It's a bit of a boast of mine that I may be the owner of the largest private collection of plays and theatre books in Braille in the entire country.

Thirty years or so ago, I was aiming to be an English teacher and realised books were going to be of considerable importance to me.

I would need my own stock of novels, short stories, poetry, plays, course books, critical and other background reading to prepare my lessons from.

But where to get them? Not for me, you see, the quick nip to the school book store or library, or a trip to local book shops or the public library.

No surprise, then at least, looking back, that I muddled through teacher training as far as the reading went.

Talking books helped a bit but I've always found reading for myself a much better way of taking things in.

What I could get in Braille was nowhere near enough and not always to the point.

It was then I realised I had to start buying books.

As soon as a title of possible relevance was advertised, I bought it. (If I waited until I actually needed it, it might well be too late.)

Given the trickle that was - is - Braille publishing, this was going to be a slow and haphazard process. But what else was there for it?

And then there's the sheer bulk of Braille. Take the biography of Ray Charles I'm reading just now - all 12 coffee-table book sized volumes of it.

I was going to need plenty of space and some good, strong shelving.

As things turned out, I only ever obtained one (temporary) teaching job.

But I kept on collecting to that end for several years after.

Eventually, I gave in to the inevitable and passed on much of my collection to be used elsewhere.

I needed the space again.

But, in the meantime, I'd discovered several groups of volunteer transcribers to whom I could send ink-print books for Brailling specially for me.

I had also developed a keen interest in acting and the theatre. Plays were now my thing.

Later, the National Library for the Blind also began producing books for sale, the odd play among them.

And so, over some 17 or 18 years, I've built up my not-quite specialised collection at a rate of about 20 titles a year.

It still frustrates me having to wait for months to receive a book but then, when I consider other blind people, my personal frustration takes something of a knock.

I bring to mind that of the roughly 194,000 registered blind people in the UK, only 19,000 (and that figure is probably falling) can read Braille.