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Yorkies English beef & pork butchers celebrate 10 years in Thailand
Norman and
Eileen Denning
2009 will be Yorkies 10th anniversary in Thailand. Now distributing products
around Thailand, we are celebrating the success of our business here by
building a new nursery school for up to 60 children aged between 2 and 5
years, in Yasothon, North East Thailand. The cost to build this school is in
the region of 1.5 million baht, with 100,000 already collected and another
620,000 pledged. The remaining amount is hopefully to be raised by the sales
of our 2009 Yorkshire calendar, and a Yorkies global recipe book, both of
which are now available.
The school contacted Yorkies through a friend and past pupil to ask for our
help in repairing the roof which was leaking. After a visit to the school it
was found that a new roof would be of no help as the rest of the building
was in a dilapidated condition and beyond repair. So it was decided to
demolish the old school and build a new one.
Permission and plans were drawn up and the work of raising the funds began.
At present, 45-60 children occupy the school. There are 2 classrooms, both
of which leak when it rains, and the children have to be moved to another
part of the school for fear of the roof collapsing on them. The ceiling fans
and lights cannot be used because of electric shocks. There are only 2
toilets, and a 3 metre square room to prepare the children’s meals. There
are few educational toys and books.
Our aim is to re-build the school, and to re furnish and stock the school
with educational items if the funds allow.
With the downturn in world economy, we are now struggling to meet our target
so we need as much help as we can possibly get. All donations, however
small, are gratefully received.
We have held many fundraising events throughout the past 12 months, and our
final event will be our gala evening at Yorkies restaurant on Saturday the
21st of March when we will celebrate our 10 years in business here in
Thailand.
Tickets for this will be 800 baht per person, and this is inclusive of
buffet (which is donated by Yorkies), beer, a selection of premium spirits,
and 2 bottles of wine per table. Extra bottles of wine will be on sale at a
reduced price. We will have live music, a comedian and a hypnotist, and the
party will run from 7 p.m. to midnight. We also have some great raffle
prizes and auction items, including a pair of boxing gloves signed by Sir
Henry Cooper.
Seating is limited so please buy your tickets early.
If you would like to support us by purchasing a calendar or/and a recipe
book or would like to purchase tickets for our anniversary charity night,
please contact Eileen Denning on 0898005007 or email her on porkplatter
@yahoo.com
Ravindra Beach Resort and Spa hosts Temple Fair Countdown to 2009
A happy lucky draw winner collects
his prize.
The Khone dance is one of the
evening’s highlights.
Ravindra Beach Resort and Spa invested near a million baht
for their New Year Party festival celebration, under the theme of Temple Fair
for the New Year 2009.
 Guests
are greeted by lovely maidens in traditional Thai costumes.
The event has made a great impression for both Thai and overseas guests. The
party included a buffet on the beach, Thai shows such as Thai traditional
dances, Khone dramas, Rapiers dance, and a surprise performance from the lovely
elephant show with a beauty pageant on the elephant’s back.
It was considered to be the happy grand opening for the current New Year and the
1st year anniversary of Ravindra Beach Resort and Spa.
Despite the tough economic climate and the many other crises that Thailand is
facing, Ravindra Beach Resort and Spa still keeps the standard of its properties
& services.
Lastly, before the stroke of midnight, all guests were able to enjoy the raffle
draws, gift giving and songs from the Bee Gees.
At the stroke of midnight, the night sky was lit bright by numerous fireworks.
Elderly celebrate New Year
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Some 500 elderly residents of Pattaya celebrated the New Year a
little late by offering food to monks in an annual event.
 Deputy
Mayor Verawat Khakhay offers food to the monks.
On January 9 at Pattaya’s Public Health Center on Soi Buakao, Deputy Mayor
Verawat Khakhay headed this ceremony attended by the senior citizens.
He said this is an ongoing annual event to entertain the elderly and to help
them celebrate the New Year.
The ceremony started with nine monks chanting, followed by Deputy Mayor
Verawat offering food to the monks, who in turn blessed the guests by
sprinkling holy water on them.
