Celebrating 40 Years of Helping some of the Poorest Communities in the World

For a brief introduction to TWOAT please go here

For details of our Sponsored Walks go here

See our facebook page here

For summary reports on projects we support go here

Latest News

We are very pleased to report that our Quiz Evening raised nearly £900 – we are very grateful to all those that participated and to St John’s Church for the use of their hall.

We had some distressing news from Madagascar that a six year old child who we support to attend the Mothers’ Union Little Sapphires Nursery School had been hit by a motor coach.   He was taken to hospital and treated there and it is hoped that he will be able to walk again.  He is the son of one of the teachers and he is being taken to school on a mattress otherwise he would be at home alone.  TWOAT has offered to contribute towards the £200 costs of his hospital treatments which were paid out of school funds as a loan to the parents.  

Our planned St George’s Night sing-along event for April 22nd has had to be put off until another year as we were unable to assemble enough people for the choir.   

One of our supporters has told us about an opportunity to acquire some reduced cost older model solar powered hearing aids that would be suitable for use at St John’s School for the Deaf in The Gambia where it is difficult for the children to obtain the special batteries modern hearing aids use.  We have sent details to the school and are hopeful that they will be able to make use of them.  The aids will cost about £30 each plus shipping so we will need to see how many the school might want.

We are very sorry to report that our Hon. Secretary for many years, David Northway, passed away on December 4th.  A memorial service was held for him at the Good Shepherd Church on January 5^th which would have been his 84th birthday.  TWOAT typically assigns each project we support to one committee member whose role is to maintain contact with them and to report to the committee concerning their particular needs. During the 28 years that David was on our committee he acted as our interface to 7 projects – 3 in Africa one each in Ukraine, India and Argentina and one transnational charity called “Motivation”.  David had himself identified that “Motivation” should be supported by TWOAT.  Its goal was and is to provide low cost mobility aids to assist poorer communities in many countries often by setting up low cost local production facilities for wheelchairs utilising parts typically found in bicycles.  The two other projects, David supported, that are still current are Berega Hospital & Orphanage in Tanzania and the Pastor’s School Project in Sierra Leone.  

Our 40th Annual Meeting was attended by over 70 people and thanks to their amazing generosity has raised over £2,000 for our projects.  Thanks to Jean Tattam and her family we were able to celebrate our 40th Anniversary with an amazing cake.

Which was cut for us by Jean Elcome who was a member of the first TWOAT committee in 1982.

 

This year our Christmas Appeal is for money to help us to fund lunches for pupils at several of the schools which we support in Africa and Asia.  Parents around the world are battling with the same cost of living crisis that we see in the UK but they are typically starting from circumstances that were already fairly desperate.  Children can learn more effectively if they are not already famished so this is an investment for the future as well as helping families cope with present difficulties.  

Please use our new donation facility here  using a PC or a Smartphone

We recently received this item from one of the

projects we support Papua Partners.

SOS from the Kids performed on Britain’s Got Talent in 2020, reaching the semi-finals. With that success, along with the collaboration with Papua Partners to create “It’s Time to Heal”, they were invited to perform at COP26 in Glasgow in the autumn of 2021.

Our song, “It’s Time to Heal” was performed in both the Blue and Green venues at COP26, with the Papuan video being shown on screens behind the choir. This included performing at an evening reception on Nature Day which was attended by Environmental Government Ministers representing countries from all over the world. The platform this gave for Papua Partners to highlight our issues was immense.

Please watch the Papuan video on YouTube, download the song on iTunes and Spotify, and share it amongst your networks to highlight the work of Papua Partners and the urgent situation of the people of West Papua.

We are delighted to report that our Sponsored walks have so far raised over £1500.

Many thanks to all those of you who donated over 50 bottles for use on our Bottle Tombola at the Walton May Fayre and to those who spent money on our stall.  We had some bottles left after the event to use in subsequent raffles.  We anticipate that they will have generated between £350 and £400 for us after the raffles.

Our Street Collection and subsequent donations raised over £700 and the gardens kindly opened for us by Keith Lewis and Derek Parsons contributed a further £1,000.  This meant that we have been able to fund the completion of the construction of a classroom for disabled children in Kenya.

We have sent £1,000 to SOS Children’s Villages a project we have previously supported who provide accommodation and foster parents for orphans in Eastern Europe and other poorer areas.  We are aware they are having to re-site children they have been caring for in Ukraine and this money is to contribute to those costs.

