He was one of SRSB’s longest serving volunteers who was dedicated to supporting visually impaired people through various roles. He was a well-known face at our charity, from carrying out office work, guiding with the Sheffield Visually Impaired Walking Group, supporting fundraising with collections and helping at events, as well as raising sponsorship from taking part in local runs. He had a very warm and engaging personality that people responded to. He was still supporting us even during the lockdown when he did a fundraising challenge from his home and appeared on local TV and radio.

He was a great advertisement for his belief in positive thinking, and led a very active and very full life. Since retiring from his job as a steelworker, he dedicated his time to fundraising for charities around Sheffield. As a D-Day Veteran he was presented with the Légion d'honneur, France's highest military distinction, in 2017. This came not long after he gained a degree in French from Sheffield University, aged 90! But Graham was no stranger to awards and recognition for his contributions, having received an MBE from the Queen, and winning local awards, as well a national ‘Special Recognition Award’ from the Charity Today Awards in 2019.

Graham used to explain his love of volunteering like this, ‘It just makes me feel good, knowing that you are helping others and not thinking about yourself. I wanted to help SRSB because I have a lot of empathy for people with sight loss and have many friends who are visually impaired. I also enjoy the social side of volunteering because you get to meet lots of people’.

We will miss his passion, his friendship and his genuine care for others. Graham was relentless in his charity work and truly made a huge difference to many people. We will never forget him and have many, many fond memories. We hope that his family will take some comfort from knowing that he led such a full life and made such an impact on so many people.

The team at SRSB.