I LOVE my work. When people are thrilled with their new glasses and can see clearly I feel a great sense of satisfaction. I feel mine is almost a miraculous profession; with a small piece of plastic held in front of or in the eye I can enable people to see, a sense we all too easily take for granted. Obviously I trained long and hard to achieve my qualifications and I still study and strive for excellence in all I do, but I think what I most enjoy is meeting people- welcoming new clients to the practice or seeing long-established patients who have become friends.

I particularly enjoy seeing children. We routinely start seeing them young, at 18 months or so. As they gain confidence and get used to us over the years we can be sure that by the time they start school they can see well, whether they need glasses to achieve that or not. We have a dedicated toy-area and returning children immediately make a bee-line for it.; mum and dad may get five minutes’ peace with our up-to-date selection of newspapers and magazines.

I also enjoy my domiciliary days when I visit people in their own homes. I’m always made very welcome and it is great to know I can still help people, even when they can’t get to us.

I feel very fortunate to have a profession I enjoy so much and which can do so much good.