Our Online Auction of generously donated offerings from local providers of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing Services has been completed and we raised enough money to provide a month’s worth of school lunches at the Mother’s Union School we support in Madagascar.  We would like to thank those local businesses that generously donated offers of services to us.  

In Tadworth – Sally Nethercott of “Nethercott Opticians” and Nadya Temple who provides Acupuncture Sessions

In Walton-on-the-Hill – Sophie Whitford Osteopath; Dom Walsh of  “Flourish Acupuncture”;  Sam of “The Rascal Club” who provide a range of activities for all the family and Lisa Butler of “Surrey Heath Yoga”

In Kingswood – Debi who provides Yoga Sessions

In Ashtead – Howard of “Joint Mechanics” who provides Shockwave Therapy.

We have sent £500 to help fund the provision of Chai (tea) stations for refugees from Afghanistan and other troubled countries currently living in camps on the Greek Island of Samos.

We heard in mid-January from the school on the Thai border where we provide lunches for refugee children from Myanmar and which had had to close late last year due to a COVID outbreak.  All the children were to be given COVID vaccinations during the following week and after that the school would resume normal lessons.  Unfortunately the situation in Myanmar itself, just over the border, is very bad with fighting between the army and resistance groups and reprisals against civilians.  It seems very unlikely that the refugees could return to their homes in the foreseeable future.

We are delighted to report that the collection taken at the “Lighting up Walton” has raised £200 for TWOAT funds and this has helped our Christmas Appeal to generate of the order of £2,000.  Many thanks to all those who have donated to us.

Unfortunately due to COVID the TWOAT Committee has decided that it would not be appropriate for us to seek donations by singing Carols in Walton’s Inns & Restaurants this year.  However a collection in aid of TWOAT will be made during the “Lighting up Walton” event being kindly organised by Mo Atkins taking place on December 6th starting at 5 pm by Mere Pond and continuing with carols and mince pies in St Peter’s Churchyard at 5.30 pm.  For full details see the poster Light up Walton 2021 Light up Walton 2021 v2

We would like to thank those of you who were able to walk, or sponsor one of the walkers, in our two John Allinson Memorial Sponsored Walks in September and October which have so far raised over £1500 for us.  We would also like to thank those of you who attended our Annual Meeting and Dinner on October 16^th in the hall which was kindly provided to us at no charge by St John’s Church and which raised over £1200 in donations.  Our guest speaker, Amelia Hart, a young Walton resident, talked movingly about her experiences working as a volunteer in the refugee camps on the Greek Island of Lesvos.  She told us that one of the few community activities on the island occurred around the Chai/Tea stations run by the charity with which she volunteered.  We are using some of the funds raised to finance 5,000 cups of Chai for the refugees who had mainly come from war zones such as Afghanistan and Syria.

Our Christmas Appeal this year is for donations to allow us to provide the extra help needed by schools we already support who are struggling both with the extra costs they are incurring due to COVID as well as loss of income due to the difficulties many of the children’s parents are having in making their usual contributions to costs such as teaching materials and school meals.

Please note that if you want to donate  to our Christmas Appeal then you can only use the online facility provided for us by Virgin Money Giving (VMG) up until November 30^th as Virgin will no longer be offering that service to charities after that date.  For your convenience the web link below will take you straight to TWOAT’s VMG page.

HTTPS://tinyurl.com/46bwskw

Other methods of donating to TWOAT include transferring money directly to our bank account or sending a cheque to our Treasurer Antony Hawker at The Holt, Alcocks Lane, KT20 6BB.  I attach our Gift Aid and Standing Order form which includes details of TWOAT’s bank account.  If you have not previously done so and you are a UK tax payer, it would be very helpful to us if you are able to complete the Gift Aid Declaration form and return it to Antony Hawker.  He can use your declaration to claim an additional 25% to be added to your donation by the UK government which is effectively refunding the taxes you have paid on the amount you have donated.   VMG’s services to charities have previously included processing Gift Aid claims on their behalf for the donations made via VMG.

20/21 REPORT FROM CHAIR MIKE FOX

This year has of course yet again been dominated by the COVID pandemic which very sadly now seems to have reached some of the remoter communities which we support.  It has a more devastating impact in poorer countries where governments do not have the same resources as we do to provide furlough type payments to those whose ability to earn has temporarily at least been lost.  COVID has only recently reached the village, whose school we support in Nepal, but it has already inflicted the same rate of deaths that it took over 18 months to cause in the UK. As a double misfortune the income of many of their residents, which was based on tourism and trekking, collapsed some time ago when the disease first impacted the more developed world.

