Guided tour

For visitors who wish to be navigated around the space, please click on the video below for the British Blind Sport gallery guided tour.

For screen reader users to follow is the wall panel text and audio descriptions for the 3D models or you can download the text as a Microsoft Word document.

Celebrating British Blind Sport pioneering sport for people with sight loss

British Blind Sport (BBS) was founded as the British Organisation of Sport and Recreation Activities for the Blind (BASRAB) in November 1975, six years before the International Blind Sports Association was established in 1981.  
 
BBS supports blind and partially sighted athletes by providing opportunities to take part in sport across the UK. They are one of seven national disability sports organisations in the UK focused on making sport accessible for disabled people from grass roots participation to elite competition. 
 
There are almost 2 million people in the UK living with sight loss. This is set to rise to over 4 million by 2050. BBS helps to connect those with sight loss to sport opportunities, enhancing lives, building friendships, and contributing to Britain's success at the Paralympic Games. 

BBS has encouraged and helped develop many amazing athletes who have gone on to represent Great Britain at Paralympic and Championship level, with support by coaches and the wider team. Here are some of the key athletes, coaches and pioneers associated with British Blind Sport.  

History and the Pioneers

Sport for people who are blind or partially sighted has a long history, going back over 100 years. It is said Spain founded blind football in the 1920s and Austria founded goalball in the 1940s, a sport developed specifically for people with sight loss rather than an adapted sport. 
 
British Blind Sport was set up in 1975 by pioneers Mike Brace and Roy Smith. Two years prior, in 1973 Mike and Roy established Metro Blind Sports to support people with sight loss in London, an organisation still going strong today, and establishing a national organisation was the next step to ensure opportunities for people across the whole country.  Roy served as Metro Blind Sports Chair from 1984 until 2014 when he became Chief Executive in 2014. 

Mike Brace CBE 

Mike Brace CBE lost his vision in an accident with fireworks aged ten. He went on to compete in cross-country skiing. He commented on what was available for blind people at the time: “When we left school, there was virtually nothing. No organised sport, especially in relation to team sports as well as individual sports. In 1973 eight of us got together in a pub and decided we would form a sports club in London called the Metro.”

Roy Smith MBE 

Roy Smith MBE lost his eyesight when he was 21 years old, going on to become a professional athlete competing in the high jump at the Arnhem 1980 Paralympic Games. He was awarded the MBE in 1991 for his services to disability sport and was Chair of Metro Blind Sports from 1984 to 2014. He served as Chef de Mission for the ParalympicsGB team at the New York 1984 Paralympic Games. He was also selected to be one of the torchbearers for the London 2012 Paralympics.

Dina Murdie BEM, goalball and swimming coach

Dina is a goalball legend who has been involved in the sport for over 60 years. Dina spent her career as a physical education teacher at Chorley Wood School for girls with little or no sight, and later with New College Worcester School with whom it merged. She combined this with coaching her students in swimming and goalball many of whom went on to compete for Great Britain. 

Working with British Blind Sport she became a women’s goalball coach and has been involved since in many ways, including as a referee for goalball at the London 2012 Paralympics, a defining and special moment in her career. She was appointed as the competition manager for goalball at the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Games in Birmingham in August 2023. She received the British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to sport for visually impaired people in 2018. 

Dina Murdie wore this top while refereeing goalball matches during the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Reflection by Simon Stiel
Referees and officials make sport possible. This jersey is special because it is worn by a referee from the London 2012 Games and from someone who has taught goalball for over sixty years. 
 
Measurements: UK size medium.  
Materials: 100% recycled polyester. 
Dimensions: Height: 81cm. Width 78cm.
Weight: 0.41lb

Co-created audio description

This is a high-necked short-sleeved shirt made from breathable, technical fabric. It has a quarter-zip and epaulettes. It’s manmade, not cotton and it’s a UK medium. It smells clean and slightly acrylic.

You would be comfortable wearing it.

