A BLIND man who has been serving the residents of Basingstoke with his charities has been honoured on a national television channel.

David Chatten-Smith has been gifted a handcrafted Ottoman on the television show Kings of Wood for his efforts in running Helping Hands charity and Basingstoke Community Radio.

The programme was broadcast on Quest TV, operated by the Discovery channel last week.

David, who has been completely blind for more than 16 years, said it was a great experience to appear on the show.

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“I appreciate what they did and the piece of furniture they made for us.”

Kings of the Wood is a programme featuring an elite group of master carpenters coming together to build extraordinary, functional items for people who truly deserve them.

David was nominated to the show by his friend Daren Bavister, who is a trustee and presenter at the Basingstoke Community Radio.

“David is an amazing chap, who is always so engaging and hands-on despite his disabilities,” Daren said.

“I put him forward for the programme and we were chosen, which was wonderful.

“I also went on the show to explain about David and his charity and tell all the positives he brings to the people in Basingstoke. It was a wonderful surprise.

“They made a brilliant Ottoman for him. It was handcrafted and created in a tactile way, which helps him know which is its front, how to open it, and how to partition it. It’s a lovely piece of furniture made in Royal Blue, the colour of our radio station.”

David became blind and paraplegic overnight in 2005 after contracting meningitis.

“I was in a coma for five days. When I woke up I was blind and unable to walk,” David said.

“Luckily for me, with a lot of rehabilitation I was able to walk again. But the eyesight is definitely not coming back. The optic nerve is one of the nerves that don’t regenerate.”

But David is happy that his disability has helped him do something good for the community.

“If I wasn’t blind, would I be doing these? Probably not,” he said.

“I would be working every hour to pay off a mortgage. So these are some small benefits from the disability. Every day is like a school day and a learning curve for me now.”

David first created the Helping Hands in 2012, but is was shut down last year as the pandemic took its toll on the charity.

Basingstoke Community Radio was created in 2019 from the Helping Hands charity.

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It has 27 volunteers, and the fully-professional studio broadcast 24 hours and seven days a week.

The station, which can be listened to through smartphones and smart speakers, has recently been awarded a small DAB licence.

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