One bright spot for us has been the continuing amazing generosity of our own supporters.  Despite not having been able to run most of our usual indoor events, your donations have kept our income at pretty well the same level that we were achieving before we had even heard of COVID.

We are particularly grateful to Michael and Diana Gannon who most generously allowed their beautiful garden at Motts Hill House to be open in aid of TWOAT.  We raised over £1300 despite one sharp shower.

Keith and Elizabeth Lewis generously allowed us to sell teas on behalf of TWOAT again this year when they opened their garden as part of the National Garden Scheme.

21 x walkers participated in the first of our John Allinson Memorial Walks and, at the time of writing, a similar number are expected to participate in the second walk.  The funds raised by these walks help us to continue to support St John’s School for the Deaf in The Gambia.  John Allinson himself originally arranged that we would help them with the cost of a bus they use to fetch children from a wide catchment area as they are the only school in the country that caters specifically for the deaf.

We have been very grateful for the help we have received from all the Churches in Tadworth & Walton.  Both St Peter’s and the Good Shepherd have designated us as one the charities that they will support and for whom they will raise funds.  Both St John’s and Christchurch have been most generous in allowing us the use of their hall facilities.

Some of our supporters, achieving a significant birthday milestone, have kindly suggested to their friends and relatives that a gift to TWOAT rather than themselves would please them most.  So far this year this type of generosity has raised approaching £2,000 for us.  We also received donations of several hundred pounds when one of our supporters made her holiday home available for TWOAT supporter use.    If you have any similar suggestion as to how we can raise money please contact me.

SPONSORED WALKS

Please visit our Donate page to donate sponsorship monies.

BIRTHDAY TREAT

When one of our committee celebrated her 90th birthday and requested donations to TWOAT instead of material gifts she raised well over £700 for us.  if you have a notable birthday and do not really need any other gifts please consider suggesting a donation to TWOAT.  Please contact mike.fox2@ntlworld.com to discuss how this can be done.

We had a school report from the RUSH Academy in Kenya for one of the children we sponsor there called Princess Natasha.  The report told us that her favourite bible story is of the birth of Jesus.  Her report stated “Princess is an active and disciplined child who loves to be in school.  Her positive outlook and excellent academic performance speak of a greater promise for her future.”  Princess is raised by a single unemployed mother who depends on the aid we send to support her daughter’s education.

It is great to think that the money raised as a result of a 90^th birthday in the UK would be sufficient for TWOAT to provide support for a year to at least two such children as Princess.

Princess Natash aged 8 years who we sponsor to attend school in Kenya (click on the image to enlarge it)

TWOAT ZOOM Talks

We had an excellent Zoom session from Susie Farley about her experiences running Cardiac diagnosis training in Ethiopia.  we hope to provide some diagnostic aids for her to take whenever she is able to visit Ethiopia again.  Please contact mike.fox2@ntlworld.com  if you would like a link to view this and 7 other ZOOM talks giving details of projects we support.

OPEN GARDENS

On two Sundays, the 11th July and 22^nd August, we have been kindly invited by well-known local plants expert, Keith Lewis, to sell teas when his garden at 41 Shelvers Way, Tadworth, KT20 5QJ  is opened as part of the National Garden Scheme from 2pm to 5.30m (admission to the garden is £5).

ANNUAL MEETING

Our Annual Social Meeting & Dinner will be held in St John’s Hall on Saturday October 16^th.

In view of the serious impact of COVID on many of our projects a very generous TWOAT supporter offered to match fund any donations we received during the last 10 days of April.  We publicised this to our supporters and as a result received over £1500 of donations, these were then doubled to make over £3,000 – a fantastic result for us.   Using these funds at our committee meeting in early May we were able to agree an increase of at least 10% in our normal annual donations to any project impacted by COVID.  During that meeting we authorised over £10,000 to be transferred to projects including sufficient money for the Myanmar Refugee School, we support on the Thai border, to start serving 4 x school lunches per week instead of the current 3.

Click to see children enjoying a TWOAT lunch

Myanmar Lunch

We also sent an additional £350 to the village school we support in Nepal so that families suffering hardship due to the loss of income caused by COVID can be supported and an additional £500 to Ludhiana Hospital in India where we support their Samaritans’ Fund which pays the cost of hospital treatment for those too poor to meet the bills themselves.

