VOLUNTEERS from Alton Lions have collected and delivered some 700 spectacles to Chichester Lions Club.

From there they will be sorted and graded before being despatched to the Lions Club in Le Havre in France for distribution to destinations in Africa.

These spectacles had been collected by opticians, Alton secondary schools, Alton College, the Alton Herald office collection point on the Market Square and at the Lions stall at the monthly craft market.

Spectrek is one of the great global recycling projects organised by Lions Clubs and involves collecting and recycling spectacles no longer required by the owner to new users in need.

According to the World Health Organisation, 153 million people have uncorrected refractive errors (near-sightedness, far-sightedness or astigmatism) which can be easily diagnosed and treated with corrective lenses.

For children, clear vision means a better education and healthier development, while for adults it means greater employment opportunity and economic strength, and for seniors means less dependence on others.

It costs Lions less than 5p to provide a pair of recycled spectacles and change someone’s life.

Even better, some of the frames of donated spectacles contain precious metals and these are sold to a specialist reclaimer and the proceeds of this are donated into Lions’ sight-related improvement projects.

If you have spectacles that are no longer required, please consider recycling them at the locations mentioned above. If you would like to become involved in this or other community service projects, call 0845 833 2701 or visit [email protected].