Newsletter September 2004

Issue 83 September 2004

We had a fantastic response to this appeal!

38 of you responded with 12 individual donations (totalling almost £900) and 20 new or increased regular donations representing an extra £300 per month or the funds for 15 children’s’ nursery places: around a 13% increase on regular monthly funds. We also received 30 new Gift Aid commitments which allow us to boost our income by reclaiming tax on your donations.

On top of this several regular supporters and some friends and colleagues of Trustees, as well as Charitable Trusts, were motivated to organise events or make donations that raised money for the appeal.

Charles Nichols and Suzan Van Dijk from Unilever ran the London Marathon in aid of Westnell and raised a fantastic £3000 in sponsorship. Even better, they encouraged sponsors to Gift Aid their donations – amounting to another £350. A HUGE THANK YOU TO CHARLES AND SUZAN AND THEIR SPONSORS.

Our thanks to Brian Shackleton in North Yorks who organised his very successful summer choral concert once again. The Songs on a Summer Evening raised an amazing £600.

Marcelle Lamb of Unilever in the Wirral cycled the Liverpool to Chester bike ride and raised £500 in sponsorship. Many thanks to Marcelle.

Paul Unsworth in West Yorks (a former committee member) did the Coast to Coast cycle ride and raised around £200 in sponsorship (plus Gift Aid).

The Carlisle Overseas Aid Trust (COAT) supported Westnell on a regular basis some years ago; in response to our appeal they have most generously agreed to donate £750 to support 3 children for one year.

Marcus Partington found a novel way of raising funds – in complaints to some large organisations he asked for a donation to the charity of his choice as compensation for poor service. Westnell benefited to the tune of £200! Could be a new fundraising concept!

Well done and many thanks to all who have contributed to the appeal. We will be able to send good news to Margarita for next year’s Westnell-funded classes.

Behind the smile…

Margarita sent us the story of a three year old boy, called Chamir Panca, who has just started nursery at Bocanegra. He is generally lively and always ready with a cheeky smile, but some days arrives in tears because his mother has not brought him to nursery herself. Unlike other nursery mothers, this is not because she is off to market to sell goods on a stall; the staff discovered that his 30 year old mother has cancer and is sometimes too exhausted by her chemotherapy treatment to walk her little son to nursery.

The family are struggling to meet the costs of her treatment and having to turn to grandparents and other family members. Margarita is in no doubt that without Westnell Chamir’s parents would not have the money to send him to a nursery.

News from Peru

Sadly, the funding applications to Trusts and charitable organisations made by the team in Peru have not as yet been successful in gaining replacement funding for the 4 classes backed by external organisations. As we reported in the last newsletter, the Methodist funding for 2 classes has now ceased, and the Lottery funding for 2 additional classes will terminate at the end of this year. Despite not receiving the income for the MRDF classes, Margarita and the team continue to be true professionals – they have not turned the children away. Instead, the teachers are sharing class room assistants and putting in extra hours so that the classes are kept open. The families have also organised their own fundraising activities.

Please consider if you know any grant-making bodies or organisations to which Margarita and team could make applications directly from Peru. As a rough guide, it costs approximately £11,000 a year to fund all costs (including head teacher time) of a class of 30 children.

Christmas Cards

Don't forget to buy your Christmas cards from us - at the same low price of 10 for £2 they are excellent value. Two new designs are just going to press and we will be sending you order forms soon. Our latest Christmas card design has a traditional theme.