Keeler News

The winner of this year’s First Year Clinical Optometry Prize at Plymouth University is Geoffrey Filmore. Geoffrey achieved the highest overall mark in the First Year Clinical Optometry Skills module and was delighted to receive an ophthalmoscope and retinoscope set donated by Keeler. “The Clinical Optometry Skills module is where our first year students start to hone and develop the...

Keeler’s China and India teams. From its foundation in 1917 as a dispensing practice in London, Keeler has gone on to become a global leader in ophthalmic instruments, with many award-winning products to its name. The decision to target global markets – especially the USA – began after the Second World War. The British economy was struggling and Keeler...

Judy Meaks, 80, who has been with Keeler for 53 years. Keeler’s employees have always been integral to the company’s success. Of Keeler’s first eight key personnel – all vital in building the business in the early years from 1917 to around 1935 – six left school at the age 14, including the founder. “They were all fighters, all...

Charles Henry Keeler with his OBE. Keeler’s history dates back to 1917, when Charles Davis Keeler, who had arrived from America in 1906, opened a dispensing practice at 47 Wigmore Street in London’s West End. This was followed by branches in the West Country and the Midlands, laying the foundations for Keeler’s future growth and establishing the high standards...

D Kat Symphony Since Keeler’s inception in 1917 the company has gone on to become a world-leader in the manufacture of innovative, award-winning ophthalmic instruments. It started when Charles Henry Keeler, the founder’s son, patented his first instrument – a combined retinoscope and ophthalmoscope – in 1926. Major product launches in the following years included the Fison indirect ophthalmoscope...

Richard Scawn (centre) with his mentors Dr. Kikkawa (left) and Dr. Korn (right). Since Keeler established its Scholarship Trust in 1967 to mark the company’s 50th anniversary, and its Fellowship Award in 1989 to enable a young ophthalmologist to study a specialised area of ophthalmology for up to a year, 100 people have benefited, with 16 Fellowships awarded. Administered...

Abbas Sotoudeh, Keeler’s Managing Director At 100 years old, Keeler is looking forward to the future with optimism. With access to the resources of its parent company, Halma plc, Keeler can make bigger strides than it could on its own. It also has access to a valuable resource – people to collaborate with within its sister Halma companies, such...

Judy Meakes receiving a standing ovation from Keeler employees for over 50 years of service to the company. Keeler’s 100th anniversary celebrations continued in style on 15 June with a wonderful banquet for current and former staff and associates at the De Vere Beaumont Estate in Windsor. Set in 40 acres of parkland and gardens, the Estate includes an...

Mayor of Windsor, Councillor Sayonara Luxton Keeler celebrated its 100th anniversary in style on 2 May with a visit from the Mayor of Windsor, a staff celebration and a huge cake. “It’s such a landmark for any company to reach 100 years,” said Keeler’s Managing Director Abbas Sotoudeh. “To reach that milestone when the company is in such good...

Keeler helping eyecare project in Malawi Keeler has donated an ophthalmoscope/retinoscope set to a group of Cardiff University students for an eyecare trip to Malawi this August. The team of 12 second year undergraduate optometry students will spend a month in the country, providing free vision screenings, donating second-hand spectacles to local communities and teaching refraction to doctors in...