Swindon Bats

27/07/2025

What a fantastic achievement for the England Women's squad this evening! Some incredible players and real nail biting games throughout the tournament.

But did you know that the Lionesses immensely skilled Goal Keeper Hannah Hampton has a visual impairment?!

Hannah has a condition called Strabismus and was told at a young age she would never be able to play professional football due to her struggles with depth perception.

Well look at her now!
Vision Impairment and Sight Loss should never have to mean your put out on the sidelines.

A huge Congratulations to Hannah and all the England Team from everyone at Swindon Bats.

🦁⚽❤️

England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was told she’d never make it as a professional athlete by doctors. Now, she’s one of the England Team’s heroes.

Hannah has an eye condition called strabismus, where eyes don’t look in the same direction as each other. She also has a lack of depth perception, meaning she finds it harder to judge distances.
She’s said it’s most noticeable when pouring drinks: “When pouring a glass of water, I’ll miss the glass if I’m not holding it.”

“It was always my passion to do sport and it was my dream. You’ve got to follow your dreams and, sat here right now, I can say that I’ve done that.”

Good luck, Hannah and the Lionesses in the semi-final! Don’t forget, you can watch the match with audio description on ITV and STV ⚽

And if you'd like to learn more about strabismus, we've got lots of info, here: rnib.in/Strabismus

[Image description: "Media: How can a goalkeeper with a lack of depth perception play for England?”
Hannah Hampton:" Picture of England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton celebrating during the recent England vs Sweden quarter-final match. She's yelling with passion, fists clenched in celebration. She’s wearing a bright green long-sleeved goalkeeper kit with the number 1 on her shorts and padded gloves. Her kit has the England badge on the chest. Hannah has light blonde hair tied back tightly in a ponytail, her face is lit up with energy, her eyes are wide and mouth open as she cheers.]

25/07/2025

Here's a special message from Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill giving you more information about how you can support Swindon Bats through Tesco Stronger Starts! 🦇

16/07/2025

Don't forget Tesco Stronger Start Tokens has started! From the first week in July 2025 until the end of September 2025 you can vote for Swindon Bats in the following Branches of Tesco ❤️

Swindon Abbey Meads Express
Swindon Pinehurst Express
Cheney Manor Express
Cricklade Express
Freshbrook Express
Highworth Swindon Express
Liden Swindon Express
Extra Wootton Bassett Express Shaw Ramleaze Drive Express Toothill Village Express
Priory Vale Express
Wroughton Express
Swindon Extra (Ocatal Way)
Swindon Express (Town Centre)

We would really appreciate you sharing this far and wide with your friends and family to help us get as many votes as possible!

Thank you! 🦇

03/07/2025

Our chairperson Becky is very excited to be speaking live to BBC Wiltshire Ben Prater this morning ♥️

You can hear her on this morning's BBC Breakfast show from 7:50am-8am and throughout the day on the news bulletin!

If you're interested in supporting Becky and Uans fundraising challenge for Swindon Bats please do take a look at our Crowdfunding page for more information ❤️🦇

Raising money for Swindon Bats Sports and Social Charity. "Our sight is set on inclusion" supporting the local visually impaired community.

30/06/2025

Yesterday, a group of Bats took a coach to the coast, for a day out in Bournemouth. The group did everything from ferris wheels, to crazy golf, Aquariums and fish and chips. Here’s what Andrea had to say:

Today, 9 BATS members traveled to Bournemouth for the day. We arrived to cloudy skies, but the sun soon came out. There was a gentle breeze, which was very welcoming. It was hot! Some members went fishing. We had lunch on the pier, followed by beers and cocktails. I thought a few drinks may have persuaded everyone to go on the Ferris wheel! Some of us then played mini-golf after a ride on the Ferris wheel. Some went to the aquarium. We then had a wander into the park to see all the stalls with a Caribbean feel and steel drum music, and we enjoyed ice cream at the end of a great day.

