SIGHT Advice South Lakes, a charity for the visually impaired, has celebrated the opening of its new home.

Charity president Sir James Cropper cut the ribbon to officially open the new premises, at Highgate, Kendal, which was purchased following a building appeal launched in 2013 that raised more than £430,000.

A major refurbishment was carried out to improve services and offer greater accessibility to charity users than was available at its previous home at Stricklandgate House.

Sight Advice South Lakes director Claire Park said: "What we have now is a facility that is fully accessible to our users and having a high street location in the centre of Kendal will help raise our profile.

"This allows us to be more in charge of our own development. We can make this our own space and develop it around the needs of local people living with sight loss.

"We are still in the early stages but this is an asset that the charity now owns and we are always getting ideas for future improvements."