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School No 8 holds annual sports championships
Crossing the finish line after
a speedy race.
All the teams show good
sportsmanship whilst displaying their colors in the post games parade.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Pattaya School No 8 held its annual sporting championships over the period
July 19 to August 2, the 28th year in succession for the school.
The contests were divided into six events: a relay race, a tug-of-war for
the primary school class 1-2 students; chair ball for the primary school
class 3-4 students; and soccer and sepak takraw for the primary school class
5-6 students and secondary school students. The running races were 30, 60,
80 and 100 meters in length.
The championships got off to a grand start with a parade featuring the six
colors of the various teams.
The school’s marching band
parades out onto the field.
The cheering sections are
great fun for all involved.
Asian University’s Summer University 2007 has started
Henrik and Jo.
The opening night was all
about making friends.
Marta and Ana learn a
little about Thai culture at the welcome ceremony.
Susan Joyce
Twenty-eight undergraduates from nine different European countries have
arrived for three weeks of fun and study, all as part of their Asian
Experience.
The programme was run for the first time in 2006, and this year the
students, mostly business majors, will spend their first four days and
nights on campus, four nights based at the Ambassador Hotel in Bangkok
and then go to the Jomtien Grand Hotel for the remainder of their stay.
They will have lectures on business practices in Asia, and in particular
in Thailand. They will have the chance to learn, and take part in, Thai
massage and Thai boxing. The Asian U students will give them Thai
language lessons, they will learn about Thai food and cooking,
meditation and Thai culture. The experience includes visits to four very
different local companies and industries.
Of course they will also learn about and from one another.
On their first night, Monday August 6, the visitors attended a welcome
dinner, so they could meet with each other and some of the Asian U
staff. A few of the undergraduate students had arranged an Asian U
special Bi-Si welcome ceremony. This was an opportunity for the students
from east and west to make friends with each other.
The photos were taken by Katha, a second year Multi media student.
Wrapping sai sin around
the wrists of their guests.
A few of the undergraduate
students arranged
an Asian U special Bi-Si welcome ceremony.
Students perform
compositions of HM the King
Narisa Nitikarn
Fifty students from Pattaya School No 5, Ban Nern North Pattaya,
performed the musical compositions of His Majesty the King during the
school’s open day on August 6.
 Students
were especially excited about the exhibition on His Majesty’s philosophy
of sufficiency economy and how it can influence the life and work of
Thai citizens.
Deputy Mayor Wattana Chantanawaranon, representing the Pattaya City
education department, said that the open day was both a celebration of
the city’s 29th education year and the school’s 56th anniversary. Ban
Nern North Pattaya School has been under Pattaya City since 1978, but
the school was established in 1951.
Open day also featured an exhibition on His Majesty’s philosophy of
sufficiency economy and how it can influence the life and work of Thai
citizens.
School No 5’s open day was held over a two-day period, August 6 and 7,
and was opened by Wattana on August 6 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Along with the parents of the students, many city councilors and
officials from government departments involved in education attended the
event.
The school’s fifty-student
chorus performs musical compositions
of His Majesty the King.
Rabbit run raises funds
for disabled student
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Roger the Rabbit, who competed in the Pattaya Marathon on July 15 to
raise funds for the disabled, presented 4,000 baht to the Redemptorist
Vocational School for the Disabled on August 6.
 (L
to R) Derek McCarrick, aka Roger the Rabbit, donates funds towards Krit
Jaipraserd’s education, as Mike Franklin and Arunee Fungfueng look on.
Roger, aka Derek McCarrick, a 72-year-old British citizen, donated the
funds to Krit Jaipraserd, age 20, who is unable to walk following an
injury to his right leg two years ago.
Krit is now studying computer programming, and the school’s Arunee
Fungfueng said the donation would go towards his educational costs and
living expenses.
Derek, who regularly dons his rabbit costume to raise money for charity,
had collected the money from others taking part in the Marathon.
A history of Jesters ‘Care For Kids’ charity drives
The Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ Charity Drives began in
1998 after Alice and Niel Poulsen met up with a few of the Jesters MC
Thailand members. An informal meeting ensued with Kim Fletcher and
friends at Delaney’s (now Shenanigans) and the seed to start a charity
drive was sown. The result was a hastily put together effort consisting
of one Platinum Sponsor (Chonburi Siam Steel Mill Services) and one
event, a Pub Night of raffle drawings and auctions. It was held in early
September at Delaney’s and we raised 1 million baht for our sole
beneficiary, the Fountain of Life Children’s Center.