There is a logo on each side of the zip: one is a white Adidas logo and the other is the logo of the London 2012 Paralympics – pink and green with hints of orange and blue. The shirt is mostly navy blue but there are lighter turquoise panels down the sides from the armpits to the waist and on the shoulders where the epaulettes are. The epaulettes are the same shade of blue.

On the back it says London 2012 Paralympic Games in white and there is the Paralympic Games logo, the Agitos (the three blades), also in white.
 
There are buttons on the epaulettes that are a pewter colour. They have a pattern of indented lines on the top of each one. At the opposite end of the epaulette is a white logo; it's a circle with a figure in it. The limbs of the figure remind us of the Agitos. They are in a lunging position throwing a ball. It’s the goalball logo. The epaulettes are detachable and can be exchanged for epaulettes featuring depictions of other Paralympic sports.

This is a goalball referee’s top.

It reminds me of going to the Paralympics, not long after I started using my white cane, and I remember feeling at home there; for the first time people were completely unfazed by my cane. I remember having the most amazing day.

The shirt belonged to Dina Murdie, who as a child heard a talk by two blind women from the School for the Blind in Chorleywood. After she had trained to be a teacher, she got a job teaching PE at Chorleywood but found that sport teaching there was not well supported. She heard about goalball which was developed specifically for blind and partially blind people in Austria after the Second World War, so she started teaching that. Dina and another colleague trained over a dozen young people to be goalball Paralympians and Paralympic swimmers. One of the highlights of her career was being a referee at the London 2012 Paralympics and this is the shirt she wore.

Tim Reddish CBE, swimming 

Tim has won 9 medals, 2 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze and competed at three Paralympic Games from Barcelona 1992 to Sydney 2000. Tim competed in B1/B2 and later S11-13 events for swimmers with a visual impairment. He was awarded an MBE in 2001, promoted to OBE in 2008 and then promoted to CBE in 2017. Tim has continued to have an illustrious career in sport, holding the position of Chair at the British Paralympic Association during London 2012 and, more recently a Governing Member of the International Paralympic Committee.

Libby Clegg MBE, athletics and cycling

Libby has won 5 medals, 2 gold and 3 silver and competed at three Paralympic Games from London 2012 to Tokyo 2020. Libby has represented both Scotland and Great Britain at international level in sprinting and tandem track cycling. Libby won gold in the T11 100m and 200m at the Rio Games in 2016. She achieved a silver in the T11 4 x 100 relay at Tokyo in 2020. She was awarded an MBE in 2017 for her services to athletics. Libby has previously said that attending a British Blind Sport taster day enabled her to get into sport.

Neil Fachie OBE, athletics and cycling

Neil has won 4 medals, 2 gold and 2 silver and competed at four Paralympic Games from Beijing 2008 to Tokyo 2020. Neil is a now a cyclist but began his career as a track athlete. His debut was at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics and after failing to make the podium, he switched to cycling for London 2012. He achieved two gold medals during those Games, a silver at Rio 2016 and a gold at Tokyo 2020. In 2022 Neil and wife Lora were both awarded an OBE in the Birthday Honours List.

Neil Fachie’s cycling shoe worn at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. 

Reflection by Ben Laferlla

For me the bold and bright red colour of this shoe represents the passion and determination that every paralympic athlete has. This is more than a regular shoe because it has experienced the tough training exercises that Paralympians go through in order to stay athletic and healthy. This shoe should remind us that if we put in enough hard work and with the right support, we can achieve our dreams. 

Date: 2012 
Materials: Synthetic 
Dimensions: Depth 28cm. Length 10.5cm. Height 9.5cm. 
Weight: 0.73lb

Audio description

The shoe is shaped like an ordinary shoe, but it is unusually lightweight for a shoe, no heavier than a smartphone. The shoe is coloured predominately red, with bits of black. The bottom of the shoe features two road cleats, in between the name Bont and the Bont logo. The attachments are screwed into the bottom, to attach the shoe to the pedals of a bike. The bottom of the shoe is a dark grey colour, while the bottom sides of the shoe are black, with rest of the shoe being crimson red, besides two slightly faded white stripes that travel from the back of the ankle to the front of the foot. And there is a patch of black at the back of the ankle with Bont in the same light grey. The shoe overall has a smooth surface and feels almost slippery to touch. The velcro of the strap has the same smooth surface and is red with small stripes with black along it. The laces of the shoe are red with faded black text Bont on them. They feel like any woven fabric laces would feel. 

