A taste of the Orient

A Chinese banquet is very kindly being staged  to raise funds for the Happy House at one of Blackpool's best known restaurants, The Ocean Palace, Talbot Road, on Friday, February 25, at 7.30pm Tickets are £16, and there will be a raffle and a few other things to bump up the proceeds on the night.  Please let me know how many  tickets you would like by emailing elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net 

Limvadry Rotary Club

This week we have been delighted to welcome Doug & Lorna Hare to the Happy House. Doug and Lorna have supported our work in lots of different ways and have always been very kind and generous.

 

Doug worked hard with his Rotary Club in Limvardy Northern Ireland to raise the funds for a much needed banda. Doug brought a plaque with him so we had the official unveiling. Doug brought lots of friends from Turtle bay beach Club Hotel and our children said thank you with songs and traditional dancing. It was a lovely afternoon.

 

The Rotary Club also sponsor Harry, so it was lovely for Lorna to give Harry his bottle and see that lovely smile and big dimples.

 

Thank you to all at Limvardy Rotary Club for caring about our children.

For Lily with love!

Stephanie Hill loves her little sponsor child, Lily, so much she  has put herself under the needle to get a tattoo in her honour, writes Elizabeth Gomm.

Stephanie, who lives  near Blackpool, had her elaborate creation of lilies tattooed on her back at Forever Tattoos in the resort.

"It's my little way of always having a piece of Lily with me. When she is a little bit older then she will know that she was in my thoughts everyday and it is something that won't ever fade," says Steph, who has done so much to help the Happy House by fundraising (including a  bungee jump and a Kenyan themed night).

"It  took about an hour and was done by a guy called Mel, he is great!," adds Steph.

" I love tattoos and I love Lily, so I combined the two and am so pleased with the result."

It's lovely to know how much our children are loved by their sponsors and everyone at the Happy House will be expecting to see that tattoo when you visit later in the year,  Steph.

Especially, one little girl!

Friends indeed

Sue's inspirational story and her absolute determination to make her Happy House vision a reality touched the hearts of the 100+ members of Barton Women's Institute, near Preston, when I spoke to them last night, writes Elizabeth Gomm.

They were keen to know as much as possible about the Happy House and were both saddened by the terrible start in life most of our children have endured and thrilled to hear how they thrive once the Happy House magic starts to work!

They were delighted that all the money raised by our charity goes directly to helping our children and of how child sponsorship has real meaning for both child and sponsor.

I took along the £1 Happiness Kits, kindly made by Kathryn Pidcock and friends, left over from our charity night ,and sold them all .. I wish I'd had twice as many!

By the end of a very friendly and pleasant evening I left with donations totalling £202, and many of the ladies took away leaflets and sponsor forms  so,  I hope, when they have had time to think about it, we will be welcoming them to our Happy House family.

Thank you Barton WI  for making me so welcome and for caring about our kids.

Both Lynn McCluskey and I are happy to talk to organisations and schools, if you are interested please email elizabethgomm@childrenofwatamu.net

 

Sand Pit Kids

The babies just love their new sand pits. They are learning to share, pour, measure and are throughly enjoying themselves.

Happy House Nursery School

I am sorry for the delay in posting the pictures of the Nursery School but we were let down by the lady making the new uniforms. Most of them have now arrived so here are our Happy Kids.

 

The children are really enjoying the new environment, plus the different and exciting teaching methods. We have bought some drums and shakers for the music room which were a great hit this morning. 

 

The outside banda will be finished this week that will be used as the dining room and outside classrooms. 

 

More pictures of the Nursery are on the Happy House Facebook Page.

Pennies into £s!

Every penny counts at the Happy House, so thanks to Lucy and Paul Breeze for suggesting an easy way that everyone can raise a little bit more, writes Elizabeth Gomm.

They suggest you save all your spare coppers in a half litre or litre  plastic milk bottle and when it's full you can donate the contents to the Happy House.

I filled a half litre carton with 1p and 2p pieces just to see how much it added up to ... almost £8. It's a way  you can give without even noticing.

And a splendid idea to take into schools as every home has milk bottles.  When you have turned your pennies into  £s you can just pay it in via JustGiving or send it to me and I will bank it.

Lucy and Paul were interviewing me about the Happy House for their Best Kept Secrets programme on Preston FM  (103.2 or  listen online) which will be aired at 7pm on Friday.

Thank you to both of them for taking such an interest in our children.

Coca-Cola Africa Foundation

We were delighted to welcome Stuart Eastwood, William & Christine Asiko, Carline & Tony Wainaina, Heiki Egbe and their families during the New Year holiday. 

 

William is the president of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation who made a very generous donation towards the building of the Happy House. Everyone was delighted with the progress that has been made both with the happy children and the building.

 

We showed our guests around the new Nursery School, William was very impressed that we were including education at the Happy House for our own little people and children from the local community. Of course I am hoping to be able to open a Primary School by next January !

 

 

Back to school

Tomorrow the 3rd of January the children go back to school, so we decided to end the holidays with a boat trip. The children played in the sea until the boat arrived, not one of the kids or the staff had ever been on a boat before. When we set off there was some very unsure little faces, but as we got going everyone settled down and really enjoyed the ride. By the time we came back an hour later 10 of the little ones had gone to sleep, it must have been the rocking motion of the boat.

 

23 of our children will be starting in our new nursery school tomorrow morning, they are all looking forward to it. We have a lovely new uniform, nice simple red dresses for the girls and black shorts and red over shirts for the boys. I will post some pictures of the children tomorrow. It is very exciting to be facing another new challenge. We must make a difference and education has to be the way forward.

New Year party

On New years Eve afternoon we had a small party for the children. They ate chicken pilau, their favorite for lunch, followed by fresh fruit salad and ice cream. Everything we had to eat had been donated over the Christmas period except the chicken we grew that ourselves. After lunch had settled we had a dance competition, it was great fun. Everyone joined in. We had three judges who voted the dancer either in or out. We did it in age groups, such as under 8's then the bigger kids we did in sections with prizes for the winners. At the end we had an adults competition with 3 of the children as judges. As people were voted out we got to the last 3, Aunty Violet, Uncle Billy & Papa Dave. Dave was a scream he was dancing round shaking his bum, throwing his arms about the kids were hysterical. So I will now leave you to guess who won!!