Guide Cats for the Blind

Guide Cats Raise £35,000 for the Blind

The songs and poems of Les Barker poet and professional idiot read by
celebrities.

It was a simple idea developed by Clive Lever to take the poems of Folk
Laureate and professional idiot Les Barker and get famous people to
recite them. The next step would be to issue the results on a CD and
see if he could sell a few copies to raise money for a charity that
has helped Clive and many other blind people. The recipient of the funds
would be the British Computer Association of the Blind whose main aim
is to promote the use of ICT (Information and Communications Technology)
by visually impaired people in education, employment and the home.

Clive explains what the BCAB does: Internet access reaches 60% of sighted
people, but only 25% of visually impaired people. The BCAB introduces
these people to technologies based around Braille, speech or magnification,
permitting them to use computers in a way sighted people take for granted.
Most blind or visually impaired people are intimidated by the technology
or price, but affordable solutions are available.

In 1982, when I started work as a computer programmer, I knew I would
need technical support from other blind computer professionals, so
joining the British Computer Association of the Blind seemed the
logical thing to do. Back then you hardly saw computers outside of
the workplace; the association was a self-help group for blind people
working in computers. Since then it has grown into a registered charity
that is prepared to give technical help to anyone blind or partially
sighted, at home or at work.

At Worcester College for the Blind, now RNIB New College Worcester,
the school motto was: "they can because they think they can". When
I was there, I didn't care much for the motto, but the message was
brought home to me again at a BCAB after-dinner speech given by blind
mountaineer and explorer Miles Hilton Barber.

Inspired by Barber's words Clive set out to turn his money raising idea
into reality. First Clive would need to get permission from Britain's
'Folk Laureate' professional idiot and fashion icon Les Barker who
promptly said yes! In fact Les has helped throughout the promotion of
Guide Cats. Next Clive would need to enlist the help of some famous names.

Enter Paul Donovan of The Sunday Times and Hester Neville from the BBC
Radio 2 Press Office. Between them they paved the way to some of the UK's
best known voices. This enabled Clive to record the first of three CDs
listed below.

Vol 1: Double CD 'Guide Cats for the Blind the Poems and Songs of Les Barker'

Les Barker, Terry Wogan, Mark & Lard, Johnnie Walker, Charlotte Green,
Brian Perkins, Peter White, Paul Gambaccini, Nicky Campbell, Roy Hudd,
Ken Bruce, Nicholas Parsons, Dave Cash+Five Guide Cats Of Arijaba, Mike
Harding, Sally Boazman, Ned Sherrin, Sarah Kennedy, Brian Matthew, Bill
Cadddick, Sir Jimmy Young, Gerard McDermot, June Tabor, Heinz Wolf, Nonny
James, Genevieve Tudor, Allan Beswick, Ryan Kelly, Cyril Tawney, Sic
Transit, Bernard Wrigley, Billy Butler, Martin Carthy, Galliard, Trevor
Peacock, Roger Lloyd Pack, Ian MacMillan.

Flushed with the success of volume one Clive set about releasing another
album of Les Barker's poems entitled

Vol 2: The Missing Persians File

John Humphrys, Joss Ackland, Harvey Andrews with John Shepherd, Prunella
Scales, Timothy West, Les Barker, Emma Chambers, Tom Paxton, Jeremy Vine,
Nonny James, Genevieve Tudor, Ed Stewart, Steve Tilston, Frank Hennessey,
Ryan Kelly, Roger Lloyd Pack, Rodney Bewes, Sic Transit, Desmond Carrington,
Gerard McDermott, Trevor Peacock and last but not least The Mrs Ackroyd
Band.

The first two CDs raised in excess of £30,000 and the new volume entitled,
Top Cat White Tie & Tails has bumped earnings for the charity to over
£35,000.

Vol 3: Top Cat White Tie & Tails

Roger Lloyd Pack, Joss Ackland Robert Lindsay, Jenny Agutter,
Tim Brooke-Taylor Edward de Souza, Prunella Scales, Tony Hawks,
Tessa Peake-Jones, Andrew Sachs,Michael Cochrane, Peter Donaldson,
Judi Spiers, Norma Dixit, Gerard McDermott, Christopher Cazenove,
Clare Balding & Jimmy McGrath.

About Les Barker:

Les writes strange poems and comes originally from Manchester, but he's now Welsh. He recently moved to Wales, took up the language and promptly entered one of his poems in a local Eisteddfod and won!

He was an accountant before he became a professional idiot. His most
famous poems include 'The Shipping Forecast', 'Jason and the Arguments',
'Cosmo the Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower', 'Captain Indecisive', 'Spot of
the Antarctic', 'An Infinite Number of Occasional Tables', 'A Cardi and
Bloke', 'Up the Creek Without a Poodle' and 'Have You Any News of the
Iceberg' to name but two.

Les began his career as assistant to Mrs Ackroyd, a small hairy mongrel
who lay around in folk clubs, bit people and became famous. Mrs Ackroyd
was the only dog ever to own her own record label. Since her sad demise,
Les is mainly a solo performer, though he has taken to working with
humans from time to time. Les is well known for his cardigans and cuts
a dash in the fashion world where he is much respected as a leading
exponent of the woollen garment in all its splendour.

If you are not familiar with the Guide Cats series of CDs and would like
to receive review copies contact Pat Tynan.

Pat Tynan Media
PO Box 785
Ickenham
Uxbridge
Middlesex
England UB10 8WQ
Office: +44 (0) 1895 636935 Mobile 07985 400297

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