The afternoon saw the elderly in fine voice, singing in well-practiced
performances. The highlight of this event is a Thai costume contest.
Monks bless guests with holy
water.
Elderly residents pray with
monks.
Jameson’s hosts first BCCT networking for 2009
Dr. Iain Corness
The first chamber of commerce to hold a networking evening for 2009 was
the British Chamber (BCCT), with an excellent roll-up at Jameson’s Irish Pub
(one of the principal sponsors of the evening), overseen by its hard working
publican Kim Fletcher.
 Dr.
Iain Corness (left) interviews Gareth Vaughan Hughes, managing director of RSM
Thailand, for PMTV.
A new sponsor was RSM Thailand, represented by its MD Gareth Hughes (originally
from Wales). With the forecast of an increasingly gloomy economic outlook for
the world, and one that Thailand cannot possibly evade, Gareth spoke frankly on
Pattaya Mail TV, outlining the assistance that his consulting firm could
give businesses on the Eastern Seaboard, be that accounting, tax, audits and
assurance and even executive recruitment and wealth management.
Whilst the forthcoming Thailand economic situation was well thrashed out, most
attendees were of the opinion that they could weather the storms and had all
their contingency plans in hand. The mood was “The good will survive - the
average to poor will fail”. The obvious answer is then to be good at what you
are doing!
 Ron
Keeley (left), managing director of The World of Wine talks with Dr. Iain
Corness for PMTV.
BCCT vice president Graham Macdonald, who also heads up MBMG International, was
another sponsor of the networking night, with some very timely advice on offer
regarding Offshore Pension Benefits (for anyone whose previous company is still
solvent enough to pay pensions)!
A very integral part of the local community these days is the World of Wines,
represented by Ron Keeley, the only wine company that ploughs its profits into
charitable causes on the Eastern Seaboard. World of Wines was the final sponsor
of the evening, and many were seen happily enjoying the Jameson’s house red, one
of the World of Wines best sellers.
BCCT executives were there to ensure everyone really was enjoying themselves,
with Mark Butters and Trevor Allen (who is still playing with aluminium
hotplates) and executive director Greg Watkins mingling with the munching
multitude.
A British networking evening would not be the same without the world’s oldest
front row forward and British rugby hooligan Jimmy Howard and his UK mates Kevin
(the craneman) Fisher, Peter Smith and Malcolm Scorer (AA Insurances), and Joe
Grunwell from ComCon (proud father of motor racing star James Grunwell), Michael
Usher (Thai-German Graduate School of Engineering), Robin Hyde (Schenker
Relocations) and Colin Hastings, the hot stuff from the Big Chilli.
Of course, just as Pattaya is a multicultural phenomenon, the networkers
reflected this with Australian Simon Dutton (Shenanigans), Seth Effrikkan
Maurice Bromley (Automotive Focus Group) with his delightful Filipina wife
Renita, Swiss Keywan Nowbakht (KN Business), Thais Ann Wangvirayaphan and
Worarot (Pik) Sasom (Bangkok Hospital Pattaya) and Gap Udaporn (Thai Houghton),
American Bobby Brooks (anchorman for the US Navy), Scotsman John L Hamilton
(Waste Management Siam), Kuwaiti Salam Hoshang (Asian University), and Dutchman
Wim Scheggetman (Technology Green Solutions). Of course there were more, just
attend the next networking night and you will meet them all.
The next BCCT networking evening will be held on February 20, and the location
will be given in the Pattaya Mail beforehand.
(L to R) Jimmy Butler, Pratheep
Malhotra,
Ian Harrington and Kim Fletcher share a laugh.
(L to R) James Howard, Richard and
Massie Waller, Bambam and Graham Macdonald are obviously enjoying the evening.
Charity Club of Pattaya provides
update on their Isaan projectss
Christina Boden
The Charity Club of Pattaya visited their various projects in December,
meeting the children and elderly they have helped in Isaan over the past year.
 The
families say thanks for your help.
The boys they provide food for, due to difficulty eating solid foods, were more
or less the same and the Charity Club will continue supplying the special food
they need.
