Board of Trustees

A committee of Trustees is responsible for the necessary decisions required for the operation of Cornwall Blind Association.

Trustees are elected for a one year term at the Annual General Meeting of the charity held each October or November.

The Trustees are empowered to co-opt additional individuals with specific skills. The present members of the Committee are listed below; they are all volunteers and several of them are visually impaired.

Neil Sargent - Chair of Cornwall Blind Association

Neil Sargent is Chairman of Stratton and Holborow and also Commercial Director. Stratton and Holborrow is a major property agent in the county.

He has spent most of his career advising clients, public, private and charitable, on the sale and acquisition and letting of commercial property in Devon and Cornwall.

Neil is also the chairman of the Cornwall Philatelic Federation.

Stuart Williams - Vice Chair of Cornwall Blind Association

Stuart Williams was registered blind in 2005 after living with sight problems for many years.

Previously working within benefits, tax and estate agency backgrounds, Stuart has lived in Cornwall all his life and now dedicates his time to charity work in the county.

As a trustee for Disability Cornwall, he is regularly called upon for his input as a visually impaired service user by local charities and organisations.

Involved with Social Services as a Sensory Loss trainer, Stuart has also over the years volunteered with the Cornwall Blind Association as an advocate, on hospital help-desks and helped with the Cornwall Blind Association's website.

Stuart is passionate about accessibility and inclusion for those with sight loss, especially in new technologies and the internet.

Ian Pullum FBDo (Hons) CL

Ian Pullum is experienced in eye health and sight loss prevention as a practising Dispensing Optician at an opticians in Falmouth for over 38 years.

He is an Associate Member of the Association of Optometrists, and a full member of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians.

He is well known in the local optical field.

Jonathan Mashen

Jonathan joined the Board of Directors in January 2009 and brings financial expertise to the Board.

He is currently a partner for Lang Bennetts in Truro and he has a mixed portfolio of business clients as well as being responsible for the firm's charity clients.

Jonathan has been working with charities for 10 years, beginning with dealing with affairs as an audit manager with Winter Rule.

Joe Stinton

Joe is registered blind and lives in Helston with his wife and two children, one of whom is also visually impaired.

Joe's interests include tandem riding, using the computer and shooting.

Joe is an active member of the CABS (Cornwall Association Blind Shooting) club which meets in Helston. Joe has been a member of this club since it started (and previously a member of the St Austell BUGS shooting club) and will shortly be assisting to run the club.

Joe plays a very active part in the Cornwall Blind Association and has assisted in the past to give sight loss awareness training to a number of external organisations.

Joe is also the organiser of the young persons' visually impaired club.

Catriona Wilson

Catriona is registered blind and has been a stalwart volunteer for Cornwall Blind Association for a long time helping out at the Truro Sight Centre reception desk and at fundraising events. As a speaker she gives talks to community groups and organisations about the work of the association and what losing her sight has meant to her.

Catriona is qualified in complimentary therapies and has been practicing for the last four years and can carry out more than ten different types of therapy. Catriona was a member of the committee for the Mind Befriending Scheme and continues to support them in her spare time.

Will Westlake

Mr Will Westlake trained in medicine at the London Hospital Medical School in Whitechapel qualifying in 1989. His first Ophthalmic post was at the Croydon Eye Unit in August 1991 and spent 10 years training in London, Bristol, Exeter and Perth Western Australia before appointment to his current post in April 2001. Mr Westlake is a general Opthalmologist with specialist interest in glaucoma and ocular plastics. He does NHS clinics in Falmouth, Helston and at Treliske and does a day case and inpatient surgical lists at Treliske.