The Company

The Spectacle Makers’ Company (SMC) maintains its close links with the optical sector.

Although it sees itself as being “Of Optics”, rather than “In Optics”, its members continue to hold prominent positions on the governing bodies of the various optical regulatory and representative organizations, many of which it helped to establish. The Company also offers its facilities at Apothecaries’ Hall as “neutral territory” where contentious issues within optics may be debated openly and amicably under the chairmanship of its officers. With an increasing number of Fellows of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists joining its membership, the SMC can also help to break down barriers between optometry and ophthalmology.

The SMC is a major provider of training for optical technicians and optical practice support staff, and has been accredited by the Regulatory Bodies of England, Wales and Northern Ireland as an Awarding Body, offering five nationally recognised qualifications which are currently accredited to the National Qualifications Framework, and will shortly be reaccredited to the Qualifications and Credit Framework which is replacing it.

On top of this, the Company is building a new charitable fund to allow it to give even greater support to research into the causes of visual impairment (and their cures), and to assist other charities that look after those already affected by it.

To discover more about the SMC’s work today, and its history, please click on the links above right.

A Reception at Apothecaries’ Hall

During the evening of 1st July, members of the Court hosted a reception at the Hall for those who sit on the councils or boards of the regulatory and representational bodies within “Optics UK plc”.

Organized by the Membership Committee (above right), the event allowed those present an unprecedented opportunity to relax amongst themselves and make new acquaintances. In particular, it allowed the members of the newly reformed GOC to introduce themselves to key members of the optical community.

For those interested, the Clerk was on hand to offer a brief guided tour of the Hall: