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THUNDEROUS SIGHT!
Published: Thursday 24th June 2010

Wednesday June 24 2009

THUNDEROUS SIGHT!

Intro:

Newcastle optometrist John Davidson of Querido & Davidson has teamed up with Gateshead Thunder Rugby League Club, as part of their health and fitness team.

John, and Rod Findlay, Chief Executive of the club, explain how their partnership came about.

Rod Findlay

"I met John at a business referral group called Network North. It soon became apparent that, strange as it may sound, Gateshead Thunder and Querido & Davidson have some important things in common, namely, a commitment to community work. I was even more delighted to discover that John is a Gateshead Thunder fan!

"Over the past few years Gateshead Thunder has been developing a strategy for work in the community. We strongly believe that sport can be used powerfully to improve people’s lives.

"As part of our co-ordinated Community Strategy we are engaged in a range of projects; with housing associations, schools, community groups and charities such as Positive Futures, through which we help youngsters interested in playing rugby league. We have also participated in the Metro Centre’s Family Week and our stadium has multi-purpose pitches, which are used by all the community, schools and colleges.

"It soon became apparent during my chat with John Davidson that he could help with a sometimes neglected aspect of player fitness – their eyesight. We have the physios and the club doctors and John just compliments that health and fitness team really very well.”

As for the eye tests, Rod says with a broad smile, "I’m pleased to say that the team came through with flying colours – I hope the refs can see just as well!”

John Davidson

Optician Querido & Davidson are that rarity in business, a family owned company that has been serving the same community for 50 years. John Davidson and his wife, Julia, are at the helm of this Newcastle based practice. Originally established in 1956 by Victor Graham, the business was taken on by Jan Querido in 1985. John and Julia Davidson took over in 2002.

"We are very much a community service,” John explains. "This includes doing home visits, which most of our competitors do not undertake. I often make my home visits during my day off and I don’t mind in the least, its part of our community ethos. In many cases my patients have become friends because I’ve been treating the same family for years.

"I was impressed by Gateshead Thunder’s wide ranging community work and was more than pleased to accept their invitation to sight test their players, which I did on June 12 & 15 of this year. Professionally it was very satisfying as I took the general eye test and modified and adapted it to the needs of sportsmen, quite specialist work.

"This included, for example, checking that the players had excellent depth perception or stereovision and that they had perfect vision in both eyes. Also we checked the extent of their side peripheral vision, which is used to help with catching the ball. We also checked the inside of the eyes to look for signs of injury from this tough physical sport.

"Whether it is football or rugby, every team has to ensure that it has optimised every aspect of its potential, that they playing to all their strengths, on and off the pitch. Sport now is so competitive, the stakes so high, that the players have to be in superb condition, they have to be athletes. That includes their eyesight.

"But, as a fan, I also see working with Gateshead Thunder as an investment – if the players can see well they are more likely to win games!”

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Glasses

Newcastle Opticians

Is your current eyecare provider giving you the service that you expect? ...or is he or she just too rushed or disinterested? Then move on & join us at Querido & Davidson.

We are a national award winning eyecare practice (established in 1956) with a long heritage of providing exemplary service and exceptional products.

Eye Tests & Examinations

Our Optometrists carry out a huge array of checks during to your eye examination. These can include testing your eye pressure (to detect glaucoma - which, if undetected, could lead to blindness), checking sideways field of vision and the health of the back of your eye.

All these checks are quick and painless, and will provide us with important information that will help monitor any slight changes over time.

Contact Lenses

We fit a huge variety of contact lenses types to patients across the whole of the UK. We supply lenses to people of all ages, & all prescription types. Using corneal topography and slit lamp image capture we provide the highest standard of care to all our contact lenses wearing patients.

We specialise in iGo OVC, Ortho-K and Paragon CRT Orthokeratology work for all ages from 6 upwards. We are an accredited Chromagen contact lens practice. We supply varifocal contact lenses and contact lenses to correct astigmatism. We can also supply theatrical contact lenses for television productions.

In 2006 we were awarded the title of Contact lens practice of the year at the UK Optician awards.

Keratoconus Eye Care

We are a keratoconus friendly practice, and are experienced in the following keratoconus management methods:

Spectacles
Soft contact lenses, including Ultravision Kerasoft and Acuity Soft K
Gas permeable contact lenses, including Rose K, So2Clear and Lensdynamics Dyna Z intralimbal
Scleral contact lenses, including Innovative Sclerals

Finding Querido & Davidison:

We are located at:
196 Chillingham Road
Heaton
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE6 5LN
0191 265 9898