Lora Fachie OBE, athletics and cycling

Lora has won 4 medals, 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze and competed at three Paralympic Games from London 2012 to Tokyo 2020. Having been a competitive runner, she made her Paralympic debut at London 2012 in cycling. Between those Games and Tokyo 2020, she has achieved World Championship medals in track and road races. She married Neil Fachie in October 2016 and she is also the sister of Roy Turnham. Having been awarded an MBE in 2017, she was promoted to OBE in 2022.

David Clarke, OBE goalball and football

David competed at four Paralympic Games from Atlanta 1996 to London 2012. His Paralympic debut for Great Britain was at Atlanta 1996 in goalball and he played blind football at Beijing 2008 and London 2012. He was also the stadium torch bearer at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Games. He represented his country 144 times during that period and scored 128 goals which makes him Britain’s highest scorer in football. After being a senior partner at Clydebank and working at the RNIB as first director of services and then Chief Operating Officer, David is now CEO at ParalympicsGB and was awarded an OBE in June 2023.

Roy Turnham, athletics and football

Roy has represented Great Britain at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Roy is a blind footballer who began playing competitively for Everton in 2008 in the Blind Football League. He is the brother of Paralympic cyclist Lora Fachie and cricketer Mark Turnham both visually impaired, a talented family. Roy’s sporting career began with middle distance and cross-country running but following a problem with his feet his sporting career faltered until he took up football. Music is his other profession and passion and he toured with the Liverpool Youth Orchestra as a drummer and has made a living through gigs. During 2020, Roy raised £3,300 for British Blind Sport during a 26-hour drumming session to help recover funds lost during the coronavirus lockdowns.

Stephen Brown, powerlifting

Stephen has won many national and international championships but didn’t participate at a Paralympic Games. He got involved in sport through the work of British Blind Sport and started powerlifting in 1993, training at Bradford University, and going on to become a world champion. He achieved eight world records at the World Blind Powerlifting Championships at Arnhem, Netherlands in 2000. In 2002 he defended his title and achieved ten more world records. He was British Champion in the Masters for sighted competitors that year too.

Noel Thatcher MBE, athletics

Noel has won 11 medals, 5 golds, 3 silvers and 2 bronze and competed at six Paralympic Games from New York City 1984 to Athens 2004. Noel received an MBE in 1997 and currently works as a physiotherapist. He is also fluent in Japanese and works in a voluntary capacity for the Japan Foundation and Japan Sports Council to promote Japanese language, culture and sport. He was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. Noel attributes the start of his career to attending a British Blind Sport taster day event. 

Uzbekistan wooden plate presented to British Blind Sport in 2023

This wooden plate is from Uzbekistan presented to BBS at the World Games as a thank you for hosting the event. It is nearly the size of a dinner plate with organic patterns in its outer borders. It has a figure at the centre made up of white blades. The figure is surrounded by one blue blade above it, two red blades next to it and three green blades beneath it, the same colours of the Paralympic agitos. The words read: O’Zbekiston Respublikasi Yoshlar Siyoasati Va Sport Vazirligi. Roughly translated the words mean: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan. 

Reflection by Simon Stiel

I like this plate as it shows artwork style from Uzbekistan and central Asia. It is significant that is from a government ministry and the colours at the centre are the same as the agitos symbol. It shows that Paralympic symbols cut across national borders and is embraced by different cultures around the world. 

Date: 2023 
Materials: Wood 
Dimensions: 25cm diameter. 78cm circumference.
Weight: 0.71 lb 

Co-created audio description

This ornamental wooden plate was a gift. The overall shape and size resemble a dinner plate. It’s different shades of chocolatey brown and light for its size. The entire surface is tactile and seems to have been carved out. Some parts are stained and some are painted; some are glazed and some are not.

