Our Guiding Principles
“D&A does business in a responsible way and we encourage colleagues to take an active role in supporting good causes”.
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Imagine living in a country with 70 million people and only one Optometrist. For many in Ethiopia, this is a reality; but D&A The Opticians hopes to help change this by raising the funds needed to develop a new optical workshop at the Menelik II Hospital in Ethiopia and fill a desperate need for [...]

Dollond & Aitchison is pleased to announce that it will be working closely with Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) over the coming months on a new venture. From 1st October, D&A branches across the UK will start fundraising activities aiming to raise £50,000 to improve eyecare in Ethiopia, as well as raising the charity’s profile with [...]

Payroll Giving is a government funded scheme that enables colleagues to make donations to any UK charity straight from their gross salary.
In 2008, D&A were once again awarded a Gold Quality Mark Award, demonstrating that over 10% of all our colleagues choose to use Payroll Giving to give to their favourite charitable causes. [...]

Richard Rawlinson, Franchisee at Brownhills and VAO Member shares his experiences of the trip to Ethiopia in February 2008;

Dear All,
Well what a day!! We had breakfast at 7am, big buffet of bacon etc for me accompanied by some Ethiopian stew & some very strong Ethiopian coffee!
We were collected by Dr Wondu and taken across town [...]

Day 1 – Arriving in Ethiopia

 
Dollond & Aitchison are extremely proud and excited to announce plans to finance the Menelik II Hospital Optical Workshop Project in Ethiopia organised by Vision Aid Overseas. The aim of this project is to create a centre of excellence in a country, which currently does not have a single optician [...]

Day 1 – Menelik II Hospital
On the morning of 18th February, the team visited the Menelik II Hospital and were introduced to the new Chief Executive Officer, Mr Tezera Kifle Desta. The management were very receptive to the ideas and suggestions which was very encouraging.
“I was so impressed by the dedication, professionalism and sheer resourcefulness [...]

Day 1 – Vision Aid Projects

 
We have sent many teams of optical professionals to the developing world where they set up clinics, provide eye tests to large numbers of people and then supply patients with spectacles if required. Many patients enter VAO clinics functionally blind, having never had access to an eye examination. They leave [...]

Day 1 – Existing Workshop Facilities – How Can We Make It Better
The team then went on to visit the building situated in a quiet part of the hospital grounds in which the remains of an optical workshop are still to be seen. It was the site of a workshop until about 6 years ago [...]

Day 1 – Making Glasses – What They Currently Have To Work With
The workshop still has stocks of old lenses and frames however these are unsuitable for use and the project aims to supply the Optical Workshop with new stocks. The glasses that you all collect and bring to our branches will be delivered to [...]