenty years ago they expanded the work into Africa, setting up a braille production centre for African scriptures in Malawi. Today Torch Trust provides Christian literature for thousands of blind people and reaches into 100 countries. It also runs the largest Christian lending library in the UK for those with sight loss, with over 3,500 titles in a mix of braille, giant print and audio formats. Torch also supports over 120 fellowship groups for blind and partially sighted people around the UK, and puts on a programme of specialised holidays every year from its own holiday and retreat centre in Sussex.

A series of celebratory events throughout the year marks the 50^th anniversary. These began in March with a thanksgiving service for the bicentenary of the birth of Louis Braille at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London and continued at Eastertime with interactive display stands and workshops at Spring Harvest.

On the actual anniversary date of June 8, Torch staff, volunteers and supporters will gather for a Day of Prayer at Torch House in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.

Torch’s Chief Executive Dr Gordon Temple said, ‘The day will be one of thanksgiving to God for 50 years of growth and blessing – but it’s also about the future. There’s much to be done to fulfil Torch’s aims to reach more people with sight loss. In this country alone, 100 people every day learn that they are losing their sight.’

The organisation will continue its raised profile with presence at more Christian and secular conferences and events over the summer. And in November there will be an Anniversary Weekend.

Marilyn Baker, well known as a singer and songwriter and now Chair of Torch Trust said, ‘Torch has been so important to my own Christian journey. It’s not just the access to books and magazines in braille or audio formats, it’s about being accepted as a person and as a Christian. The love and pastoral help given to me by the Heaths, the Torch founders, gave me the confidence to embark on my own ministry. I want to see everyone with sight loss not only accepted within the Church but becoming truly part of it and enabled to lead a fulfilling Christian life.’