As we all come together for the National Service of Remembrance this Sunday 10 November and observe the 2 minutes of silence at 11am to commemorate the brave sacrifice of all those who lost their lives for their country.   Blind Veterans UK the national charity for vision-impaired ex-service men and women will be supporting their blind veterans in making the journey to London to march past the Cenotaph, or to mark the important occasion at events closer to home. RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby...

In this series, archaeologist Simon Tinsley guides us through one of the most dominant, but least understood powers in ancient Greece, the Spartans. In this episode, he looks at the evidence that historians use to study the Spartans.  

As we move from week 7 into week 8 of Strictly Come Dancing our RNIB Connect Radio Strictly Star Reviewer blind ballroom dancer Shaun Hayward is back reflecting and commenting on how well blind Liverpudlian Comedian Chris McCausland and his Professional Dance Partner Dianne Buswell have been faring in the competition.  Our Toby Davey began by asking Shaun how he felt Chris and Dianne had done with their Tango to ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ by Kiss as after the judges scores they ended up in the...

There’s not long to go now before the Self Assessment Tax Deadline, Hywel Davies has been speaking to HMRC to find out how accessible the process is for blind and partially sighted people. For more information, you can visit the HMRC website - Self Assessment tax returns: Overview - GOV.UK Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB’ written in bold black capital letters and underline with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio’ is written in black in...

Jonathan Abro continues his art adventures in Colombia and Venice. Tune in to 'The Lunch Break' on RNIB Connect Radio every weekday from 12 noon to 1pm for more Travelogues. Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB’ written in bold black capital letters and underline with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio’ is written in black in a smaller font. 

Hubert brings your weekly update on the world of social media.

Blind content creator, disability advocate and host of the Happy Hour Show on RNIB Connect Radio, Claire Sisk has just become an RNIB Ambassador!  Claire Sisk’s sight loss journey began after experiencing two strokes in 2009. She started her social media channels 'Can See Can't See' to educate and break the stigma around sight loss and has supported RNIB’s work throughout the years. She spoke about the announcement with our Paulina Kuchorew. Image shows Claire. She's sitting on the armrest...

RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey is joined again by Vidar Hjardeng MBE, Inclusion and Diversity Consultant for ITV News across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands for the next in his regular Connect Radio theatre reviews. This week Vidar was reviewing David Edgar’s 10th play for the RSC with ‘The New Real’ at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Other Place Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon with description by Professional Audio Describers Gethyn Edwards and Carolyn Smith. About...

Cue: November 5th is International Volunteer Manager’s Day. David Hogg finds out more about the importance that a good volunteer manager has on a team of volunteers,

Each week we sit down with Matt Stringer, CEO of RNIB, to look at some of the big stories coming from the UK sight loss charity. This week Mat began by reflecting on Rachel Reeves Labour Budget and what it might mean for blind and partially sighted people.    Then to an update on the National Covid Enquiry and how other organisations in the disability sector have been continuing to raise how the Covid Pandemic had affected the lives of many disabled people. Matt ended this week’s update...

RNIB have published their Turned Out Report, focusing on issues when it comes to accessibility of voting during the 2024 general election. Hubert spoke to RNIB’s Tom Skelton to find out more about the issues faced by people, positive improvements, and recommendations off the back of the report.

As we move from week 6 into week 7 of Strictly Come Dancing our RNIB Connect Radio Strictly Star Reviewer blind ballroom dancer Shaun Hayward is back reflecting and commenting on how well blind Liverpudlian Comedian Chris McCausland and his Professional Dance Partner Dianne Buswell have been faring in the competition.  Our Toby Davey began by asking Shaun how he felt Chris and Dianne had done with their dance for Halloween week with maybe a few scary moments for them dancing a Sambar to...

Happy 15 years to Sunset Melodies! We spoke with host Gary Moritz ahead of the big anniversary show to find out how he got into radio, how the show came to be and reminisce about his favourite shows and memories from the last 15 years of Sunset Melodies. Catch the 15th Anniversary show on Wednesday 6th of November at 7 pm, with a repeat Sunday at 6pm, and hosted on the website throughout the week: Sunset Melodies - RNIB Connect Radio | RNIB Image shows Gary posing and smiling against a...

