Academy Award winning actress Dame Dame Judi Dench has been named as a patron of the Yorkshire Macular Degeneration Fund, supporting research into vision loss and blindness.

The British actress, who suffers from macular degeneration, commented 'I was pleased to be asked to be a Patron of the Yorkshire Macular Degeneration Fund. York holds a special place in my heart as I was born and raised in the city, and I was delighted to learn that the fund will boost the first class research being done by Hull York Medical School and the University of York on early diagnosis and treatment of age-related macular degeneration'.