Frances was delighted to be asked recently by St. Monica’s Catholic Primary School in Southgate, London, to give a talk about the FARS Chanmugam Trust. This school is very dear to her heart as she spent 25 years as a teacher there. After looking at our website, they had decided to make us their chosen charity this year. In November, Frances and Tony did a presentation to the staff and children to explain more about the work that we do. 

The staff and children then organised a Charity Fundraising Event which took place at the end of November. 

With the help of their teachers, the children calculated how many miles there were between London, where the school is, and Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka, where our Children’s Home is based. They then undertook to walk that distance by dividing it up and allotting a certain amount of miles to each class. The school is very health conscious and has a walking trail around the grounds which the children use to help them keep fit, so this is where the walking took place. The children’s parents, families and friends sponsored them in their efforts and they raised the magnificent sum of £2,978.21, a cheque for which was presented to Frances on the 3rd December at the school.

We were  overcome by the generosity of all concerned and am extremely grateful to the staff for their organisation of the event, to the children for their outstanding effort in walking all those miles and to the parents, families and friends who so generously sponsored them. Also, when Frances returned to the staff room after the presentation of the cheque, the staff had decided to make the amount up to £3,000, so a big thank you to them all for that. 

Frances explained to the staff and children that all of this money will go directly to help the children whom we look after. Not one penny is used for anything other than for the direct benefit of the children. 

The Trustees of our Charity give their time voluntarily and do not receive any money for their time or expenses.

On behalf of the Trustees of the FARS Chanmugam Trust and children from our Children’s Home a big “Thank you” again to all concerned for your very generous donation to our Charity.