On the very outer rim of the front is a raised pattern that looks like arches or petals the size of your little fingernail or the crimping around apple pie. Inside that, there is an intricate design, which reminds us of leaves and branches forming a wavy pattern.

The middle of the plate is slightly elevated, like a clock face. Round the inner perimeter are five words which form two phrases. The words are in capital letters, raised and painted gold. It is Uzbek and translated says Republic of Uzbekistan, Ministry of Youth Policy and Sports. You don’t have to turn the plate to read the words. One phrase reads clockwise and one reads anticlockwise and they are separated by a dot at three and nine o’clock.

In the very centre there is a colourful design. There is a gold stylizsation of a person, doing a star jump in the air. Around the person are curved shapes of red, green, and blue that remind us of the Agitos, the logo of the Paralympics.

If we turn it over, the back is sanded but not glazed, and we can feel the grain. It has something that feels like a scratch. There are no mountings to hang the plate, it’s meant to be placed on a flat surface. The back is darker in the middle and becomes lighter towards the edges. The differences in colour and texture are the natural pattern of the wood.
 
It’s room temperature, but when we hold it, it takes the warmth from our hands.

We are struck by its beauty, the way it catches the light, because some of the wood is smooth and polished, and there is a lot of detail at different depths. It’s a precious object, depicting traditional patterns from the region. It was given to British Blind Sport by the country of Uzbekistan because British Blind Sport were hosting the very first World Blind Games in Birmingham in 2023.

Hosting the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) World Games in Birmingham August 2023

On the 18th to 27th August 2023 British Blind Sport had the pleasure of hosting the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) World Games in Birmingham. It was the first time the World Games had been hosted in the UK and it was the biggest one to date. 

1056 athletes from across the globe participated in the 10-day event, which incorporated the IBSA World Blind Football Championships along with competitions across ten other sports: partially sighted football, goalball, archery, cricket, tenpin bowling, showdown, chess, powerlifting and judo. 64 countries in total brought together their greatest athletes to represent blind and partially sighted sport at its very best. 

Along with the athletes and 719 support staff and officials, 354 local people offered over 12,000 hours of voluntary support. 

A historic moment for blind and partially sighted sport. International interest brought over 33,600 worldwide media mentions with a potential reach of 1.64 billion audience views during the Games, where the world could watch the triumphs, the tears, and the celebrations. 

Quote from Alaina MacGregor, CEO at British Blind Sport: 

British Blind Sport took the lead on creating this unique event with a steadfast aim: Look beyond the disability and focus on the performance of elite sport at its finest. Through the hard work and commitment of our partner stakeholders and our team, we believe we achieved our aim. A huge thank you to everyone involved in making the IBSA World Games 2023 a resounding success.

Naomi Riches MBE, rowing

Naomi has won 2 medals, 1 gold and 1 bronze and competed at two Paralympic Games from Beijing 2008 to London 2012. Her debut was at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics and as a member of the mixed cox four team, she was awarded a bronze medal. She achieved her gold medal at London 2012 and retired the following year. She was awarded an MBE in 2013.

Thank you

This work has only been possible through collaboration and 
co-creation, we thank all of the following for their time: 

• Alaina MacGregor CEO of British Blind Sport and her team. 
• Pioneer and Paralympian Mike Brace MBE and his recognition of the value of history. 
• Pioneer and coach Dina Murdie BEM. 
• Athletes: the family of Stephen Brown, David Clarke OBE, Lora Fachie OBE, Neil Fachie OBE, the family of Bob Matthews MBE, Tim Reddish CBE, Naomi Riches MBE, Ian Rose and Roy Turnham for sharing their stories and collections.

There were so many athletes we could have included in the gallery and this is a small selection. For information on further athletes please visit our website.

Volunteers David Reynolds and Claire Rider for the audio recordings and Vicky Auton for her research.

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