29/06/2025

It has been another busy week for the Swindon Bats showdown crew. Thursday saw Al from Croydons showdown team visit our regular showdown session for some coaching and friendly matches. Then yesterday, showdown coordinator Maisy travelled to Coventry for a “women in Showdown” training event. She was able to network with other Showdown clubs, play some games and get lots of tips on how the professionals do it! It was great to see old familiar faces and new. There are lots of people keen to visit Swindon Bats and play Showdown with us, so watch this space. 🦇

18/06/2025

During the Summer of 2023 Bats Chairperson Becky and her husband Uan managed to complete their very own Salt Path Challenge and raised an incredible £2,000 for Swindon Bats. Their total distance covered from Weston Super-Mare to Minehead ended up a staggering 54 miles exactly with a total walking time of 18 hours over 4 days.

This year Becky and Uan are back and this time they plan on racing across the South West to get from Penzance in Cornwall back to Swindon in Wiltshire in just 5 days, sounds easy enough right!?

Except the only form of transport they will have available to them is Walking and Becky's trusty Disabled bus pass!

Think BBCs Race Across The World but on The UK Buses!

For many Blind and Visually impaired people in particular a Concessionary/Disabled bus pass is a life line and can give individuals a route out of isolation.

So with this in mind Becky who is registered severely sight impaired/blind and her sighted husband Uan will be taking on the mammoth challenge of navigating through 5 counties (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Bath and NE Somerset and Wiltshire) in a race to get back home in just 5 days!

They will start their journey by catching a train to Penzance setting off on a Tuesday morning to return by Saturday. With no overnight accommodation booked they will need to find accommodation or take their chances with some wild camping along the way!

Please donate if you can.
Anything big or small is incredibly welcome. Swindon Bats relies solely on funding from fundraising and grants so every little helps!

Thank you 🦇💙

Raising money for Swindon Bats Sports and Social Charity. "Our sight is set on inclusion" supporting the local visually impaired community.

09/06/2025

An exciting opportunity has been given to Swindon Bats. The Tesco Stronger Starts Grant, previously the token scheme has selected our small charity as one of its shortlisted charities! 🦇

Voting will commence in store from the first week in July 2025 until the end of September 2025.

This means that the local community of Swindon gets a say every time they shop. First prize is £1500! The support of grants like this means we are able to keep doing what we do here at Swindon Bats. Supporting the people of Swindon who are blind or visually impaired.

For a full list of shops taking part, please see below. It costs you nothing, but could make a huge difference to us.

🛒Swindon Abbey Meads Tesco express
🛒Tesco Pinehurst Tesco express
🛒Cheney Manor Tesco express
🛒Cricklade Tesco express
🛒Freshbrook Tesco express
🛒Highworth Tesco express
🛒Liden Tesco express
🛒Tesco extra Swindon
🛒Wootton Bassett Tesco express
🛒Shaw Ramsleaze drive Tesco express
🛒Toothill village Tesco express

06/06/2025

Last night, a group of Bats had a blast when they visited the Wye Verne to see a Queen tribute act.
Music is a universally enjoyed experience and something that as blind or visually impaired people, the Bats can join in without barriers.
Some photos of the night show how much fun was had

28/05/2025

Another incredible night of fundraising last night, when 46 Bats came together at the lovely Fabios restaurant in Swindon.
There was a three course meal, enjoyed by everyone, and a raffle with some brilliant prizes. The night was a roaring success and a whopping. £760 was raised. It really displayed the generous and kind community spirit that we have here at Swindon Bats
The photo below shows how many people there were and how much support we received, we are very grateful to each and everyone of you who turned up 

25/05/2025

We can’t believe it’s been almost a week since the inter company Bowling event. We all had so much fun, and again would like to share our thanks to everyone involved leading up to and on the day of the event.
Here are the team pictures, we can’t wait for next year to hopefully do it all again

12/02/2025

On Monday a group of 5 employees from Zurich and 3 guests from Arval UK volunteered their time to go bowling with a group of Bats🎳.

The Zurich and Arval volunteers took on the challenge and wore specially designed glasses to replicate various sight impairments for some of the frames🕶

On the night it was another win for the Swindon Bats, who won 7-1 despite some closely fought games🦇.

Highest Score for the Bats was from Shaun with 174 & Sam got a personal best of 150🏆

We all celebrated John B’s Birthday, with a delicious chocolate cake, which made his day extra special! 🎂🥳