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| News from Friends of Take Care Nursery School November 2009 It is with regret that due to changes in the personal circumstances of some of the trustees that Friends of Take Care Nursery School will cease to operate. Since inception with the help of our supporters we have raised £27,385 that has allowed so much to be achieved. We know that the Take Care Nursery School will continue and hope that Bakary and the school will be able to find another sponsor as soon as possible. We wish everyone the very best for the future. April / May 2009 April and May were very busy times. Bakary Kujabi, the headmaster of the Take Care Nursery School, arrived late on 21st April and departed back to The Gambia early on 5th May. During his stay we managed: Visit to the Mountsorrel Methodist Church Visits to Roundhill Community College Vist to Rothley Park Kindergarten Visit to Foxton Primary School Visits to Longslade Community College
We also attended the Loughborough Canal Boat Festival, visited the Space Centre, Heights of Abraham, Abbey Pumping Station and Bradgate Park. We also managed to pull in quite a bit more! Many thanks to everyone who helped make Bakary's visit to the UK so enjoyable and useful. We are pleased that Bakary Kujabi, the headmaster of the Take Care Nursery School, will be visiting us between 22nd April and 4th May. Bakary will be here to provide us with updates on what is taking place at the nursery school and will also give him an opportunity to meet with his friends and supporters. February 2009 We had a stall at the Students Union at Loughborough University and a stall at Hall Orchard Primary School in Barrow-upon-Soar, both as part of Fairtrade Fortnight. November 2008 We held a stall at the Mountsorrel Memorial Hall on 8th November. We had a good time and we sold some Gambian craft items and had a tombola. Latest estimate for the arrival of the container in Banjul is 22nd November. Hopefully a start can be made on rebuilding the damaged classrooms by early December. We held a stall at the Loughborough Town Hall on 22nd November at the CAFF Christmas Market. The day was very successful and everyone had a good time. Bakary has informed us by text message that the container was due to arrive at the Take Care Nursery School in Farato-Sotokoi-Daru on 24th November. More details will be posted here as we get them. October 2008 The container has been loaded and is now on its way to Banjul via Felixstowe. Estimated arrival date in Banjul is the the end of November. This is the culmination of a years hard work, starting with Ants head shave in September 2007. On board are many of the items that are so badly needed at the Take Care Nursery School, the village of Farato-Sotokoi-Daru and the health centre at Kassagne. We would like to express our thanks to our family, friends and many supporters who have all rallied round to collect items for the container and who have helped pack it on the day.
Loading the container
We held a stall at the CAFF (Charnwood Action For Fairtrade) Fairtrade Market at Rothley Baptist Church which was run for us by members of CAFF since we were busy loading the container at the time. Thanks to the CAFF members who helped out. September 2008  We are now getting close to shipping a container of much needed items over to the Take Care Nursery School and the village of Farato-Sotokoi-Daru. Although we have a lot of items we still urgently need the following: Milling machine for grinding maize into flour - this will mean that the villagers will no longer have to travel some considerable distance to grind their maize but will also enable the village to generate a small income by providing a service to nearby villages A generator for the milling machine - solar power is our long term aim but in the interim something like a 4Kw petrol generator is likely to be required and this can also be used for other equipment 450 square metres of floor tiles to cover the floors of the 4 classrooms, the kitchen and the hall - end of ranges, slightly damaged - all can be used 480 bags of cement to construct a perimeter wall around the school and provide a more secure environment for the children. Cement is expensive in The Gambia so any bags we can send over reduces the number that we will need to purchase at that end Bicycles - these will provide much needed transport for the villagers Sewing machines, especially manual ones since there is very limited electricity in the village - a sewing machine will enable someone to have a source of income Gardening equipment for use in the school garden and also in the adjacent womens' community garden Text books for the school - age range at the nursery school is 3 - 8 years old School equipment generally - posters, stationery, writing equipment, etc Clothes including shoes Sports equipment - the village has a thriving football academy dealing with all ages. Balls, skipping ropes, basketballs, you name it! Musical instruments - always very welcome Linen, curtains, blankets, plus material that can be used for making clothes etc Wheelbarrows for the community garden Toys, preferably not battery operated And many more items!
