These pages have all been produced by using the XHTML code, (Extensible Hyper text markup language) which is a stricter & cleaner version of HTML. The logo displayed on each page indicates that these pages have been validated by the World Wide web Consortium - W3C - as true XHTML documents. All of the designing has been typed into Notepad through the keyboard with the use of JAWS, (Job access with speech) speech software. You can read all about my wonderful Guide Dogs and their life as my best friend. You can also read about how I got into computers and my time on the water doing a bit of ski-ing. There is a Guest Book for your feedback. The links page will take you to some useful links including a couple of very interesting websites which have also been designed by Guide Dog Owners. Please click on the links in the left hand frame to visit my web pages.

Hello! My name is Chris. On the right is a photograph of my present Guide Dog, Dale. I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks for visiting my Web Site. First of all I would like to tell you something about myself. I was born in Derby but I think of myself as a Nottinghamian. I came to Nottingham at the age of four and was educated at William Crane Secondary Modern. After leaving school I went to work at Major's bakery on Aspley Lane. My sight was never good but as time progressed my sight was slowly getting worse. I had to finish work, much to my disappointment, in 1985. I went on a rehabilitation course run by the R.N.I.B where I learnt Braille and some commercial work. At that time computers were quite a new thing and there was no such thing as Windows. After this training I decided to go for a Guide Dog to help me with my mobility.

I trained with my first Guide Dog in 1988. Just click on one of their names in the left hand frame to visit their Home Page and find out all about their life as a Guide Dog. As you can see from the photographs I have been very lucky to have had two Germen Shepherds although Dale is half a German Shepherd, the other half being Retriever. Jasper is a Border Collie / Retriever. When I trained with Olga, my first Guide Dog, I was working at the weekends playing the organ at the local pub, the White Swan. I was not sure how Olga would react to the sound of the organ, not that I am that bad a player. The weekend after I got home with Olga I took her down the 'The Swan' to introduce her to all the regulars and to meet Perno, the Landlord's German Shepherd. She didn't mind the organ, in fact she never even noticed it. Olga had made a new friend and lots of people to make a fuss of her.

When I finished work at the bakery and got involved with the Team for the Visually Impaired in Nottingham I started doing all kinds of activities. We would go on camping weekends and have a go at rock climbing or scuba diving. One sport I was introduced to was water ski-ing. I tried it for the first time in about 1985 and have been ski-ing every year since. As you can see from the picture on the right I really enjoy it. If you would like to find out more about water ski-ing just click on the link in the left hand frame to visit my Water Ski-ing Page.

A few years ago I got interested in computers. I heard about the NewLink Project which Concentrated on teaching disabled people a very high standard of I.T. There is a centre very close to me so I contacted the workshop manager and haven't looked back. Although I say it myself, I think I am a natural with the computer. I bought my own PC and spend many hours rummaging around it. I have a very good speech software package called JAWS, (Job Access With Speech). This software allows me to access the Internet. Not all websites are very friendly to blind computer users although they are getting better. Two years down the line I was approached by the tutor who asked if I would like to become an associate tutor and help with teaching the visually impaired students. I thought this would be a great opportunity to meet other visually impaired people and also pass on my knowledge of I.T. to others. I did the ENFEC teacher training course over the next twelve months which involved assessing students, working out lesson plans and preparing and teaching a short lesson to the class. I would go into NewLink on a Monday and Friday to help teaching the visually impaired students. I heard of a Web design course which was being run by our local centre. It is only a short course but quite intensive. All the work is done in Notepad using the HTML coding so it works very well with the speech software. About this time the workshop manager at NewLink asked me if I would like to do the computer diploma course on a Wednesday. This was a two year course and involved 12 modules covering a wide range of applications and gathering evidence along the way. From there I started the level 1 NVQ in I.T. followed by level 2. During the time I was doing the NVQ I heard that New College Nottingham were offering the ECDL course (European Computer Driving License) so I signed up for that on a Monday evening. To bring you up-to-date here we are in 2007 a few years older and three guide dogs later I am still water ski-ing and involved with computers. Dale , dog number four, and me go to Devon quite regularly and stay at The Cliffden hotel in Teignmouth. This is a hotel run by Action for Blind People and stands in about 6 acres of ground with many more acres just at the side of the hotel where Dale can go daft, not that he isn't already, and run and play and do the things that dogs like to do. I have made lots of friends in Teignmouth and Dale and I spent the last 2 Christmases staying at The Lifeboat Inn with Peter & Helly, the Landlord & Landlady.

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