A BLIND charity has launched a drive to raise £600,000 for a new building to allow people to try out its life-changing equipment.

The Oxfordshire Association for the Blind, or OAB, helps about 3,000 blind and partially sighted people in Oxfordshire.

But for the past four and-a-half years, it has had to store equipment which makes daily life easier for the blind, in a portable cabin.

The group hopes to build a new annex with space for users to try out equipment – such as talking watches, magnifiers, mobile phones and kitchen equipment – before buying them.

And their appeal is being supported by Inspector Morse author Colin Dexter, who was diagnosed with macular degeneration in 2005 and has used much of the equipment himself.

The charity’s director Colin Cure said: “This is the launch of the public side of our appeal to build a new annex. We are very excited about this.

“We want to get rid of the portable cabin and replace it with new rooms to allow more people to come and practice with our technology.”

The charity has already raised £350,000 through its Future Vision appeal but needs a further £250,000 to complete the project.

It is hoped building work at the organisation’s home in Gordon Woodward Way, South Oxford, can start in June.

The charity was set up in 1877 and offers support ranging from counselling to home visits. Its quarterly newsletter goes out to thousands of people. Its supply of household aids enables users to keep their independence.

However, Mr Cure added: “It is all very well having a talking microwave, but unless you know how to use it, you don’t know if it will help.”

Group chairman David Warr said: “The OAB is very mindful that some sources of our funding are in peril. We are demanding that the people this organisation directly helps do not miss out.”

He added: “The sad thing about blindness is it starts quickly and then goes on for life. We are here to help.”

The new building will include a significantly extended resource centre, demonstration kitchen and facilities for guide dogs.

It will also host cooking classes and IT courses.

The group already has planning permission.

Trustee Adrian Hill said: “If you lose your sight, you feel cut off from the world. We want blind people to have higher expectations. Sight is not a barrier to an excellent quality of life.”

North Oxford writer Mr Dexter said: “What the illness taught me was that sight is the biggest faculty we have.

“To have to cope with being blind is a huge disadvantage in life.

“But this charity helps people cope with day-to-day parts of their lives which otherwise would be very difficult.”

He added: “When I was told I ought to stop driving, the good lady said to me ‘you ought to stop driving, because you have already murdered quite enough men, women and children in Oxford’.”

To find out how to donate, go to oxeyes.org.uk