We would like to thank all our supporters for donating over the past year - your generosity has allowed us to achieve so much.

Below you will find updates on some of the projects that we featured in our appeals – these have changed the lives of hundreds of blind and visually impaired people.

We could not have done this without your support, and for that I am very grateful.  You, and generous others like you, gave nearly £100,000 to our appeals during the year, which has allowed us to do so much.

Without your continuing kindness many blind people would be living much more difficult, isolated and lonely lives.

I hope the stories below will inspire you and make you feel proud of what you have achieved.  At the same time, I hope you will give again to help blind people in 2012. If you haven't donated to us before, or it has been a while since we've had your support, I hope these stories will inspire you to action.

Jenny continues to help blind children and their families

“Raising a blind child is an experience filled with adventure!” explained one parent of a blind child.One of the children who benefits

They described in detail the ups and downs that they faced: “Some days are hectic, others are peaceful. Some days you are surprised at how far you and your child have come, and other days you are surprised by how far you still have left to go.

“Some days you celebrate your child's achievements, and other days you cope with bad news concerning your child's medical condition.”

You may remember that before Christmas, I told you the story of Jenny Holder, a Family Support Worker who is funded by the GLFB.

She is still hard at work. Over the festive period she helped families cope with the emotional rollercoaster of looking after a blind child.

With her help, many families overcame tough challenges to have a very happy Christmas, filled with love and hope.

I also wanted to let you know that Jenny and her colleagues have recently introduced a new way of helping families cope: “A few families have expressed an interest in meeting with other families to reduce isolation and share their experiences, with a view of helping them to cope with life in general.”

I am happy to report that this new project has begun, with informal meetings in the London office being attended by local families who find support and comfort in one another.

Jenny's amazing work continues thanks to your generosity.

Val from SeeAbility, one of our Member Charites, contacted us recently to tell us about one of their recent success stories.

We wanted to share it with you, as we think it is a touching example of how donations to the GLFB help transform visually impaired people's lives...

Chu Man

"I want to tell you about a particular success a 25 year old young woman called Chu Man has had. She has several eye conditions, which means she has an acute visual impairment and more recently she was diagnosed with cataracts.

"She has no verbal communication but that doesn't stop her from her enjoying the use of her other senses, through listening to music, eating out and spending time interacting with others.

"When we first met Chu Man, she had used a wheelchair for the previous 10 years, but when our specialist Rehabilitation team assessed her they could find no physical reason why she had to use a wheelchair all the time.

"Concerns about visual impairment are often misplaced, with safety being cited as a valid reason for people becoming unnecessarily reliant on a wheelchair as the only means of getting around.