Colin Lee Opticians

Welcome to the Colin Lee Opticians blog

We are a family-run business, and have been providing quality eye care to people in the West Midlands and Staffordshire for more than 30 years.

We have seven practices, in Lichfield, Rugeley, Burntwood, Aldridge, Great Barr, Ward End and in association with Jenks in Tamworth.

Please feel free to comment on our articles, and read on to find out all the latest news from our business, plus some of the latest developments in the optical industry.

Exam success for our staff

Well done to all of our staff who have successfully passed their City & Guilds Diplomas in Diabetic Retinopathy Screening – and good luck to the ones who are on the finishing straight!

This will mean we are able to offer a more comprehensive service to our patients, with greater opportunity to screen those suffering from diabetes, and we’re thrilled so many staff have taken part in the training, which has entailed some travelling for each of them, in order to take exams.

So far, Alison Horner, optical assistant at Tamworth, her practice manager, Janice Sadler, and dispensing optician Margaret Norris have come through with flying colours, whilst optical assistant, Debbie Freakley and Rose Newman, optical assistant at Lichfield, are nearly over the line too.

Best of luck to our dispensing opticians, Beth Ryder, from Burntwood and Tim Tyler-Fantom from Lichfield, who can see the end is in sight.

We’re firm believers in supporting our staff through extra training and qualifications, and would like to say well done to our City and Guilds team for all of their hard work.

We look forward to bringing you news of other training successes in the near future.

Get two pairs of specs from just £79

Thanks to everyone who came along to our recent open days at Lichfield and Aldridge – your support is really appreciated, and we hope you enjoyed the chance to see a wider range of our fabulous designer frames.

Lots of patients took advantage of the chance to save 20% on orders over the four days – but for those of you who weren’t able to, you can make the most of our May Madness offer instead.

Throughout the month, we are offering the chance to pick up two pairs of spectacles from just £79! You can choose from a combination of prescriptions, from reading to distance, and from ordinary frames or sunspecs.

Big savings on big names at our open days

We’re looking ahead to better weather – as we’re sure most of us are! - so why not join us for the Spring events at our Aldridge and Lichfield branches? We’re planning some great bargains…

Aldridge is hosting a two-day event next Friday and Saturday (20th and 21st) which will be a wonderful time to pick up some designer eyewear at a great rate.

Our full ranges of Police, Silhouette (pictured left) and Givency frames will be on display – both sunspecs and ordinary spectacles – with 20% off all orders placed on the weekend. That adds up to some great savings.

We will also be having a free prize draw, so please come along and join us if you can.

Lichfield practice is having an event a week later, on April 27^th and 28^th, which will offer our patients another great opportunity to pick up some great new spectacles at a bargain price.

 

Footy team hits a bit of form following our sponsorship

We were thrilled to hear how well the Lichfield Round Table Under-9s team has been doing in recent weeks – we reckon it must be the boost they’ve been given by wearing their smart new tops, as sponsored by Colin Lee and Jenks!

After a tough start to their league season, of late the lads have found a bit of form, and notched up two wins, and a third victory in a friendly match.

This has helped them climb out of the relegation zone which is fantasic news, and we know Jan is delighted with their success.

There’s still a few games to go, but we hope the boys can keep up the good form, and finish as high as possible in the league. We’re over the moon for them!

Make the most of specialist lenses

There are very few people these days who do not use a computer during their working day, and even fewer who don’t then use one in their own time at home.

If you use a screen for any length of time, you may find that normal single vision lenses are just not working for you. Likewise with varifocals.

Simple near vision lenses will allow you to focus on your PC, or on something near, such as notes you may be reading – but not both. With varifocals, you’ll be able to see both distances, but only by lifting your head each time you look at the screen, which is unworkable if you are using it for any length of time.

The solution? We provide something called computer lenses, which are enhanced reading lenses, or varifocals, which allow you to focus at your PC screen, and then at near distance too.

And even better, throughout March and April we are offering these special lenses at half price.  If you are buying them as a second pair, we will also let you have your frames for half price too.

There are four lens options for different types of use and prescription, starting from £112 – this is just £56 during our promotion, which is only slightly more than ordinary single vision lenses.

Another hot topic at the moment is the success of Optifog lenses - if you haven’t yet spoken to us about upgrading to these yet, now’s the perfect time.

These lenses stop the annoyance of having your spectacles fog up as soon as you come from somewhere cold to hot, or vice versa, and are particularly useful for people who work somewhere with varying extremes of temperature such as a kitchen, where hot ovens and steaming pans could regularly leave you misted up and unable to function properly.

