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
Association of British Dispensing Opticians own Advice to Fellows. The General Optical Council was formed by the Opticians Act 1958, to make the British optician profession statutorily protected. ABDO currently has 9,000 members and represents over 6.000 qualified dispensing opticians in the UK. It also has 500 members overseas, 500 associate members and approximately 1,800 student members worldwide. The Association is governed by a board of directors, which consists of nine full members of the Association elected by members’ ballot. The board has a non-voting academic adviser. The board is served by the secretariat of the Association headed by the general secretary Sir Anthony Garrett