Mary Perkins running PR. She has admitted donning disguises and visiting Specsavers stores, posing as a customer. Perkins was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff University in 2005. The same year she received the "Rotary International Community and Vocational Service Award" for her services to charity and in 2006 won the inaugural Spirit of everywoman Award. Perkins was the first female optician in the UK to receive the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007. The accolade was also in recognition of her other charitable work, including the Guernsey annual "Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance for
138 Mary Street, Brisbane and from that time the Perkins operations were gradually moved from the city to the Castlemaine site at Milton. In 1937, fire severely damaged the main Perkins complex opposite. Only this building, and the former stables at 124 Mary Street, survive from what was once a large inner city industrial complex. In 1943, the building was sold to Alfred Lawrence & Co Ltd, manufacturing chemists. Alfred Lawrence & Co Ltd retained ownership of the building until 1977. The storehouse is a small commercial building and store located at 138 Mary Street nearby to Perkins Stables and Mooneys Building with Harolds