Welcome to Northwick’s website
Northwick is a very special bear. He lives with a boy called Frank and his family. Both Northwick and Frank have nystagmus. If you have nystagmus it means your eyes move all the time (usually side to side or up and down) and you can’t see very well.
Glasses and contact lenses don’t fix nystagmus and doctors don’t yet know how to cure it. Nystagmus causes all sorts of problems for Northwick and Frank in their everyday lives. For instance, Frank has to sit at the front of the class and even then he can’t always see what’s on the board.
"As a child I would have loved to have stories of a bear with wobbly eyes like mine, as I knew of no-one else like me."But nystagmus doesn’t just make it hard to see things a long way off. If Frank and Northwick are tired or upset their eyesight gets worse. Even being hungry – as Northwick well knows – makes it harder for him to see.
Nystagmus does other strange things too. You might not look straight at what you want to see. You may nod your head to see better. You may need more time to see the things you can see. Nystagmus may make you feel shy or angry or lonely sometimes too. Even though we can’t cure nystagmus yet, we can do a lot to make life easier for Northwick, Frank and the hundreds of thousands of people who have “wobbly eyes”.
You can find out more about Northwick and Frank and how they are learning to live with nystagmus in the stories section on this website. For the very first story and to find out how they met read “A Bear with no Name”.
As Northwick says…
“having nystagmus is a real nuisance.
But it’s not the end of the world.”
"Tales of Northwick" – about the book
The “Tales of Northwick” book contains nine of the early stories about Northwick and Frank and helps families to understand the eye condition nystagmus. The book contains stories about nystagmus and school, what children with nystagmus see, and nystagmus and behaviour among other topics. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, friend, ophthalmologist, orthoptist, optometrist, social worker or have nystagmus yourself, Northwick can help you better understand what it’s like to have weird and wobbly eyes.
For a more detailed description, and to view two sample stories, about the 'Tales of Northwick book' please click here.
The book is 48 pages long (including cover) and includes black and white drawings throughout. The format is A4 portrait (29.7cms by 21cms). The font is Zurich 15 point.
Each book costs £5 plus £3 P&P, and the proceeds will go to nystagmus research projects in the UK. The book is only available for delivery to a UK address. We aim to despatch within three working days, but during holiday periods this may be longer.
The book's ISBN number is 978-0-9558940-0-8. Item ID:JS001.
You can buy the 'Tales of Northwick' book securely via PayPal using the buy now button. Please note we do NOT ship to the US.
Northwick Bears Audio CD
The stories on the "Tales of Northwick" audio CD help families to understand the eye condition nystagmus. The CD contains eleven stories about nystagmus and school, what children with nystagmus see, and nystagmus and behaviour among other topics.
The stories are read by actress Lizzie Roper. The stories vary in length between 3.32 minutes and 14.42 minutes and total running time is approximately one hour and 10 minutes.
Each CD, Item ID:JS002, costs £8 (including P&P) and the proceeds will go to nystagmus research projects in the UK. Available in the UK only.
We aim to despatch within three working days, but during holiday periods this may be longer.
Knitted Northwick Bears - currently unavailable
You can still see examples of the knitted Northwicks in the Gallery.
“Keep writing the Northwick stories. I still learn more about nystagmus from
them than from anything else,”
– Alison
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Northwick's News
This is where you can find out what’s going on in Northwick’s world…
'Feedback Soup'
– Ever since Frank had started school, there was a good chance that Thursday Evenings would be Stroppy Evenings.
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(December 2020)
'No BIG Deal'
– Frank is growing up quickly, is it time to leave Northwick behind?.
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(November 2020)
'Scrunching Lights'
– A car journey proves a challenge for Northwick and Frank.
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(October 2020)
'Eye Expert'
– Frank discovers that his Mum is an expert on Nystagmus and she's not even a professor!
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(February 2020)
'Wish List'
– Northwick and Frank tackle the tricky Null Zone.
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(January 2020)
'Muffled Meanings'
– A new Northwick story, certain words can be upsetting when talking about Nystagmus, Northwick has suggestions.
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(December 2019)
'Eye Expert'
– A new Northwick story, Parents often know more than they think about nystagmus, as Frank and Northwick discover in “Eye Expert”.
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(February 2019)
'Cars or Cake?'
– An updated Northwick story.
Click on the link below to go to the News Page
(February 2018)
'A Problem Chewed'
– A new Northwick story,
Northwick and Frank agree it helps to tell people they have Nystagmus.
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(February 2018)
'Auto oder Kuchen?'
– A Northwick story translated into German.
Click on the link below to go to the Stories Page
(November 2017)
