World Record breaker Steve Cunningham - “the world’s fastest blind man” - enjoyed a lap of the legendary Isle of Man TT course as he brought his visit to the Island for Vision Awareness Week to an end.

Steve, who lost his sight aged 12, is a man driven by ambition. He has set the land and powerboat speed records for a blind person, piloted a plane around the UK and captained England at football. His ambition while in the Island was to lap the TT course, and Isle of Man Trike Tours was on hand to ensure Steve achieved another goal.

Manx Blind Welfare Society organised Steve’s visit for Vision Awareness Week, a series of events to improve public understanding of the challenges faced by blind and visually impaired people living in the Isle of Man, promote eye health and highlight the work of the Society and others including RNIB, Guide Dogs and the Macular Society in the Island.

Chief Executive Officer Ian Cooil said: ‘Steve gave inspiring talks to several groups during his time in the Island, helping us improve public understanding of what it means to be blind or visually impaired. Before he travelled over, Steve had mentioned his ambition of lapping the TT course and we delighted to be able to help him achieve that goal thanks to the assistance of Isle of Man Trike Tours.

‘Steve thoroughly enjoyed the experience, which was a great way for him to end his visit. The Society is very grateful to Trike Tours for taking Steve around the course and helping him to tick off yet another goal.’

On Monday, Steve was guest speaker at the official launch of Vision Awareness Week, when he encouraged the Island to ensure people are educated and informed so they better understand what blindness and visual impairment mean and called for visually impaired people to be given greater freedom to set and achieve ambitious targets.

After addressing the launch, sponsored by Specsavers, he also spoke to Onchan Rotary Club and students at Ballakermeen High School.

Vision Awareness Week is continuing with a series of events, including daily roadshows between 10am and 3pm. The first roadshow was in Castletown on Tuesday, with Peel’s Corrin Hall the location for Wednesday’s roadshow, Ramsey Town Hall on Thursday and Promenade Church, Douglas, on Friday, 19th September.

These are opportunities to find out more about services available for visually impaired people in the Isle of Man, and how to look after your eyesight.

The week concludes with Walk My Way, sponsored by Conister Bank, on 21st September. Entrants will be paired up, with one blindfolded, to walk from the War Memorial on Harris Promenade to opposite the Empress Hotel on Central Promenade and back during the event, which is intended to encourage the community to experience the challenges faced by the visually impaired and learn some skills which they can use every day to safely and confidently guide visually impaired people.

Walk My Way is open to teams and individuals, and entry is free, although a sponsorship form is available for anyone who would like to raise money to support the work of Manx Blind Welfare Society. Signing on starts at 2pm and the walk begins at 3pm. For more information email enquiries@mbws.org.im or call 674727.

To find out more about MBWS, visit www.facebook.com/manxblindwelfaresociety.

Photo - Steve Cunningham and his dog Foster visit the Joey Dunlop statue at the Bungalow.