Finally I am delighted to tell you that very generous TWOAT Supporters have offered the use of the 2-bedroom flat they own in the Parkstone area of Poole again this year. The flat is available for periods of 5 days to a week to be agreed between now and August.  The normal minimum donation to TWOAT would be £250 plus £150 to offset the costs incurred by the flat owners.   Please contact me if you are interested.

For Little Sapphires article from Kingswood Village Voice click here  TWOAT v3

Our FORTNIGHTLY Auction  will resume in a few weeks.

We have launched a new fundraising initiative to try to start replacing the funds that might have been raised by the events that we have had to cancel or postpone. For the next several weeks we plan to auction some item or service that has been kindly donated to us by one of our supporters or generously provided by a local business.

Previous donors: The New Kyber Kingswood  ; Silver Lantern Tea, Tadworth ; Dine with George meal delivery service ; Kingswood & Tadworth Osteopathic Clinic; Chapman & Son Butchers in Tadworth; Kingswood Tadworth & Walton Horticultural Society

For our summary accounts view here

TWOAT 2020 Accounts Extract                            

We have recently heard from The Little Sapphires School, whose creation initially as a nursery school we helped to fund in 2011, concerning progress of some the the children who attended then.  Bob Gunn, who is our committee contact for the school wrote an article telling these stories for the “Kingswood Village Voice” magazine which is reproduced with their permission here.

TWOAT v3 

PLEASE CONTINUE TO DONATE

We did achieve our £1,000 target for the appeal immediately below for which many thanks.  That money has already been transferred to Madagascar but projects, particularly schools and orphanages, continue to tell us about increased costs they are facing due to COVID so please visit our donation’s page here.

£1,000 Appeal

TWOAT recently launched an appeal to raise funds to support The Little Sapphires School. It is run by the Mothers’ Union in Madagascar and has about 55 nursery and primary age children.  Unfortunately due to the virus and other local issues many of the parents can no longer earn enough to contribute the £3.65 per month that they were previously paying towards the school’s running costs.  TWOAT is already donating £2,300 per year to support the school and we could not add to that from our available funds as there are other projects also needing our help.  Our aim is to raise an additional £1,000 to cover the shortfall in contributions and at the time of writing we still have a few hundred pounds to go.  The school sent us some details supplied by one of the pupils called Dallilah – she is 9 years old and has two sisters but only she can currently attend the school.  This is an extract from what she said:

“I love my village but I hate corona virus. Because of corona virus in our village my sisters must stay at home, they don’t go to school now with me . They eat cold food with mum.  My dad works very far in the forest and digs sapphires.  He lives there and comes to see us after a week.  The food is good at the school and the headmistress is very kind to me.  I started school here when I was 3 years old. My mum takes me to school.  She has never been to school and says school is important for girls.  My dad too has never been to school…”

Unfortunately even after the COVID crisis is over, Dallilah’s father’s job has no real future as the government is banning the sort of dangerous wildcat sapphire mining in which he and many of the other parents are involved.  It is really important that the children of the village can continue their education as that will give them other opportunities to find work.   This is why TWOAT has launched its appeal to cover the costs for those parents who can no longer contribute.  Please visit our donation’s page here.

                        SPONSORED WALKS

We have looked at advice from both the Rambler’s Association and Surrey County Council and our two “John Allinson Memorial Sponsored Walks”, scheduled for the mornings of Saturday 26^th September and Friday October 2^nd, are currently permitted to go ahead with up to 30 participants under government dispensations for organised outdoor physical activities.  The situation is of course very fluid and fast moving but, unless things change, applications to take part should go to Dick Shelley  on 01737 817930 or at dickshelley@ntlworld.com.  Note we will have to regulate the numbers so it is essential that you do register with Dick before the dates for each event.  

This will be the first fund raising event that we have been able to hold since the lock down started and these are of course “Sponsored” walks.  Even if you are not able to take part yourself, we would be delighted if you might like to sponsor one of the participants such as our previous record breaking fundraiser Digby the Aussie Labradoodle!  If you wish to sponsor online you can find facilities to do that by visiting the home page of our web site www.TWOAT.org alternatively you can send cheques made out to TWOAT to our Treasurer Antony Hawker at The Holt, Alcocks Lane, KT20 6BB.

