Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

My daily walks to and from the Village Shop (a 2.4 mile round trip) started as the exercise that we were all encouraged to take during the first lockdown. The wonderful Sam at the Ashcott Village Shop kept us supplied with essentials at a time when supermarkets were struggling to deliver to Golden Oldies (I am 77.)

It became more than just a walk when I heard from Sparrow School, Johannesburg about the problems they were trying to cope with in their lockdown which, as in the UK, forced all schools to shut. I decided to give the money I saved by not using my car every day to Sparrow.  I am aiming to complete 210 trips or 500 miles.

I first became involved with Sparrow over twenty years ago. It is a township school set up specifically to help disabled and disadvantaged children. Whenever I go there I come away humbled by the dedication and determination of the staff to give hope to children who have none. Very few Sparrow learners come from homes with mobiles, computers etc so how could their teachers communicate during lockdown? The Sparrow staff refused to be beaten and provided worksheets, paper and writing implements for all learners. Every day they went into the townships, distributing the packs, collecting what had been completed and gave feedback. This was at significant personal cost and added to the demands on their time and energy. Sparrow desperately require financial support to continue to provide their learners with the education they deserve and I hope you will be able to make a donation, however small.

Another reason for this appeal is that all our usual fundraising events for Sparrow in England have been postponed or cancelled with a significant loss of income. I have asked many friends who have supported Sparrow in the past to do two things. One is to make a donation to my Just Giving page and the other is to join us for our online Carol Service on December 2^nd. The Carol Service is our biggest fundraiser of the year.  This time, instead of attending a magical evening in the Chapel of The Royal Hospital Chelsea, there will be a service involving pupils and staff in South Africa and readings and music from London. 

Please look at the Sparrow Schools Foundation website which is the organisation set up here in the UK to support Sparrow  http://sparrowschools.org.uk.  If you follow the links on the website you will see some of the amazing work the school is doing.  

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.