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Eighteen green or charitable ideas were discussed, promoted and acted upon during the Summer Oakley Holiday – each involving all those present either directly or indirectly.
• Our Charity Collection, amounting to £725, will be shared by four good causes, each suggested by members of the Holiday, as follows.
• The Freeman Hospital in Newcastle specialises in heart and lung transplants and was nominated by Poppy Potts whose father was a patient there.
• The Blackpool Talking Newspaper provides weekly recordings for 1000 blind or visually impaired people, keeping them in touch with local, national and international events. This was suggested by Julian Wilde whose mother benefitted from the service for many years.
• George Jolliffe sent a report and photos from the orphanage in Arusha, Tanzania where he has been working this summer. Many of the children there have lost their parents to HIV/Aids.
• The Children’s Brain Tumour Research unit at Nottingham University was endorsed by Charlotte Allcock whose friend’s brother had been treated there.
•  Felicity Randell and Chris Troughton gave a powerpoint presentation on the first Oakley
Making A Difference Week, held at the end of April. Oakley MAD has its own Facebook page which has enabled members for the first time to post their experiences and photos. A further week is now planned, starting on Friday 27 August
• We also had an E mail update and photo from Caroline Derbyshire and a group of her year 11 students from Linton Village College who were visiting Soshanguve township near Pretoria in South Africa to set up sports coaching schemes. Caroline took with her the £160 donated by Oakley members at the Easter See MAD page 29
• Spare five pence pieces at the daily tuck shop were again donated to the work of the
St Luke's Leprosy Hospital in Southern India visited by Oakley member Ed Nussey
- see MAD page 26 These were stored in the Oakley piggy bank, named Boaris Johnson and amounted to £17.
105 mini Boarises were found on a morning walk in the grounds and are now settling into new homes around the country
The tuck shop itself continued in green mode with only Fairtrade chocolate on sale and sweets without wrappers which purchasers put into their own paper bag. Tap water replaced fizzy drinks and everyone was provided with a plastic bottle!
• The six new leaders celebrated their new role by choosing gifts worth £101 for a community in the developing world from the
• The London Olympics 2012 flag was flown from the top of the House on 27 July to mark 365 days to go to the opening of the Olympics. Peter Judge is likely to be a volunteer guide at the Games and Laura Bury has been nominated as an Olympic torch bearer. www.London2012.com.
• Members had the chance to recycle their waste paper and cardboard in special bins and to avoid waste by using recycled envelopes to order their photographs of the week.
• Pandora’s Boxes The team of leaders raised funds for The Stroke Association, a charity suggested by Richard Flower, by means of Prizes won included two Olympic football tickets for the semi-final at Old Trafford, a session in the gym with Chris Roberts, a tour of old Portsmouth, a banana, two bananas and a flower arranging hour with Kathy Sealy.
• Friendship bracelets which were made by members as an enjoyable afternoon activity were on sale, with the money also going to the Stroke Association - making the overall total £80
• The nineteen year 11 students on the Holiday (The Architects) ran their own Pandora’s box to raise £40 for the orphanage in Tanzania. Prizes included lunch with Izzy Printer, a ginormous purple Teddy Bear and a tin of Lentil Soup!
• Following discussion on the Fish Fight campaign at the leaders’ conference last February, we asked our chef Alison to serve an alternative fish to haddock or cod for lunch – it was Pollock and very good too!
• Solar lamps enabled all the dormitories to cut down on energy consumption during the week. Each dormitory in turn was responsible for charging the lamp by means of its two solar panels during the day and using it in the evenings. Despite some technical problems it was pleasing that all three lamps were in use in dormitories and washrooms during the week. These are now with Russel Bailey and Julian Wilde for use in their local community and can be borrowed on request.
• Shoeboxes Each dormitory prepared a shoebox full of gifts to be sent to a teenager living in children’s homes in Romania. Members brought some gifts from home and also pooled 50 pences to buy further items from a small shop. The fifteen boxes were subsequently delivered to the headquarters of the International Aid Trust near Preston by Jenny Thorne and Alan Whitmore.
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