Message from Chair Mike Fox  posted in April 2020

When I circulated details of the TWOAT events that we had to cancel or postpone a few weeks ago I also said that we would aim to keep you informed about projects that we support and how they are being impacted by the pandemic.  As the first of these reports, I attach Mary Heath’s overview of the situation in India with specific reference to the three projects we support there.

TWOAT reports from India April 2020

Sunday April 19^th was to have been the occasion that Keith Lewis would have opened his garden to raise money for TWOAT.  Unfortunately this was not to be but he has donated 2 x white Lilies (Everest) and 1 x red Lily (Red Power) all in 12” pots and about 18” high to be sold in aid of TWOAT.  He believes that each would normally be worth £10.

We are delighted to report that the three Lily plants raised £60 for TWOAT funds – many thanks both to Keith and to those that bid for them.

My intention is to take offers for each individual plant, the highest offers I receive by phone or email Mike.Fox2@NTLWorld.com up until midnight on April 30^th will be accepted.

I hope you and your family keep well.

Mike Fox

Chair, Tadworth & Walton Overseas Aid Trust

01737 350452

TWOAT’s Annual Street Collection cannot take place on the planned dates in April, nor the John Allinson Memorial Sponsored Walks in May.  If it is possible to hold these events later in the year we will do so.

THE CHARITY FILM SHOW FOR TWOAT PLANNED FOR  March 9th at Riddell Hall HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL THE AUTUMN

Having discussed the current health emergency with Curzon Country Cinema we have agreed that it would be best for the event to be postponed at least until the Autumn.  We are very grateful to Curzon Country Cinema for agreeing to change the date for their generous offer of a charity show to raise funds for TWOAT and Walton Primary.

TWOAT has supplied money to construct 4 x bench desks for a new village school to be created in a remote rural village in Tanzania.  The following are some pictures of the construction and completed items.

 

 

We are very please to be working with the Church of the Good Shepherd Tadworth to raise funds for the Mampong Babies Home in Ghana.  Please use our donations page link to our Virgin Money Giving site if you wish to donate online.

Mampong Appeal Can wrapper

Tadworth & Walton Overseas Aid Trust held a very successful Quiz evening on Saturday Feb 8^th that was attended by over fifty people and will have raised about £600 for our funds.  TWOAT would like to thank the Christchurch URC for kindly letting us use their hall.

We have been delighted to welcome Rebecca Paul who lives in Walton-on-the-Hill to our committee.  She has already made an impact by creating TWOAT’s very own facebook page which you can visit by clicking here

We are very grateful for the twenty or so carol singers who gathered at St. Peter’s Church gate at 6 pm on Friday 20^th December to raise money for TWOAT in the streets and pubs of Walton.  The party  proceed up and down Breech Lane before cutting through the footpath to Meadow Walk then up Duffield and along to Sandlands Road.  They visited David and Val Larner’s garden overlooking Mere Pond to be photographed by their Christmas Tree.  After a brief stop to serenade patrons at the Blue Ball, they proceeded via Pond Farm Close to The Chequers where the staff kindly provided mulled wine and a delicious array of hot and cold snacks.  The residents of Walton were very generous and over £500 was donated to TWOAT funds during the evening.

TWOAT carol singers in Val and David Larner’s garden.  Click on picture to enlarge it.

Christchurch in Walton-on-the-Hill was the venue for “Sing Carols” led by Reverend John Gordon to raise funds for TWOAT.  The highlight of the evening was provided by a choir from Walton Primary School who beautifully performed a repertoire of songs from their Christmas Show based on Dickens’ story of Scrooge.  Mike Fox, Chair of TWOAT, told the children and the fifty or so adults attending about a school for 150 children of refugees from Myanmar where TWOAT has used money raised from previous “Sing Carols” events to help pay for the children to have three school lunches per week.  Unfortunately other food supplies have been reduced for the refugees as the Thai government wants them to return to Myanmar but they are afraid to do so.  TWOAT therefore needs to continue to fund the lunches.  The generosity of those attending contributed over £350 to TWOAT’s  2019 Christmas Appeal to provide funds for various schools that TWOAT supports.