If you think that you can assist then please contact us. We are hoping to confirm the actual loading and shipping dates very soon - the middle of October is looking like the likely date for loading in Loughborough, with a shipping date of early November, to arrive in Banjul (the capital of The Gambia) at the end of November. The 60's Night was a great success despite the inclement weather. Fantastic performances by The upBeaTles and Cliff...asif. Plus we had an unexpected appearence of Elvis. Thank you to everyone. June 2008 We had another good day at the Mountsorrel United Charities Fete on Saturday 14th June where we had a tombola and sold some Gambian crafts. May 2008 We had a stall at the Loughborough Canal Festival at the May Bank holiday weekend followed by a stall at the Loughborough Lions May Day Carnival in Loughborough on the Bank Holiday Monday. Both events went very well and helped to raise funds and awareness of the achievements that have been made at the Take Care Nursery School. Our Spring Raffle was drawn on 26th May. Thank you to everyone who supported us. The proceeds of the raffle have been added to the 'Container Fund'. March 2008 We had a stall at the CAFF (Charnwood Action For Fairtrade) event at Barrow-upon-Soar. December 2007 Our Christmas Prize Draw was drawn on 16th December. Many thanks to everyone who supported us. We visited Gambia and the nursery school. Further details on the Gambia Visit 2007 page. Many thanks to Stoneygate School for their donation of money and also clothes, toys and books ready for the container that we will be sending over to The Gambia in 2008. November 2007 We have had a stall at the Mountsorrel Charities Fair and also a stall at the Kirby Muxloe Christmas Craft Fair. We have also had a stall at the Loughborough Craft Fair and a stall at the Rothley Craft Fair. On the 4th October Billy Mitchell and Bob Fox were at the Swan in the Rushes in Loughborough for their First Farewell Tour. Not only was this an excellent evening but it also raised £174. We are looking forward to their Next Farewell Tour! September 2007 A busy month! Bakary Kujabi, the headmaster of the Take Care Nursery School, came to the UK for a visit between 13th to 27th. Thank you to everyone who has helped - these are just some of the events that happened: Civic reception with the Mayor of Charnwood, Councillor Joe Tormey Invitation to the Leicester Orphean Youth Orchestra 50th anniversary Visit to Longslade Community College Visit to Roundhill Community College Visit to 1st Mountsorrel Guides Visit to St Clements Nursery and Pre-school Visit to the Caterpillar Pre-school 3 day trip round England including London for a day!
We received donations that will allow us to build another classroom, a dining area that can also be used as an outdoor teaching area plus desks and chairs for at least one classroom - amazing - thank you everyone! And on the 21st Ant had his first shave for 34 years - hair went as well! This was to raise funds to enable a container to be sent over to the village and nursery school sometime in 2008 - hopefully not too far into the year. It looks as though this may raise about £1,000 - not sufficient but a good start!  
Bakary & Ant before and after! August 2007 We are now a registered charity - see Home page. Thank you to everyone who has helped us. July 2007 A group of 29 sixth form students and staff from Longslade Community College in Birstall have just been to Gambia on a field trip for two weeks. The party was led by our good friend Kim Philpot, who is head of social sciences at the college. While they were in Gambia they spent a day at the nursery school on 16th July. There was lots of excitement, singing, dancing, and the arrival of the party was heralded by a long procession of people who led their coach from the main highway to the school compound. The village elders held a meeting with the Longslade party when speeches were made, and everyone prayed and gave thanks in their own way. The group handed over gifts of books, toys, writing materials, childrens’ clothes, seeds and many more things. A great cheer went up from some of the women when Kim was able to announce that they had raised enough money for them to buy desks and chairs for a classroom.
We received two very excited phone calls from both Bakary and Kim that day. Clearly everyone was having a fantastic time – we just wished that we could have been there! Kim said that lots of students and staff had said that this was the best day of their holiday. We will be bringing you some video material and photographs of their trip later on.
June 2007 We had a good day at the Mountsorrel Charities Fete on Saturday 9th June where we sold some Gambian crafts. We were joined by our friend Pam Martin who gave taster holistic therapy sessions in return for donations. It was a nice opportunity to meet people in the village. The 'bag pack' at Asda in Thurmaston on Saturday 23rd June raised £416. Many thanks to Asda and to the 1st Mountsorrel Guides for their sterling work at bag packing. The Mountsorrel Guides raised nearly £200 with sponsored runs. Well done to Francesa, Katie, Kayleigh, Rebecca, Jordan and Rosie (all pictured front row) May 2007 We received a wonderful donation of £1000 from the Co-Operative Bank plc Community Fund to buy much needed educational equipment. This will go such a long way. Funds reached Farato at the beginning of June - we will give an update about what equipment has been purchased when we get the information. Our application has now gone to the Charity Commission - thanks to the Lions (see March below). April 2007 Members of the Mountsorrel Guiding Group raised £110.85 through a sponsored swim by Teresa and a Easter Egg raffle run by Laura, Harriet and Lizzie. Well done all of you and thank you for your hard work !! Karen with Lizzie, Laura & Harriet Ant with Teresa. and the Guide Leaders. March 2007 We were invited to the 30th Charter Anniversary Annual Dinner Dance of the Rothley and Soar Valley Lions Club held at Birstall Golf Club. We were presented with a very generous donation of £1,000 by the Lions President. We would like to thank the Lions for this generous gift which will achieve such a lot of good work at the nursery school and will also now enable us to apply to become a registered charity - a very big thank you!
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