Newsletter October 2005

Issue 85 October 2005

UK Fundraising

A huge thank you to the following ingenious (and athletic) supporters:

• £328 was raised in sponsorship by Wirral half marathon runners – Jo Perham and Mel Peters (photo shows Jo Perham). This sum was added to by Jo’s employer, the Co-op bank, who donated a further £200.
• Dave Sprent, Noah Sprent (aged 9) and Ruby the Labrador raised £632 in sponsorship by individuals and matched funding by Dave’s employer, Unilever, for walking the 16 mile West Wirral Coastal Walk. Remember it is always worth seeing if your employer will match any funds that you raise for an event.
• In memoriam – Catherine Williams had supported Westnell since its inception and encouraged members of her church in Leeds to also back our work. She had worked in Peru herself so had a special understanding of the issues Westnell faces. Her family decided that donations should be sent to Westnell as part of her memorial tribute when she died earlier this year and a total of £485 was thus raised. Many thanks to her family and friends.
• Hazel Renwick and her husband (photo below), from Leeds, recently celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary and requested donations to Westnell rather than presents – a very generous gesture that raised £545.
• In a similar vein to Hazel and her husband, Elaine and Tom Thorrington requested donations to Westnell for their 70th and 80th birthday celebrations (respectively) thereby raising £110. Thanks to all!
  Your UK Organisation : -
  Chairman - David Sprent
  Secretary – Debra Westlake
  Treasurer – Ede Fehrenbach
• The Happy Jar smiles on… Terry Carruthers and the children of Brunswick School in Penrith, are loyal fund raisers for Westnell and have raised £2024 since they started helping us by donating their coins and happy stories in.
  Westnell Nursery Society The Grange. Brimstage Road, Brimstage, WIRRAL.
  CH63 6HD tel: 0151 342 3929
• The Anglo Peruvian Society has again have come to our aid with a grant of £1,500 towards essential teaching salaries for this year. We highly value the support this group gives us and are very grateful for this latest donation.

News from Peru

Margarita and her sustainability team continue to look for ongoing revenue support from outside agencies to replace Lottery funds. They also have plans for several fund raising events run by the nursery families during the year to raise extra funds for materials and other costs that they can no longer meet from the monies we send. They are a dedicated team who work hard to keep up morale despite setbacks – Margarita writes “We have secured some income from donations, but still not a grant for the sustainability of the classes that have lost funding. Nevertheless we keep up the struggle, because it really is not only a struggle to seek funds, but also to keep our spirits up and not become discouraged”. We appreciate how difficult this is. We continue to send our regular income of £32,000 a year from the UK. The team in Peru have decided to stretch out this income to keep all classes running, but it has meant cuts in salaries and other running costs. Your donations and fundraising efforts have never been more important to us.

Seasonal Events

The usual celebrations were held – Nursery School Day saw plays and parties in each class, on Mother’s Day a show was put on with family participation. A new programme for placement of students from the department of nutrition of a local University is benefiting Westnell. As part of their course work the students have evaluated the nutritional intake of Westnell nursery children, given talks to parents and also assessed the children themselves – discovering that a number of children are undernourished and have significant growth delays. Students will continue to work with parents and are to visit Westnell on a regular basis.

Rotary International Grant - nearly there!

Some years ago a Rotary branch in the south east of England helped us to apply to the Rotary International grants scheme that links local branches to a central funding division and can award grants to specific capital projects overseas. Margarita made a successful bid for equipment such as toys, computers and other materials for the nurseries. Our contact in the UK, Neil Hills, and the Rotary International contact in Lima, Martin Singer, have worked with us to move things along and by mid September the nurseries had received at least some of the promised equipment, including chairs and tables. Our sincere thanks to them and to Rotary International. We look forward to seeing photos of the nursery stocked with wonderful new equipment in the near future!

UK Committee News

We are delighted to welcome onto the committee a long time supporter and friend of Margarita’s – Yolanda Williams. Yolanda is an active member of the Anglo Peruvian Society, which has raised so many essential funds for Westnell over the years. Her presence on the Committee reinforces the link with this organisation. In addition, Yolanda brings her own knowledge of Peru, alongside experience of working across cultures and her personal commitment to Westnell. A great addition to the team! David Sprent remains as Chair, Ede Fehrenbach as Treasurer and Debby Westlake as Secretary. Gareth Jenkins heads up card operations and Mark Patchett will stay on as a Trustee.

New Design Cards

We are proud to enclose an order form for the fantastic cards produced by W3 design this year – 2 new Christmas designs plus a new concept: photo cards to use all year round. Don’t forget to collect orders from your friends and family as well.