Our annual meeting took place in November.  Reports concerning activities to friends and supporters included a presentation by Dr David Curnock a trustee of another local charity called BREAD.  This charity was established some years ago to support a hospital and local community in Berega, a remote rural area of Tanzania.  TWOAT has recently provided support for Berega Hospital to create a new epilepsy clinic using BREAD to provide the link.  Dr Curnock described how one Epilepsy sufferer, who had previously been enduring 3 or more fits per day, had had his medication adjusted and was now able to contemplate returning to school studies and leading a normal life.  TWOAT is paying the salary cost of the clinic’s outreach worker, Charles.   He has already started to travel to remote villages to check for Epilepsy sufferers who would typically be unaware of the true nature of their symptoms as these types of fits are often considered by uneducated people to be the work of evil spirits.  During his first few visits Charles has already identified 12 possible sufferers whom he has asked to attend the clinic.  The evening also included a tribute to John Tedder who was retiring after having served as Treasurer since the charity was founded.  During his thirty plus years in office the charity has raised over £500k all of which has gone to the overseas aid

Dr Curnock speaking at 2019 ASM

Our Teas & Talks event in Christchurch Hall, Walton Street, Walton and another one in Kingswood Village Hall  raised over £300 for our projects.

You can view details of the individuals and local businesses  who kindly donated promises and the names of the winning bidders by clicking here: Auction winners 2019

To visit the now finished online auction go here but do note that many of the items marked with an * that went for further bidding to the Auction event received a higher bid there which became the winning bid.

These are photos from the Auction & Sing-along event on June 29th – click on them to enlarge.

To see photos from our Sponsored Walk go here

To see our latest event go here.

We are pleased to give you news of two new projects.  We raised sufficient money during our Christmas Appeal so that we could send £2,000  for Berega Hospital to fund the training for a new Epilepsy Outreach Worker and for an associated epilepsy clinic to be established in the hospital.  One of the nurses being trained at Berega has applied for and been accepted for the role.  A suitable training programme has been organised at Kilimanjaro Hospital and this started at the beginning of May.

Charles Mng’ome recently recruited Eplilepsy Outreach Worker

Our second new project is to work jointly with the Church of the Good Shepherd in Tadworth to support the Babies’ Home in the diocese of Asante Mampong .  This followed a request for help from their Bishop, Cyril Ben Smith, who has had links with the Good Shepherd over many years.  We are sending an initial £500 jointly raised with the Good Shepherd towards emergency electrical re-wiring needed on safety grounds.  We hope in total this year to have jointly provided £2000 which will also  contribute to some of the staff costs associated with looking after the 50 or so babies currently living at the home.

Click on picture to enlarge

Mike Fox, Bishop Cyril Ben Smith, Revd. Tim Astin and the Venerable Moira Astin Archdeacon of Reigate after agreeing support for the Mampong Babies’ Home.

For a video showing  the Mampong Babies’ Home visit YouTube here

Children from the school for refugees from Myanmar where we fund their lunches wishing TWOAT a Happy Christmas (see their hats for the lettering).  Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Mike Fox Chair of TWOAT writes

I am very sorry to pass on the sad news that my immediate predecessor as Chair of TWOAT, John Buckoke, passed away on January 13^th 2019.  His funeral will be held at Randalls Park Crematorium in Leatherhead at 1015 on Monday February 4^th.  In addition to his many years of support to TWOAT, John was very active in local government and also the Scout movement.

I would like to thank all those that contributed to our Christmas Appeal.  Donations and events over the Christmas period raised well over £2,000 so we are in a position to fund the establishment of the Epilepsy Clinic at Berega Hospital in Tanzania as well as continuing to support health camps in Kenya to treat children and adults against the Jigger Flea parasite.  With respect to the clinic, a training facility has been found in a hospital near Kilimanjaro so the next task is to recruit a suitable nurse to undergo the training and become the Epilepsy Outreach Worker.

Christmas Appeal

For the last few years our Christmas Appeals have related to helping schools but this year we have decided to concentrate on the other major way we help poorer communities which is via health improvement programmes.  We are examining, with advice from one of our supporters who is a retired consultant in epilepsy, the possibility of funding the establishment of a clinic specially for promoting awareness of and treating victims of epilepsy within Berega Hospital in Tanzania.  There is a considerable risk for people who traditionally use open fires for cooking and heating that epileptic fits can cause them to fall into a fire.  It has been estimated that there will be at least 30 children and adults suffering from epilepsy in the area serviced by Berega Hospital but only a few cases have been recognised and are being treated.   The speed with which the clinic can be established  will depend on recruiting and training a suitable nurse who will spread awareness of the condition and provide support to patients and their families.  The nurse’s specialised training will last about two months and take place at another hospital, remote from Berega and, with accommodation and travel, will cost about £1,000.  We hope our Christmas Appeal will raise enough to cover this and the other costs (medicines etc.) associated with establishing the clinic.  If the recruitment process takes longer than expected then we will use the Christmas Appeal money raised to further support medical camps run by the RUSH project in Kenya to treat children and adults suffering from infestation by the Jigger Flea. This unpleasant parasite typically enters children’s bodies via their bare feet and can cause disability and even death if not treated.  Any donations you are able to make to our Christmas Appeal can be sent as cheques or cash to our Treasurer John Tedder at 103 Shelvers Way, Tadworth, KT20 5QQ or by using our VirginMoneyGiving online donation facility here

