British Blind Sport at 50

The British Blind Sport exhibition celebrated 50 years of the charity’s impact sharing stories of blind and partially sighted athletes from the local Warwickshire area. It took place at the Market Hall Museum in Warwick from Friday 5th September 2025 until Saturday 14th March 2026.

Created by the NPHT in collaboration with Heritage and Culture Warwickshire and British Blind Sport.  

This project was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund delivered by the Museums Association.

Watch some highlights of the exhibition in our short film below:

Heritage Open Weekend 

Held on 13th September we had a great time celebrating the 50th birthday of British Blind Sport! Visitors discovered more about their work, the sports they support and tried out some athletics and ball skills!  

Feedback

We'd love to receive your feedback about the exhibition and what elements you enjoyed the most. Please complete this short survey. All responses are confidential and can be anonymous. 

Audio description of gallery contents

Soundbox - when you enter the display area, a soundbox will be triggered with the following audio:

Panel 1

British Blind Sport at 50 

Funders: NLHF and MA/EF

Panel 2

Mike Brace CBE PLY 

Mike Brace’s skiing items

Panel 3

First steps

Jangles ball and pump

Panel 4

Laura Turner

Laura’s dressage items

Laura’s 2012 torch 

Panel 5

IBSA World Games 2023 

IBSA shirt

IBSA plate

IBSA medals

Panel 6

Object panel

Panel 7

Goalball poster

Goalball tactile interactive - on the bench there are some handling items; a 3D printed goalball pitch, a practice goalball, and goalball eyeshade.

Panel 8

Warwickshire Sporting Journeys

Panel 9

Melanie Barrett and Martyn Parker

Panel 10

Melanie Barrett image

Panel 11

Martyn Parker T-shirt

Melanie Barratt's certificate

Melanie Barratt's Sydney 2000 Paralympics medals

Martyn Parker's Hay Moffatt trophy and shirt

Panel 12

Crossing

Melanie Barratt's swim gear

Panel 13

Just keep swimming

Melanie Barratt's swimsuit

Panel 14

An equal playing field 

Sim specs tactile interactive - on the bench there are some handling items with sets of different glasses.

Accessible documents

Information text -  download a word document or view a pdf version.

Object descriptions - download a word document or view a pdf version.