 Displaced
Phi Phi kids in Krabi received helped from the Jesters Care for Kids
Charity Drive after the tsunami.
In 1999, we started our Jesters Children’s Fair and Sponsored Push Bike
Ride (aka Nappy Rash Ride) to go along with our Pub Night. The venue for
the Fair was at the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel. One of the highlights of
the Fair was the tug-of-war when the out-of-shape Haven’s Heavy Haulers
beat the muscle-bound Universe Gym team. We raised 1.4 million baht.
The events for our millennium Charity Drive were held at the Amari
Orchid Hotel in North Pattaya. The Fair was held in the lower gardens
across from the beach and the Pub Night at Henry J. Bean’s. The governor
of Chonburi attended the Fair and soon after the Fountain of Life Center
obtained their official status as the Good Shepherd Foundation. In this
year, 2000, we raised 2.2 million baht.
 Committee
at the halfway stage.
In 2001, we moved the Fair to the Siam Bayshore Hotel in South Pattaya
and our Pub Night back to Shenanigans. Shenanigans also became a
Platinum Sponsor, which along with Chonburi Siam Steel Mill Services,
was the first time we had more than one Platinum Sponsor. Erik Sorensen
was a huge help this year when he alone raised over 253 thousand baht
for the Sponsored Push Bike Ride.
This was also the year our website was initiated, courtesy of Susie
Ngamsuwan. We kicked off our Pub Night with Chris Kays and the Pattaya
Panthers holding their ‘slave auction’ to get the festivities rolling.
We raised 2.65 million.
The next year, 2002, we finally found a permanent home for our
Children’s Fair, when Sopin Thappajug from the Diana Group offered us
the spacious grounds of their Diana Garden Resort and Driving Range.
Chonburi Siam Steel Mill Services was our Platinum Sponsor for the 5th
consecutive year. We now had 7 Platinum Sponsors. This year we raised
3.3 million baht.
In 2003, we had 11 Platinum Sponsors plus a half-million baht from our
fledgling Pledge Program. Our Fair also grew to include 72 stalls. The
auction on Pub Night, headlined by Beckham signed jerseys and footballs,
garnered close to 500,000 baht. The end result was that we cracked the 4
million baht level, which was distributed among our 3 beneficiaries, the
Fountain of Life Center, the Pattaya Redemptorist School for the Blind
and the Eastern Child Welfare Protection Institute in Huay Pong.
In 2004, we went through the top with 17 Platinum Sponsors, our biggest
Fair ever with over 80 stalls and most successful Pub Night highlighted
by the auctioning of an All-Blacks signed jersey by the team for 110,000
baht. Erik and Robert also raised a remarkable 504,000 baht by riding
their push bikes from Chantaburi to Pattaya in just under 12 hours! We
were able to raise over 5 million baht as a result.
In 2005 we thought the going would be tough, but, ultimately a
surprising 20 Platinum Sponsors stepped forward. This combined with the
rest of our sponsors resulted in collecting 3.5 million baht before our
events in September. Our Pub Night generated almost 1.5 million baht
through grand raffle ticket book sales, auction item bidding and
sponsorship for Graham dressing up like a fairy princess for the
evening. Erik and Robert also raised 213,000 baht for their push bike
ride from Trat. The result was 5.4 million baht that we distributed
amongst 10 beneficiaries!
Last year, in 2006 we kept the streak alive of continuing to beat the
previous year’s totals of money raised when we broke the 6 million baht
barrier. Twenty-three Platinum Sponsors joined us and combined with the
other levels of sponsorship contributed over 4.25 million of the
6,013,000 baht ultimately raised.
And we keep on driving … this year, 2007; we have our first Diamond
Sponsor (400,000 baht), courtesy of Steve J. Lake, accompanied by 28
Platinum Sponsors in both cash and kind. So far this year, you have
already donated 5,689,617.46 baht, which is absolutely unprecedented.
Overall, including funds in or promised this year, nearly 37 million
baht has been raised since 1998.
Our goal though is not to get too hung up on trends, targets or figures,
but instead to simply try our best to raise as much money as possible
for the benefit of needy children each year. Your wonderful generosity
over the past 10 years has been a huge boon for local beneficiaries,
especially in allowing thousands of deprived children the opportunity to
get an education and a better future.
It’s follow my teacher at
the Fountain of Life.
In 2003, funds raised at
the Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive helped renovate the boys’ wooden
dormitory at the Eastern Child Welfare Protection Institute in Huay
Pong, Rayong.
Back in 1998, Jesters
posed outside the Fountain of Life classroom they built.
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