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12-year old Regent’s student takes on Temple 2 Temple challenge
Poppy and her father
Nathaniel Mulford, who, with a few other brave teachers from her school,
plan to make the trip from the temples at Ayutthaya in Thailand to the
temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Twelve year old Poppy Mulford, who is a student at The
Regent’s School Pattaya, will soon embark on a major physical challenge
which she has called Temple 2 Temple, as she sets out to cycle the 418km
from the temples at Ayutthaya in Thailand to the temples at Angkor Wat in
Cambodia. Poppy will endure the grueling journey in the hope that she can
raise money for her young Thai friend at the Pattaya School for the Deaf,
who needs an operation to help correct her hearing.
On 19 October Poppy, her father Nathaniel Mulford and a few other brave
teachers from her school, will set off from the ancient capital of Thailand
destined for a testing endurance ride of 75km a day for six days. Long
distance cycling is a completely new skill for Poppy, and she has been
training over the last six weeks to build up speed and endurance and
overcome her fear of being attacked by dogs.
Poppy’s determination to complete the ride stems from the friendship she
formed with an 8-year-old girl called Yok, who Poppy met when she visited
the Deaf School last year with other students from The Regent’s.
It’s going to be a long ride,
so practice is a must to build up endurance and prepare for any eventuality.
Poppy will be recording her progress over the six days on
her blog: http://poppymulford.blogspot.com/. Pattaya residents who would
like to sponsor the campaign can find more information on the blog now.
Poppy commented, “I am doing this cycle ride to raise money for an eight
year old Thai girl who has hearing disabilities. We became friends during my
school’s activity week in January 2013 - Round Square Week. I am hoping to
be able to raise money for her to have an operation to help correct her
hearing because her parents would never be able to afford to do this for
their daughter.”
Assistant Principal at The Regent’s, Paul Crouch commented, “This is
precisely the sort of action which I would expect from Poppy, who was the
winner of the school’s Brittany Tang Award for Outstanding Global
Citizenship last year. We encourage our students to believe that what they
do and what they say can really make a difference, and she’s putting that
into practice. Everyone at school wishes her the best of luck in her
challenge.”
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GIS Marks Roald Dahl Day in Style
We love Roald Dahl!
Mark Beales
Photos by Ritche Guisona
Students at Garden International School (GIS) had a spectacular day
celebrating the works of children’s author Roald Dahl.
Roald Dahl Day was on September 13 and is held around the world to honour the
writer who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Maltida, BFG and many more
classics.
Languages Prefect Pam organised the day’s events, which included poster
competitions and short story challenges in Primary and Secondary. A giant,
friendly crocodile also wandered in to some classes to say hello to students.
At break-time, students bought Kit-Kats knowing that inside were five lucky
golden tickets - just like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This was so
popular that the 600 Kit-Kats were sold in just 20 minutes. That raised around
4,000 baht, which will be given to the Anglo-Thai Foundation
(www.anglo-thai.org) which helps underprivileged children from north-eastern
Thailand with education grants. Well done to Pam for creating such a fun and
worthwhile event!
English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher Mr Carson also introduced his
language students to the world of Roald Dahl by buying them cups of tea (a very
English tradition) in the canteen and letting them read their favourite Roald
Dahl books.
The competition winners were: Primary poster: Octavia; Primary short story:
Adenor; Secondary short story: Seren; Secondary poster: Nan.
What’s your favourite Roald Dahl
book? Head of English Mr Beales interviews students.
Where’s the golden ticket?
Head of English Language Support Mr
Berry enjoys Roald Dahl Day.
Some impressive posters were made to
mark the day.
A friendly crocodile strolled into
some Year 2 classes.
That’s amazing! Students loved
hearing Roald Dahl stories.
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An amazing response by the members of Pattaya Sports Club
Many willing hands to unload
supplies.
