Guernsey Specials gain new sponsor
The Guernsey Specials Gym Club has partnered with Trust Corporation ahead of what is the club’s 20th anniversary year. The club which has the motto is “to be ourselves”, was formed back in 1994 in order to help youngsters with varying special needs to take part in gymnastics with the help of trained coaches and volunteers.
The initial two-year commitment with Trust Corporation aims to help revitalise the club who currently run two classes a week for 20 children in two different age groups. For many of the gymnasts and their parents the clubs sessions are the highlight of the week. With this additional funding they also hope to promote themselves
even further within the community to encourage more children with special needs to get involved Funds will go towards the basic running costs of the club and training up volunteers. Some employees of Trust Corporation and the associated group company Fund Corporation have also pledged to be personally involved in volunteering at the club.
Staff have also been working in association with the Guernsey Specials to host a special day and night of celebrations to mark the 20th Anniversary on 18 October 2014. As the company’s main charity of choice the Guernsey Specials will also benefit from further fund raising initiatives that will take place throughout the year.
There’s nothing worse than an unfair banana
Fairtrade Guernsey volunteers collected more than 250 signatures outside Waitrose last month, where they spent a busy Saturday dressed in banana suits. The petition, coordinated by the Fairtrade Foundation, asks Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, to investigate the impact of unsustainable supermarket pricing. Fairtrade Guernsey will also present the signatures collected in Guernsey to the States to show the level of support locally.
Campaigners want governments to act to protect millions of poor farmers and workers who grow the UK and Guernsey’s favourite fruit. Of the five billion bananas sold in the UK every year, only one in three sold is a Fairtrade banana. In the last 10 years a bitter price war has seen the UK supermarket sector almost halve the price of loose bananas while the cost of producing them has doubled.
For more information on Fairtrade Guernsey go to www.fairtradeguernsey.com More details on the Fairtrade Foundations campaign to make bananas fair can be found at
www.stickwithfoncho.org.uk
Bowel cancer awareness month
1st – 31st April 2014
April is Bowel Cancer Awareness month and Male Uprising Guernsey has joined forces with Bowel Cancer Guernsey to drive the health message home to islanders. The two charities have created an online information hub bowelcancerguernsey.org where anyone interested in making positive health changes can get on board with bowel health. There will be bowel friendly nutrition information, exercise regimes to try and healthy food swaps and recipes to download. For more information visit www.bowelcancerguernsey.org or www.mug.gg or visit the OSA Pop Up Shop on Smith Street between 14th and 17th April for information and to speak to experts.
Memory tree for Les Bourgs Hospice
Les Bourgs Hospice has planted a special memory tree, which will give a lifelong keepsake to patients’ loved ones. The memorial copper tree, which has been kindly donated by Greville Mitchell OBE, consists of dozens of removable leaves, which can be engraved with a name and a short message. It has been installed in the garden to create a place for reflection and remembrance. The leaves will be available to buy for £100 each, and will be engraved and hung on the tree for a year. They will then be removed, cleaned and returned to the donor, in a presentation box kindly donated by Maubrooks Jewellers, for them to keep. The leaf can be left on the tree if donors wish to pay for a further year.
GMTA donates for premature babies
The Guernsey Motor Traders Association (GMTA) presented Andy Priaulx with a donation of £5,000 to the Priaulx Premature Baby Foundation (PPBF). The cheque was presented at Forest Road Garage which Andy’s Grandfather, Ernold, built (reputedly with his bare hands) in 1948, by the current owner, Andy’s friend Dale Crowsley, and Andrew Sparks, Doyle Motors Finance Director and former Joint GMTA President. Andrew’s only child, Oliver, benefited from the incubator and equipment supplied by the PPBF to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
To find out more about the charity or to make a donation, visit www.ppbf.org.gg