Poo Gan, the 2 year old little girl that fell into a fire and sustained many
burns, is coming on really well. The doctors are very pleased with her progress
and she is now attending the hospital every month to have her pressure mask
replaced.
Ms Pantip and her grandmother’s house is slowly getting built. The villagers are
doing this when they have any spare time from their work in the fields.
Pictured are some of the recipients of food parcels and wheelchairs.
One of the wheelchairs the club
has sponsored through donations from you.
German club donates
eyeglasses to elderly
YWCA Bangkok-Pattaya Center
receives eyeglass frames
from the German Ladies Club.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
The German Ladies Club has donated eyeglasses to the elderly and some
school children through the YWCA eye-protection campaign.
On January 13 at Diana Garden Resort, Nittaya Patimasongkroh, chairwoman of the
YWCA Bangkok - Pattaya Center, announced the very useful donation at the
association’s monthly meeting.
At the meeting Plauderstunde, the German Ladies Club led by Monika Podleska,
sponsored 15,000 baht for the lunch and happy family campaigns run by the YWCA.
Theodora Willems from Holland donated a big bag of spectacle frames weighing 20
kilograms collected by her charity organization, destined to improve the vision
of many residents in the community.
Nittaya said that with the eyeglass frames donated for the eye protection
campaign, organized once before at a school in Sattahip, lenses will be fitted
to them for elderly people and students with bad eyesight.
The campaign will continue in Chonburi as 20 schools had already been surveyed
to gauge the need of students with poor eyesight.
The meeting also resolved to support Banglamung School’s fourth “green
classrooms” campaign to be held on January 23-24 to promote better knowledge and
understanding of energy and to share ways of protecting the environment.
Beds set to race on street for charity
Officials and some contestants
show they are ready for the big race in February.
Saksiri Uraiworn
If you fancy racing along the street in the comfort of your bed, here is
your chance with the first charity bed race in Thailand set to trundle off on
February 8.
The Rotary Club of Pattaya and Pattaya City will run the race on Beach Road in
front of the Royal Garden Plaza to raise money for charity.
Each bed race team will have six people who will decorate the bed according to
their own style. Some will push the bed and others stay on for dear life it as
it hurtles along, trying to cross the finish line first.
Those “patients” on the bed must stay on it for the whole race and not drop off
into the gutter. They will race to Walking Street, aiming to cross the finish
line at Bali Hai Pier.
On January 15 at the Royal Garden Plaza, Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn,
Pratheep Malhotra, district governor of Rotary International District 3340,
Gerard Porcon, president of the Rotary Club of Pattaya, Pasalin Sawetrat,
assistant director of the TAT Pattaya Office, and city councilors gave a press
conference on the race.
Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn said bed races are common in countries such as
England, USA, Australia and New Zealand, often used to raise money for
charities.
Pratheep said that the bed race on Pattaya Beach will be a Rotary Club charity
project to raise money to support children, elderly and disabled.
“It is part of Rotary’s continuing work to support society and to make dreams
come true for our kids,” he said.
Traffic routing during the Mardi Gras parade
On Friday January 23, the right side of Beach Road Pattaya
will be closed from 3 p.m. for setting up the Mardi Gras parade.
From 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. all of Beach Road will be closed from the Dolphin
Roundabout to the entrance of Walking Street. Half of Second Road will be closed
from South Pattaya Road through to the new Central Festival Center Pattaya.
The parade will begin in front of the Hard Rock Hotel and proceed to the
entrance of Walking Street, where it will turn left onto South Pattaya Road,
then take another quick left onto Second Road. The parade will remain on Second
Road until it finishes at Central Festival Center Pattaya.
All roads will be back to normal within one hour after the parade has passed.
Traffic police, volunteers and those in charge will be responsible for safety
during the parade. Everything is being done to provide convenience for all the
locals and tourists. For any enquiries, please contact the city’s Call Center at
1337.
Traffic lights
turned on
Pattaya City officially turned on the traffic lights at
the junction of Siam Country Club and Sukhumvit roads on January 20 and will
close the U-turn junction in front of Nernplabwan intersection to help ease
traffic and help reduce accidents.
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