William Macey
We have been very fortunate here in Pattaya recently for we have had
less rain than usual. But in the North West of Thailand this has not been the
case, for the rain has fallen to such an extent that severe flooding has
occurred.
Many families have lost most, if not all, their possessions and crops have been
decimated causing problems that will have an effect for many years to come. But
it has been particularly disastrous for one small village, Bang Wang Pha. 24
homes have been badly damaged and an orphanage housing 65 children between the
ages of 5 and 16 has been virtually washed away. Their clothes, toys, food and
the few personal items they possessed have disappeared.
A friend of Hand to Hand’s Margaret Grainger contacted her and asked if she
could possibly help in any way. Margaret contacted Pattaya Sport Club with this
very sad news and an appeal was launched among the members. Although PSC
normally concentrates donating funds in the Pattaya and surrounding areas, an
exception was made and the wheels were put into motion. When the supplies
arrived, there were many willing hands to unload the goods and in picture No. 3
it can be clearly seen how high the water came. Many children have been and are
sick from contaminated water but, like all children, they can still smile which
is a perfect reward for all our efforts.
The result was astonishing. Thousands of items were donated and left at the PSC
office, which, at times, resembled a second hand store with clothes, toys food
and other items being left for the children. Many members did not have access to
children’s clothes so many left a cash donation. These were then delivered to
Margaret and three of her staff left in the early hours one morning to make the
long trip to the village.
Other organizations were also invited to help, including Jesters and the newly
formed TFI group, but the PSC committee expressed their wish to thank PSC
members for their concern and generosity.
They can still manage to smile.
The line shows the depth of water.
Many children are sick.
The children say thank you.
The crops are decimated.
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Shedding kilos for charity
Paul Strachan
It’s always nice to receive presents but when Paul Patterson was given
some shirts from his employees on his 49th birthday in February this year, he
realized just how big a guy he actually was! Weighing in at 118 kilos, Paul
decided that if he wanted to see his 50th birthday, it was perhaps time to start
looking after himself. He went on a calorie controlled diet and the weight
started dropping off, but after a while Paul realized that he was going to have
to work a bit harder and to push his body by doing some physical exercise. This
started with brisk twenty minute walks every day.
Paul before his effort
to lose weight.
Then Paul heard about the upcoming Pattaya Marathon and decided to give the half
marathon a go. It was then that he thought about not only giving himself a
weight loss goal - but also a challenge to raise funds for the Camillian Home
for Kids in Rayong. Paul received lots of donations from many friends on
Facebook as well as customers of Club Misty’s. Colin Ward from NMT, Simon Dutton
from the Lion Pub, along with Nial and Gerry from the Sapphire Gentleman’s Club
also made generous donations. Paul managed to complete the half marathon on 21st
July.
By this time he had exceeded his goal of raising 50,000 baht so he continued
getting support from the local community. Having slimmed down to 84 kilos, on
Sunday the 18th of August Paul and his wife Ilene, along with some friends and
staff from Misty’s, went to the Camillian Center in Rayong and handed over
257,600 baht to help the orphans who suffer from HIV & AIDS.
As part of his preparation for February, Paul also recently walked to the
Jesters Care for Kids Children’s Fair at the Regents School and raised a total
of 25,000 baht for that worthwhile cause.
But it doesn’t stop there. Paul has been given so much support from the local
community, friends and relatives that he will shortly be announcing his 2014
“February Fundraiser” which will see him attempt to complete 50 kilometres for
50 Years to mark and coincide with his 50th birthday. The route is still being
planned but will most likely be largely based along Pattaya Beach Road. Despite
having yet to announce the event, Paul has already received a total of 82,000
baht in cash and pledges.
You can follow Paul’s fundraising progress on his personal Facebook page and
another one he has set up entitled ‘Help Me to Help Them’
www.facebook.com/Paulsfundraising.
Children at the Camillian Center say thanks to Paul
(center, holding child) and wife Ilene for Paul’s great weight loss effort and
generous donation.
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