In July 1991, James and Louisa’s father, Andrew, died suddenly while serving as a Lt Commander in the Royal Navy. Grandpa Roy decided he would like to commemorate Andrew’s life, and he set up the Penguin Trust; Andrew was always fond of penguins! In 1993 Grandpa Roy rode his bicycle from Lands End to John O’Groats – 898 miles in 10 days – a massive achievement which raised £8000 for the fund. This summer James, Louisa and her boyfriend Tom want to live up to this standard and raise a further £8000 for the Penguin Trust. None of us have any cycling experience so this will be a serious challenge, and will require a great deal of enthusiasm and determination!

The Penguin Trust

The Penguin Trust, which is a Guernsey charity, was established to assist disabled and disadvantaged children and young people, at home in and abroad. The Penguin Trust has helped a wide range of people, normally through existing charities who approach us with ideas for projects. All the charities we have helped have some common features: they are run by small groups of committed people who are personally involved in the charity’s work, and for whom a moderate sum can make a big difference. Among many other projects in the Penguin Trust has helped to provide

a specialist wheelchair, a sensory room, a tandem bike for a blind girl. The Trust has also supported the work of Riding for the Disabled in Guernsey, ‘Just Children’ in Zimbabwe, Future for Nepal, and Smile International, as well as building homes for orphans in Zambia. The Trust has also recently donated money to the Wigwam Trust to enable them to install equipment for handicapped children, in .

The Aim

We have a special project in mind for the money we raise. In the summer of 2007, Louisa and Tom travelled to Nepal to work for a small local charity, which provides help for abused women and children, and focuses on educating the children and helping the women  in the shelter become self-sufficient, for example by making scarves which are sold in local and European markets. We were struck by the warmth of the Nepalese people, despite the extreme poverty in which many live: 31% of the population or 7.75 million people still living below the poverty line. Out of 177 countries, ranks 136 in the UNDP Human Development Index. We were also impressed by how thoughtfully and effectively the money we raised was being spent – which is why we want to raise more money that will be spent with the same charity on the same problems in Nepal.

Our first aim is to sponsor a child through their whole education, over ten years, at cost of £1800. If we raise more money we would support more children's education, or other projects like the Prayas drop in centre in Thamel, which helps street children and child drug addicts. All the money we raise will be used to support worthy children’s causes, whether in Nepal, Guernsey or elsewhere. More information about projects in Nepal can be found at http://www.futurefornepal.com/current-projects.php.

Any money you could donate to help us to reach our total, and help these important causes in memory of Andrew, will be gratefully received and will go directly to the children who need it; there are no administrative costs and we are covering the cost of the cycle ourselves.