A trip down memory lane: celebrating 35 years of Living Paintings

When Art History Lecturer Alison Oldland wanted a new canine companion, she only had one requirement – that it wouldn’t chew her furniture! Needing a dog with a certain level of training brought Golden Retriever, Emma, into her life. Emma had many positive qualities – but, luckily for Alison, being a guide dog wasn’t one of them. Emma hadn’t made the mark during her training, but as she just about passed the ‘do not chew’ module, she was adopted by Alison and her family.

As a way of thanks, Alison gave a special Art History lecture to raise funds for Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Knowing some members of the audience were blind, she took great care to describe the paintings in minute detail to help them build an image in their minds. It was so popular, that she was asked to record her audio descriptions of artworks. It was soon after that Alison had that lightbulb moment – combining audio description with tactile versions of works to help blind people experience art through touch and sound.

When Alison’s daughter, Camilla, joined the newly formed charity – she was instantly hooked. Driven by its impact, she began to wonder how the combination of touch and sound could be applied to other areas to widen the service’s benefit.

This year marked the publishing of The Very Hungry Caterpillar – our very first accessible children’s picture book. It was such a roaring success that seven more books followed a year later. Today we have almost 300 Touch to See picture books in our collection, with more in the pipeline than ever before. It’s become, perhaps, what Living Paintings are most famous for.

1995 marked the start of our long relationship with that cheeky bear Pudsey, which has gone from strength to strength over the years. At the time, it was the biggest grant Living Paintings had ever received and made an incredible difference; helping us reach more blind and visually impaired children with our service than ever before.

We’ve gone on to feature on the televised event several times, most recently with a segment presented by Ellie Goulding and featuring the story of our beneficiary, Tayen.

When we decided to bring artworks from the Royal Collection to life for blind and visually impaired people, we worked with Christopher Lloyd – at the time Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures. Never did we think this connection would help us gain the support of the then Prince of Wales.

Living Paintings attended St James’ Palace in person to record a very special introduction message. Meeting the now King was an honour that we will never forget – not least because of his difficulty at pronouncing ‘Torre dell’Orologio’! He requested we leave his stumble in the finished recording – mentioning how it showed that he was just a human who could make mistakes.

If you went down to the V&A one day in 2010 – you may have got rather a big surprise!

At Living Paintings, our unique work means we’re able to capture the attention of a host of high-profile supporters. We called on their support for this event to host a charity auction like no other!

We were gifted 20 one-of-a-kind Steiff teddy bears – and asked our friends and supporters to play stylist and design each bear an outfit. From Stella McCartney and Disney to Joan Collins a host of stars gave their support. Their bears were displayed in all their glam glory at Peter Jones in Sloane Square before being sold off to the highest bidder.

With all the events run by Living Paintings, why does this one stand out in particular? Aside from the money raised and the positive impact it had for so many blind and visually impaired children and young people – it was the arrival of giant life-size bears that keeps it fresh in our mind.

Camilla, our CEO, explains: “Alongside the donated teddy bears from Germany came, rather randomly, a a few life size bears. They arrived in animal transport crates – as if they contained real bears – and we needed to stop the traffic in central London to get them into the venue. It was absolute calamity, but all great fun. So, if you were driving in London in 2010 and got stopped by a group of ladies so they could offload their bears – please know they weren’t real!”

We knew our books and resources made an incredible impact, opening up the visual world for thousands of beneficiaries across the country. We began to wonder how they could be used to bring people together, to tackle isolation and help blind adults form friendships and connections. Our solution was our Touch to See Clubs.

Soon, our volunteer-led clubs were launching up and down the country – allowing groups of blind and visually impaired people to explore our resources together and talk about what they were experiencing in a social environment.

Today, our Touch to see Clubs continue to run and make a difference in the community – with us recently launching a new version of the service for people living in care homes for the elderly.

“The stories we share are amazing. I don’t think we would talk about them if it wasn’t for the Touch to See Clubs. It brings back all our memories.” – Joy, Touch to See Club member

As COVID hit and the country locked down, nobody captured the hearts of the nation more than Captain Tom….but Ted, a young Living Paintings beneficiary, gave him a good run for his money.

Inspired by Captain Tom’s laps of his garden, 11-year-old Ted took on the challenge to run 26.2 miles over 26 days to raise money for Living Paintings.

With his family and friends behind him, some incredible media coverage and messages of support from stars such as Tim Peake, Clare Balding, Derek Jacobi and Jos Butler – young Ted raised a whopping £38,000 for Living Paintings.

Louis Moorhouse joined Living Paintings when he was a toddler after losing his sight due to complications with childhood cancer. At the age of just 19, he spearheaded a campaign to give Doctor Who, his favourite TV show, the Living Paintings treatment and help other blind and visually impaired fans experience the rich visual history of the programme.

Louis raised almost £25,000 to produce three tactile-audio picture packs that chart the Doctor’s journey over 60 years. With the first two now available and the third coming very soon, the experiences feature guides and exclusive audio content from a host of Who stars including Tom Baker, Christopher Ecclestone, Katy Manning, Derek Jacobi and voice of the Daleks Nick Briggs.

Such was the impact of the campaign that Louis was appointed a trustee of Living Paintings in 2024 – bringing a fresh and relevant perspective to our governing board.

Find out more on our Who Hub!

When the coronation of King Charles’ drew closer, the team at Living Paintings were discussing it just like everybody else. What would happen? What would the king wear? What will it all look like? As the conversation turned to the blind and visually impaired children who may not be able to fully experience the visual spectacle – we knew we were perfectly placed to do something about it.

We set about work to produce a range of tactile images and audio guides that would help blind and VI children and young people feel fully included in the celebrations. Our free gifts, which were theirs to keep forever, were sent out to over 7,000 children and young people across the UK. Our audio guides were provided by a host of stars including Dame Joanna Lumley, Roman Kemp, Omid Djalili, Mel Giedroyc, Sir Derek Jacobi and Living Paintings beneficiary, Eleanor Stollery.

The legacy of this incredible project is that we doubled the number of children and young people using our vital service, meaning we’re now supporting more children, young people, schools and families than ever before.

Find out more about this incredible project on our Coronation Hub.