Also really good for runners, and sports, but generally, we’ve found from feedback that most people feel they’ve benefited as misting is a problem most spectacle wearers will encounter from time to time. They are also great value, just £10 more than our most popular lens range.

Make an appointment to speak to our dispensing optician, or call into any of our Colin Lee Opticians branches today to find out more about computer lenses and Optifog lenses.

Sponsorship boost for Lichfield youngsters thanks to Colin Lee and Jenks

Here’s the Lichfield Round Table FC’s under-9 team – also known as The Knights - looking very smart in their new sponsored jackets, courtesy of Colin Lee and Jenks.

The team, which is based at the Hockey and Cricket Club in Lichfield, is currently battling away in the first division of its league, against teams from Lichfield, Tamworth, Rugeley, Burntwood, Aldridge, Great Barr, and Castle Vale – coincidently, where our practices are based!

The team includes Jan and Helen Stoumann’s son William, and our sponsorship helped provide the players with Prostar weatherproof jackets, which they wear to and during training, and to matches.  The jackets are proving a real hit during this miserable, cold wet winter!

Jan reports the team is doing well, despite only having played together for less than a year.   They are playing their first season in a competitive league, and though to date they have only won one of their nine games, he says the boys are holding their own.

“Despite the stats, they have played some great football, and have lost most games by just a goal or two. Notably, they were 0-0 against the top of the league side ( who have played nine and won nine!)  until the last minute of the game, when the opposition’s striker scored a stunning goal,” he explained.

“They are progressing well in the cup competition though, and have come through the first three rounds looking good!”

We wish the team the very best of luck for the rest of the season, and if they play as well as they look, we think they’ll have a great future ahead of them!

Life's less steamy with new anti-fog lenses

As any spectacle wearer knows, steamed up glasses are a pain – especially at this time of year when you move from a cold to a hot environment, or get caught in the rain.

Fogged lenses are a problem shared by glasses-wearers from all walks of life. Celebrities with specs - from Cheryl Cole to Fiona Bruce to Alan Carr - will almost certainly have experienced it. Not to mention chefs such as Nigel Slater and Hairy Biker Dave Myers.

Everyday chores such as opening a hot oven or dishwasher or going for a run leave you fogged up too.

Which is why we have been so impressed with a new range of lenses we’ve been trying out from Essilor, called Optifog.

Rising demand for our new Aldridge practice

Here's our latest press release - please look out for it in the Walsall papers!

An Aldridge opticians practice has seen business grow since moving to bigger premises, and has taken on extra staff to cope with the rise in demand for eye tests.

 Optician Gurgit Hayer, who comes from Walsall, has joined Colin Lee Opticians in Aldridge, at the firm’s new base in Aldridge.

The company, which has seven practices in the West Midlands and Staffordshire, moved its head office in September, to much larger, neighbouring premises in Anchor Parade.

Welcome to our new staff

We’re delighted to welcome some new staff to our team, and just wanted to introduce you, as you may well be seeing a new face or two when you next visit us.

Gurjit Hayer is our new optometrist at Aldridge, working with the team in our new practice.

Demand for testing has gone up sharply since our move, and now that we have three times the space, and a number of new consulting rooms, we’re delighted to have Gurjit join us, to help cope with the extra patient numbers.

The success of the move has been a real highpoint for the business this year, and the feedback about the new practice continues to be really positive, so once again, thanks to everyone for their support, to all our staff and patients.

Marathon effort from Phil

Dispensing optician Phil Cross has been on the run again – this time, fulfilling one of his ultimate ambitions and completing a marathon.

He competed in the Leicester Marathon, finishing the 26 miles in a fantastic four hours and 20 minutes, which is a wonderful effort, and something he had been determined to do before his 50^th birthday.

Phil’s entry fee went to help Loros, a Leicestershire-based cancer hospice charity.  Though this was Phil’s first full marathon, he has previously completed three Great North Runs, and the Great Ethiopian Run in Addis, when he helped to raise more than £1,500 for Vision Aid Overseas (as pictured), a charity regularly supported by Colin Lee Opticians.

Phil is based at our Tamworth practice but also works at Burntwood, and most recently Aldridge, where as a contact lens optician, he is providing our contact lenses service to help us meet the increased demand we have had from patients since our move.

Everyone at Colin Lee Opticians is extremely proud of Phil and his efforts, and we’d like to wish him well with his next adventure, whatever he decides to take on.