Publish date: 19 August 2024
Mark, who is an Ocular Technician, has been with the service based at Bristol Avenue, Blackpool (hosted by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals) since 1990.
He started creating a wildlife area, initially by bringing in some bird feeders which soon attracted various garden birds. Spurred on by this, he then decided to create two ponds, digging them in his spare time.
As the wildlife area is in direct sight of the service’s main work area as well as its rest room, Mark’s colleagues now spot frogs, hedgehogs and grey squirrels as well as numerous birds including dunnocks, robins, blackbirds and bluetits. The most notable current visitor is a woodpecker whose presence is described by the team as a bit of a showstopper.
The appetites of all these tiny creatures soon add up and Mark says he does have to refill each of the twelve bird feeders regularly, which he does at his own cost. Luckily, Mark, who last year returned to work after recovering from major surgery, is determined to continue encouraging more wildlife to the garden, simply because of the enjoyment that seeing the wildlife brings to him and his colleagues.
The National Artificial Eye Service is a historic institution which began life as the Army Spectacle Depot during the First World War, before its specialist treatment was extended to all qualifying patients with the creation of the NHS in 1948. The service creates more than 3,500 eyes each year.
If you’d like to read more about the work of the National Artificial Eye Service, please see this news item written as part of BTH’s NHS75 celebrations last year.
