A team of 50 skiers set off this weekend for the slopes of St Johann in Austria with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI), in association with Topflight. The annual ski challenge, which is now in its 13th year, is a chance for sighted and vision impaired skiers to improve their skills on the slopes, with one-to-one instruction available for blind and vision impaired skiers. As NCBI is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2006, this year’s ski challenge is really exciting, with both 2FM and RTE’s Nationwide in attendance. DJs Damien Farrelly and Larry Gogan will broadcast from St. Johann next week, with skiers trying their luck on Larry’s ‘Just a Minute Quiz’. Writer and comedian Alan Shortt, who raised €26,000 euro for NCBI from his time in the You’re a Star Charity Special last August, will take part in his second NCBI ski challenge. On his return, Alan will take part in another fundraising drive for NCBI, with his appearance in Ní Gaeilgeoir Mé, a new reality programme on TG4, where eight celebrities move into the Ulster Folk Museum for a week from 10th to 17th March to improve their Irish. The public can vote for the person they’d like to win, with all proceeds going to the groups chosen charities. NCBI promotes the full independence of blind and vision impaired people and to minimise the disabling effects of sight loss and provides a range of services to almost 10,000 vision impaired people living in Ireland. These services include the provision of mobility training, information and counselling, as well as employment and adaptive technology services to support independent living. For more information on NCBI contact the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, phone 01 8307033 or visit www.ncbi.ie. ENDS