About Us

Alison Oldland MBE

The Living Paintings Trust was formed in 1989 by its founder and chairman, Alison Oldland M.B.E. The Trust is a registered charity and its work benefits thousands of visually impaired children, young people and adults throughout the UK and Eire.

Our History

Alison, then a lecturer in Art History, was so grateful to Tony and his colleagues, she decided to raise some money for them. Tony, a guide dog owner himself, who lost his sight when he was 29, came to hear a lecture on the Impressionists, and was so enthusiastic about Alison's descriptions of pictures that she offered to make some tapes about them which he could listen to at home. He said "Alison's wonderful gift for using words to describe colours, textures and perspective, interlaced with historical facts and details about the artists under review, really stimulated my imagination."

He was thrilled by the realisation that the world of Art could be opened to visually impaired people like himself, and this gave Alison the idea that has turned into The Living Paintings Trust. She decided to produce evocative tapes, to be accompanied by raised diagrams of the great works of art described. Since then, Tony has always given great support in her battle to create The Living Paintings Trust.

Many excellent contacts were made and an expert in tactile diagrams was found to help create the first Living Paintings Trust "Thermoform", raised representation. It was agreed to make a master diagram of Claude le Lorrain's "The Enchanted Castle". It was sculpted in relief, originally using dried juniper for the vegetation but this was abandoned in favour of cement. Aluminium mesh was adopted for rippled water. The castle was mainly modelled in balsa wood for speed, with some details added in cement. This raised image was then embossed onto braillon sheeting by a heat process and The Living Paintings Trust had successfully created their first thermoform.

From then on the members of the Trust and their, by now, numerous friends worked tirelessly to formulate a method of bringing this innovative idea to those for whom it was designed, visually impaired people.

The subjects for the first collection of paintings, known as an Album, were selected from the National Gallery in London and, with the help of their staff, scripts describing the paintings, their style and the period in which they lived were completed. At the same time the thermoforms were made in a similar fashion to the very first of "The Enchanted Castle" and packaging was extensively researched and designed. Also it was decided to include a colour reproduction of each work of art so that blind, partially sighted and sighted people could explore and discuss the albums together.

The product was complete and the first Sample Album was distributed to a wide variety of visually impaired people for evaluation. From the feedback received the Album was amended and reissued and this process continued until all those involved were convinced that the optimum design and content had been achieved. The process of seeking evaluation from visually impaired people continues to this day and plays an important part in the future planning of the Trust.

The Trust now had a unique, innovative product that worked and would enable it to bring immense enjoyment to those whose lives had been dulled by the loss of sight. A national, postal free library service was established, stocks of Albums produced and distribution began.

In April 1989 the Charity Commissioners granted the Trust charitable status and fund raising began in earnest.

Just a month later the National Arts Collections fund gave the Living Paintings Trust a prestigious award for "an outstanding contribution to the creative arts in 1989". This was presented to Alison Oldland on the 8th May by the Prince of Wales. It was a cheque for £5,000. At this time the Trustees were delighted when Sir Oliver Millar G.C.V.O., F.B.A., Surveyor Emeritus of the Queen's Pictures, agreed to become Patron of the Trust.

From then on the Charity has progressed enormously, the office has moved from the dining room table to a home of its own, the twenty fourth album has been proudly presented to the library members, a children's project has been established and the Trust makes its audio tactile system available to visually impaired visitors to galleries and museums throughout the U.K.

The library membership is growing at an ever increasing rate as the Trust becomes known as a leader in its field with its work being respected and appreciated by all those who come across it.

Many groups now meet to work together with the thermoforms encouraged and aided by a very special set of Living Painting Trust volunteers.

"As Chairman it gives me great pleasure to have seen this idea, which came to me more by chance than good management, grow into something which, to quote a blind member, "breaks down the barriers in a sighted world". I leave you with the following quotation:-

"Your Trust for me is a life saver. You offer a doorway into Art for all visually handicapped people of all ages, as well as offering a new 'touch' experience to the sighted.

"Nothing can ever equal the first shock of sheer joy as I slipped into a world of my own. Rather like Alice through the looking glass. The mind took over the touching and actually lived in the picture".

