Anne Fine gives the background to the opening of a "Tactile Wall" for pupils with visual impairments in South London.

At Linden Lodge School in Wimbledon, all the children have problems with their sight. Some can't see at all and others see only poorly.

When sight's a problem, what better than a whole load of interesting things to feel? (Which of us haven't, in childhood, spent hours making our hot water bottle go "flob, flob, flob" over and over, or running our fingertips around any spiral shape we could find, from the middle to the very edge and then back in again?)

So I asked Angus Forsyth (who worked as an architect but now enjoys designing all sorts of things in wood) to create a "tactile wall" (tactile means 'touch-ey') for the children of Linden Lodge School. He did it for only the cost of his materials - talk about SAINTLY! And you can guess from the photographs that some of his materials were pretty odd.

Maybe the easiest way to describe it is as a sophisticated version of one of those 'busy boxes' you see hung on the sides of children's cots and playpens.

It's outdoors, for use at playtime, and looks a bit like a stylish bus shelter. Each of the large square panels Angus designed feels different: some are strange, some make you think, some are comforting to touch, some have a compelling pattern your fingers just itch to follow. Some panels do something. You can make a noise on others.

I'm sure everyone in the school will soon have a favourite. Angus and I are very curious to see which it will be.