For information about holiday accommodation available via TWOAT please go here.

To view the text of the original Trust Deed creating TWOAT and an associated data privacy statement please go here

STOP PRESS News from the school we support in a camp for refugees from Myanmar.  Thanks to generous additional donations from our supporters we have been able to send funds to provide a second lunch each week to start during November.  We have told the school that funding for both lunches will continue until at least October 2020.

I am very pleased to be able to show you some photos from the school for refugee children from Myanmar showing them appreciating the lunches we have funded for them since June 2018.

TWOAT children’s lunch cost in Thai Baht’s 40 to £1

Unfortunately as there are 150 children in the school we could only afford to pay for one lunch per week this year.  Previously the school could provide no lunches so our donation also had to buy cooking and eating utensils as well as food.  It costs about £8 per child to supply one lunch per week for the whole school year.  We hope that the generosity of our supporters will enable us to increase the number of lunches to two per week as we know that food supplies in the refugee camp are limited.

A statement from Mike Fox, Chair of TWOAT:

“I am sorry to pass on the very sad news that John Allinson, Deputy Chair of TWOAT, passed away after a long struggle with cancer at 1.30am on Monday Feb 12th 2018

 if you wish to donate to TWOAT in memory of John please click here

If you want to participate in or sponsor someone for our John Allinson Memorial Walks or to see photos from the first walk please click here.

As you may know he was awarded the MBE last year for his services to good causes in general and in particular to Tadworth & Walton Overseas Aid Trust of which he was one of the original founders and the first Chairman.  Unfortunately he was already too unwell last December to go to Buckingham Palace and receive his medal from the Queen.  In consequence his family asked me to present the medal to him in his bedroom on Saturday Feb 3^rd which I did in the company of several members of his friends and family.  John could only speak in a whisper but he did say that he thought the award was really to all the supporters of TWOAT who had helped the charity make a difference in many people’s lives.”

John’s Thanksgiving Service

John Bradbury Allinson MBE – 24.9.34 – 12.2.18

The Thanksgiving Service for John Allinson was held at The Church of the Good Shepherd on February 28^th and conducted by Rev Sharon Blain who had known John since 1975 when he, his wife Deb and his family had moved to Tadworth and he became a church member.  A Tribute to him was lovingly and amusingly presented by his daughter Sarah and son Richard who held up various items representing things which had been important to their father through his life.  First was a hat, one of a large number of favourite titfers for all occasions; then a mirror in which we could see his love for all of us, his friends and family; his time in the Air Force doing National Service and then in the TA teaching Air Cadets to fly was denoted by a model aeroplane; other items were a ‘Pink Panther’ video, and of course his favourite book, the Bible, quoting Corinthians 13 “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not boast, it is not proud.”   They summed up their beloved father with the final sentence “Yours was a life well lived.”  Rev Blain in her address mentioned that John had been a founder member of Tadworth and Walton Overseas Aid Trust and this charity was very dear to his heart, having devoted many hours to organising fundraising events.  He had been a Lay Reader, supporting many people to faith, and those sending condolences had remembered him as a kind, gentle, patient man, devoted to his family, including his three recently born grandchildren, and always putting others first.  

John and TWOAT

In October 1982 John Allinson was one of the original founders of Tadworth and Walton Overseas Aid Trust (TWOAT) and became its first chairman. He served continuously on its committee since then and during this time the Trust raised over £400,000 to help improve thousands of lives in some of the poorest communities in the world.  The Trust typically chooses projects to fund which have some local contact in this part of Surrey so that supporters can be sure that aid monies which they have provided are being spent well.  During his time on the committee John identified a significant number of the projects that TWOAT subsequently selected for support.  He maintained personal contact with them thereafter providing wise counsel as well as a communication link to TWOAT.  He was also a most energetic fund raiser especially via the many sponsored walks that he designed and led over the last ten years.  TWOAT plans to continue to organise annual sponsored walks which will in future be called John Allinson Memorial Walks to acknowledge the tremendous contribution he made to the charity.  John was awarded an MBE in last year’s Birthday Honours’ list as a direct recognition of his work for good causes in general and TWOAT in particular.     He will be greatly missed by all those connected with TWOAT.