In September 1993, the founder and Chairman of the Living Paintings Trust received the first Guardian/Jerwood Award for individual excellence in the charity field and in June 1997 she was awarded the M.B.E

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Some Facts

About Visually Impaired People in the UK

• There are approx 350,000 people registered blind and partially sighted in the UK.
• There are over 2 million people in the UK living with severe sight loss.
• There are at least 20,000 visually impaired children in the UK.

About The Living Paintings Trust
(Our statistics change and largely increase every month. Our reporting year is from 1st June to 31st May and the following figures relate to the year to 31st May 2004)

• Over 5,500 visually impaired people of all ages regularly borrow from our Library Service. Of these people approximately half are children and youngsters.
• Approximately 6,200 loans are made each year.
• These loans benefit approximately 13,100 visually impaired people.
• Approximately 450 schools and other organisations working with visually impaired people borrow from our library.
• There are 8 different touch and sound products within our range.
• There are more than 5,250 touch and sound packs in stock and being loaned via the free library service.
• 34 Galleries and Museums throughout the UK and Eire offer their visually impaired visitors access to some of their exhibits using Living Paintings Trust touch and sound materials.

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Our Purpose

Our Values

• Quality is paramount in all the products and services that the Trust offers.
• Open and universal access for all visually impaired people to the Trust's work is to be pursued at all times.
• The real needs of visually impaired people will drive the future of the Trust and its work.
• The Trust is committed to continual consideration of how it might widen and develop its scope.

Our aims

Aim 1 - PRODUCT RANGE

To create a full range of innovative materials designed to provide visually impaired people of all ages with a greater understanding of visual images. In order to achieve this the Trust manufactures, in-house, a number of unique touch and sound materials specially designed for visually impaired adults and children.

Aim 2 - DISTRIBUTION SERVICES

To provide a service within the United Kingdom which makes the Trust's materials readily available to all visually impaired people. In order to achieve this the Trust runs a free, postal, library service which distributes its unique touch and sound materials throughout the UK. It also installs touch and sound materials in galleries and museums for the enjoyment of their visually impaired visitors.

Aim 3 - ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

It is the aspiration of the Living Paintings Trust to continue as an increasingly effective, efficient and financially secure organisation which can achieve its aims. In order to achieve this the Trust has a Board of Trustees, a Management Committee, a Management Staff and group of volunteers. Operations are run from premises which house its offices, library and production.

Aim 4 - OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT

To pursue ways in which the Trust can enable visually impaired people in other countries to benefit from its work. Currently the Trust's work is only readily available to visually impaired people in the U.K. and Ireland. There are no similar services in other countries and thus the work has stimulated great interest from overseas. The Trust needs to explore the possibilities and decide how best to provide international access to its work.

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Our Future

The Trust aims to significantly increase the number of visually impaired people who benefit from its service. In order to achieve this we have detailed plans for the future that can be discussed with members of staff in our offices. In simple terms, we plan to maintain our current level of service whilst looking to expand all areas of our work year on year. Additional to this we have plans for a number of development projects which are designed to double the number of people who benefit from what we do. We are constantly in touch with our beneficiaries and they tell us what they want. This information provides us with the basis for all the plans that we make. However, all that we are able to do is dependent on the money becoming available to fund our various projects.

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Our People

Volunteers	We are extremely lucky to receive an enormous amount of committed support from a large, varied and generous group of volunteers. They now number more than 100 and thus really are too many to mention all by name. As ever, our thanks go to each and everyone without whom we would not be able to achieve nearly as much as we do.
Trustees	Mrs A Oldland MBE (Chairman) Mr R Aird Mr R Althaus Mr R Craig Miss S Davie Mr K Deegan Mr S Fletcher Mrs A Rain Mr C Storm Mr A Wilson
Staff	Camilla Oldland - Charity Director Alastair Ogilvie - Fundraising Manager Liz Davis - Projects Co-ordinator Jacqui Sharp - Trust Co-ordinator Janet Dixon - Library Administrator (Part-Time) Lisa Whiting - Office Administrator Angela Clark - PR / Communications Manager

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