When I contacted the organisation, I was told that due to some medication that I’m on I wouldn’t be able to undertake the zip wire – maybe honesty isn’t always the best policy!

I am currently looking at other options in order to raise funds for my ongoing projects.

Westminster Community Secondary School, staff hostel – latest news

All the finishing touches to the Hostel are complete and seven staff are now occupying the facility. They have just completed the installation of the solar panel and fitted lights and sockets inside the building. Electricity is something that we just take for granted, but for them this is a major step forward. I’ve just sent funds so that they can build a cooking shelter/kitchen area adjacent to the building and this will be completed in the next couple of weeks.

This is one of the two washrooms in the Hostel which were kindly sponsored by Misbourne Matins Rotary Club. There is no running water connected, but the staff will fetch water from the well, about fifty yards away, and store it in large plastic barrels. Misbourne Matins also funded all the associated pipework which takes all the waste to the nearby toilet pit. It may seem rather basic, but it is a big step up for most of the staff who often do not have an indoor bathroom where they reside.

My next planned project is the total refurbishment of a 3-classroom primary school in Kono Town, Freetown, Sierra Leone. I first visited this impoverished community school, which receives no government funding, in November 2023.

There are currently 116 children, aged four to eleven, attending classes at the school.

The buildings were in a very poor state of repair then, and it has been my intention to support this school since that trip, but with all the development that has taken place at Westminster Community Secondary School I did not have adequate funds to help them.

Things have got progressively worse and havecome to a head recently with the onset of the rainy season in the last few weeks. The galvanised zinc roof is in desperate need of total replacement as it is leaking in lots of places and this has caused extensive damage to the classroom ceilings, which, as you can see, also need replacement. The ingress of water has also caused damage to the general fabric of the building and as a result all the classrooms need to be totally redecorated, as does the exterior of the teaching block. There is also a need for extra classroom furniture as not all the children have desks to sit at and we also need to install proper blackboards in each room as currently the “blackboard” is just an area of the wall which has been painted black! – which is not really very functional.

The budget for the project, with the current material costs & exchange rate, is £4,550.

Currently I have £500 towards the project but will be promoting the appeal via my Newsletter, social media and I have some presentations planned, which hopefully will generate further interest and funds. I am also intending to undertake a sponsored event and will start a Just Giving page when I have sorted out the details of my sponsored event.