Page 58 - Phonebox Magazine October 2014

Rotary Club of Newport Pagnell
Southern Africa’s Children
For some years Newport Pagnell Rotary club has supported a local charity “Southern Africas Children”. The charities initial aim was to provide a school and home in Tanzania for children orphaned by Aids; this became Hope School and has proved to be a great success. Some of the children have now progressed to secondary education which means a trip across town using the “taxi” service in the picture. At present, bicycles are hired for the children to get to and from secondary school. This is very expensive and there are obviously safety concerns. The photograph shows that the hiring of bicycles is more like a taxi service for the children. At present they all must travel together for safety reasons. It costs £3.51 per week per child so over the month it costs £17.60 per child for their transport for school. For 10 children this is £176 per month. At present these funds come out of the Hope School running costs (the proceeds Hope School makes from fee paying students minus obviously teacher salaries etc).
The school can ill afford these costs, so the obvious answer is to provide the children with their own cycles. Newport Pagnell Rotary club and St. Lawrence’s church at Chicheley decided jointly to support that aim. The first fund raiser was a lunch party in August. The proceeds from this, plus donations received by Southern Africas Children and support from Newport Pagnell Rotary club has now raised our target of £2,000 which will fund the purchase of at least 10 bicycles and spares. The bicycles will be purchased in Tanzania thus supporting a local business.
Future: It is felt that there would be eventual cost savings by purchasing each child their own bike for secondary school.
They would still be required to travel together. This is a long term project as, after the initial payment for the cycles there would be a saving on the hiring costs. A maintenance budget for things like new tyres, servicing etc. would be required, but as can be seen from the photographs the bikes are not exactly top of the range and therefore the children will learn how to fix them themselves!
Summer Barbeque
The Rotary Club of Newport Pagnell was blessed with a fine day for their annual Sumer Barbeque in August, and around forty Rotarians, wives and friends attended this popular event.
Chef for the day was President of the Rotary Club, Roger Simmons who could be found perspiring over the hot stove (bbq) with
wife Iona and daughter volunteered for the afternoon to keep the salad, desserts, buffet and bar well serviced.
A raffle with numerous prizes completed the afternoon’s activities.
A profit of over £500 was realised, and this will be donated to one of the local cancer research charities nominated by President Roger.
Would You Like To Come And Meet Us And Make A Difference?
The Rotary Club of Newport Pagnell has been around since 1963 and we have been providing help to communities locally, nationally and internationally up to and including the present day. We are an active group of twenty five like-minded men and women and we meet every Wednesday at the Swan Revived Hotel, Newport Pagnell. We are a dual gender dining club but having a meal is optional. If a meal is required then this takes place in the restaurant from 6.45 onwards. Non -diners can arrive in time for the start of the meeting at 8.00 pm.
For more information, have a look at our website newportpagnell.rotaryweb.org or contact the following:
Roger Simmons (President) Tel:01908 374833 roger_simmons@btconnect.com Simon Baines (Membership) Tel:01908 616342 simon@swbaines.co.uk
Neil Beeton (PR and Communications): Tel 01908 617735
neilbeeton@sky.com
58 Phonebox Magazine