Each month, RNIB Connect Radio's Allan Russell is joined by some of the RNIB Campaigns Team to discuss some of the big projects they’re involved in and ask for your input to bring positive change to the lives of blind and partially sighted people, throughout the UK. This month’s topics include accessible health information courses to help you get your info, your way, and help RNIB ask your MP to a Westminster event in November. If you’d like more information on campaigns or want to get...

Rachael Reeves just announced her first Budget as Labour Chancellor on Wednesday 30 October 2024. Cate Vallis, RNIB’s Campaigns and Public Affairs Manager, joins Toby Davey to discuss and go through some of the outcomes of Labour’s first Budget in 14 years and how it might affect blind and partially sighted people. To find out more about how the RNIB campaigns to change behaviours and perceptions around sight loss visit the campaign pages of the RNIB’s website:...

And for our final spooky season review... Allan and Amelia review John Carpenter's 'Halloween'! Image shows a spoof poster for Halloween (1978) edited to feature RNIB Connect Radio presenters and text. We say spoof, but it's just too good! A green-tinted Allan is in the background standing behind a window frame with a dead-pan expression (a la Michael Myres) while a green-tinted Amelia is in the foreground crouched behind a chair with an angry expression and wielding a microphone (a la...

We're back with our movie reviews! And this year, we kick things of with a family-friendly witchy classic, Hocus Pocus. Hear their review of the movie and its audio description, with Allan and Amelia. Image shows a spoof poster of the Hocus Pocus movie. Allan is dressed as Bette Midler's witch Winifred. He has a red wig piled high on his head in a pompadour style, a black dress with big sleeves, red lipstick, rouge cheeks and is smiling with a slight pout. His hands with long witchy...

In a Halloween special, Jonathan recounts some of his scariest animal encounters. Tune in to 'The Lunch Break' on RNIB Connect Radio every weekday from 12 noon to 1pm for more Travelogues. Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB’ written in bold black capital letters and underline with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio’ is written in black in a smaller font. 

Let’s hear about a social group that meets on Fridays near Edinburgh to play dominoes. Our Paulina spoke with Jimmy, Barbara, and Iain from the group to find out how you can join in and why it's a nice activity to take part in. Image shows the Dominoes group sitting in front of three tables set up in a long line. They're all smiling and looking over at the camera. 

RNIB has a latest gaming webinar where you can learn more about audio description within video games. Hubert spoke to one of the RNIB volunteers to find out more.

RNIB were attending EGX, and have revealed the developer kit which aims to help game developers make their games accessible, and have also showed off a trailer for the upcoming game coming out in the future. Hubert spoke to Jonny Marshall to find out more.

Seable Holidays offer accessible, inclusive tailored, and group holidays for blind and partially sighted people with trained assistance for a happy, stress-free holiday. From Sunday 19 to Friday 24 January 2025 Seable Holidays have a great sounding skiing trip to Italy open to anyone who is visually impaired whether they have never skied before or have been skiing for a number of years.  RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Lucy Ashton from Seable Holidays to find out more about...

Time to catch up with Visionary, a membership organisation for sight loss charities across the UK. Fiona Sandford from Visionary and Bhavini Makwana from Thomas Pocklington trust (TPT) joined Amelia to talk about TPT's new report 'You Said, We Did - Listening Month Update'. Learn more about the report on TPT's Website - You Said, We Did - Listening Month Update - Thomas Pocklington Trust Learn more about Visionary on their website - Welcome to Visionary - Visionary Image shows the RNIB...

In 2023 RNIB Connect Radio celebrated its 20th anniversary by challenging our team to find activities that blind people could excel in. As we tried skiing, learned astronomy, tackled wrestling, our 'Blind Leading' series was born. Today, we are joining Shona and Tamas from Sight Scotland to try his yoga class, designed with blind and partially sighted people in mind. Image: Tamas leading the group in Blind Yoga. He's sitting at the back of the room on a chair and covering his eyes. Five...

It’s been 30 years since the creation of the very first QR code to save space on automative parts barcodes. These days, we’re seeing more and more Accessible QR codes included on UK’s most beloved brands to make their products accessible to blind and partially sighted people. Charity RNIB has been championing accessible design by working closely with brands to help make these changes the norm. So as we celebrate 30 years of the QR code, let’s find out a bit about some of the work RNIB has...