A NORTH Warnborough woman has arranged a family fun day for a charity close to her heart.

Amanda-Jayne Chant, known as Mandy, is organising the day to raise funds for Helping Hands for the Blind after an opportune meeting with the founder of the charity a couple of years ago.

The charity day will be on Saturday, July 30, at The Derby Inn in North Warnborough, from noon until 10pm.

Mandy lost her mother in 2013 from a sudden heart attack while her parents were living in Spain. Two months after her mother’s collapse, her father too had a heart attack, together with a stroke, double pneumonia and an infection.

He survived the crisis, but it proved to be a long, hard struggle.

After making her way to Spain, Mandy spent three months at her dad’s bedside, encouraging him to keep fighting, and helping him recuperate. Her young family had to cope on their own back at home in Hampshire during the long hard months.

Eventually Mandy and her father came home. But her father’s illness had damaged his vision, so she took him an event organised by Helping Hands for the Blind. They were looking for a white cane, to make it easier to walking through crowds when the old man left the house.

It was here that Mandy bumped into Dave Chatten-Smith, the creator of the charity. The encounter turned out to be significant: “We never expected to find our second family facing us when we went to purchase the cane.”

Mr Chatten-Smith set the group up four years ago after he went blind in 2004. He had been struck down with meningitis, which completely took away his eyesight.

Over the past 10 years he has been committed to helping other blind and visually impaired people with in his charitable community.

In 2012 David teamed up with a group of his new friends and – after many months of frustration – they decided to set up a charity in Basingstoke to provide what they had been looking for. Over the past four years the group has grown stronger and stronger, bringing in new members and volunteers.

In recent months an exciting new opportunity has arisen, as the group was offered the chance to buy what was previously the old navy club.

Mandy said: “It gives our charity a permanent venue, with a view to helping other community services within Basingstoke and the surrounding areas.”

To raise funds for the charity, members have hosted various different events, which have raised almost £20,000. The events included car boot sales, collections and family skittle and bowling nights, as well as a touch of self–funding to help the group reach the landmark figure.

It was this fundraising campaign that inspired Mandy to organise the charity night, in the hope of making an even bigger sum of money available to Dave and his charity. She hopes the money raised will make a difference to the blind community.

At the moment, the blind have few opportunities to socialise on a weekly basis; just the odd coffee morning or specifically organised get–togethers.

She concludes: “We are one big happy family and I want to give something back, as they have helped me and my father through the past year.”

Entry to the charity day will be free. It will cost £2 to park the car at the venue. Further details are still to be confirmed.