Note Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

John Allinson – first Chairman and one of the original founders of TWOAT.

 if you wish to donate to TWOAT in memory of John click here

Latest News

Our Christmas appeal raised over £2,000 so we have been able to tell the nursery school we support in Madagascar that they can provide free school lunches to all the 32 children for a year.  We can also fund one free school lunch per week for a year to the 152 children of refugees from Myanmar that we support in Thailand.

Cllck on pictures to enlarge them

The Myanmar Refugee school that we support in Thailand

The Mothers’ Union school we support in Madagascar

The choir from Walton Primary School sang beautifully at the Sing Carols event organised for us by Christchurch.   Including the Gift Aid, which we will claim, over £180 was raised for our Christmas Appeal.  This is sufficient to fund lunches for 2 classes of thirty children (i.e. one class at each of the two schools) for a whole month.  The objective for our appeal is to be able to do this for a whole academic year so we are making good progress towards our target – an excellent result thanks to the children and the generosity of those attending.

for other news of recent TWOAT events go here

TWOAT is pleased to have helped facilitate 20 woollen blankets, baby clothes and teddy bears knitted by the Church of the Good Shepherd Mothers’ Union Knit & Rip group to be taken to the orphanage TWOAT supports at Berega in Tanzania.

Margaret Fox Branch Leader Good Shepherd Mother’s Union passing blankets etc to Gary Mann Chair of Berega Hospital and Orphanage’s UK based charity BREAD to be taken to Tanzania.

Introduction to TWOAT

For forthcoming TWOAT events visit our dates page here.

The text below gives details of a  major project that raised funds to rebuild the school we have supported in Nepal

For reports of other recent events visit here.

For brief updates on all our projects visit here.

For details of our committee members see here.

These reports followed the progress of our help to the Nepalease school

NEPAL – The school and village we support in Nepal has suffered major damage from the second quake.  Most of the school is unsafe and many villagers had to sleep in the open until our money paid for tents.

UPDATE August 2016 We heard on August 22 that the school rebuilding is complete and all 5 classrooms can now be used.

For the latest email Aug 22 go here.

UPDATE May 2016 rebuilding work has finally started on the school as the villagers had been first working on repairing homes.

UPDATE  March 2016 We have had more emails from our contact Sherpa Rudra and we have added extracts from those to our Report from Nepal Post.  He has told us about having to delay rebuilding the school whilst villagers repair their damaged homes first, he also decsribed additional problems caused by monsoon rains and mudslides and that the village is not getting any help from the government or other aid bodies. The scale of the disaster is so huge in Nepal that small communities like Kerung are having to cope on their own at the moment. 

Our Annual Meeting included a presentation from Committee Member Dick Shelley describing how he met our contact in Nepal, Sherpa Rudra, whilst on a trekking holiday in the Himalayas.

Committee Member Dick Shelley & Sherpa Rudra

He went on to describe the devastation caused by the earthquake and how our funds were helping villagers with shelter and food and how grateful they were to people whom they had never met.

Dick Shelley speaking at our Annual Meeting in 2015

The funds donated at that Annual Meeting were over £1600 and this has brought the total funds raised for Nepal to over £10,000 so many thanks to all those that have donated.  

LEFT CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT

He has used some of the money we sent to buy extra shelter for villagers who cannot use their homes and food for those whose stocks were destroyed.  However, the Monsoon season is starting to have an impact with wind and rain making the mountains more dangerous following the quake.  

The good news is that part of the school building has been judged safe to use and some lessons and school activity has resumed . Having the children in school will help the parents whilst they undertake the massive task of dealing with other dangerous structures and homes in the village.

We have sent another £1,300 from funds donated to replace the teacher’s salary which we diverted to provide some immediate help.

Since November last year we have sent over £10,000 to fund the start of the rebuilding project.

Much more will be needed to rebuild the school.  If you want to help as well, you can donate either directly with a cheque to our Treasurer, John Tedder, at 103 Shelvers Way, Tadworth, KT20 5QQ or via our VirginMoneyGiving site here.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1002729&pageId=139558