MBE honour for York SpecSort specialist

York optometrist Ruth Perrott was honoured with the award of an MBE in the Queen's New Year's 2021 list for her work in supporting visually impaired patients in Africa. She recently attended a ceremony where she received her award from Prince William.


IMAGE SOURCE: © Colin Perrot 

 MBE honour for SpecSort specialist and founder

Link to main SpecSort web page: https://tinyurl.com/MainSpecSort


A LEADING York optometrist has been presented with her MBE, awarded in the Queens’s 2021 New Year Honours. Ruth Perrott travelled to Windsor Castle on Tuesday December 7 to receive the award from Prince William.

The award was given to Ruth for her services to people with sight impairment in Africa. Ruth has visited the African continent sixteen times, providing spectacles to poor rural communities. The countries visited include Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. The initial visit to Cameroon in 1991 was in support of Prince Charles’s Operation Raleigh.

The project to deliver spectacles to Africa is supported by Rotary York Ainsty, who became involved in late 1991. York Ainsty meet on a monthly basis to ensure that the donated spectacles are measured and assembled into quality controlled spectacle libraries, which Ruth and her team then take with them when they visit Africa. However, since the start of COVID the spectacle libraries are now airfreighted to local charities who provide sight tests, to ensure the specs delivered to each person are optically correct and are the right size and fit. 

Rotary York Ainsty recently recognised Ruth’s work by making her a Honorary member and presenting her with the Paul Harris Fellowship award.  

Ruth specialises in neuro-developmental optometry, assessing and treating children, teens and adults with reading issues, and also patients with mild traumatic brain injury or strokes.

For more information please contact: Ruth Perrott MBE BSc FCOptom MBABO at VisionCare Development - or an interview appointment - contact Ruth or Colin Perrott:


01904 784040 (work)

01904 704634 (home)

07903 467792 (mobile)


Find more details on these web sites…

VisionCare Optometry: https://visioncareoptometry.co.uk

Rotary York Ainsty: www.tinyurl.com/RotaryYorkAinsty


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