Thank you Morrisons!

Last weekend we were invited by Morrison's Supermarket in Denton to do a collection at the door. The very generous shoppers put £141.11 in the collection tins and we distributed dozens of information leaflets.

Now that we have our charity reg number we will be sending lots of letters to local and national business in a hope to raise the £12,000 needed this year.

Charity registration

Tameside2Kenya is now a registered charity in England and Wales. This has been a process riddled in red tape and has caused delays to our good work.

The registered charity is numbered: 1139675

Moving on....

Things are finally starting to hot up now after a few weeks of administration!

The process to register as a charity is ridiculous! that is behind us now as we have been accepted as a charity in the UK!!!!

I recieved a telephone call from Kiagware last night from one of the villagers who managed to find our website. He had travelled to another town to access the internet and then saved up to be able to make a call that lasted about 45 seconds.

I now have an email address for 'James' and we are in regular contact.

I am still researching the best bikes to use for the journey to Africa and have to balance comfort and reliability with cost. The Yamaha XT660Z is ideal but expensive and it seems we may be able to purchase ex-army MT350's for 1/4 of the price but they are seriousley under powered....

The last few weeks have seen some interesting talks to schools and scouting groups so now we are ready to look for corporate sponsors....

Operation: Launch!

Tameside2Kenya is now in the final stage of Charity Commision registration and we are now constituted and have opened our bank accounts.

Sadly the balance on our account is £0.00.

On a more positive note we have now got access to a Yamaha Tenere 660 demonstration motorbike that has been stickered up with the Tameside2Kenya logo. Although this bike does not belong to the charity it will be used as a focus at our collection sites and school visits.

We have spent the last 4 weeks organising our launch day this Saturday 9th October at the Clarendon Shopping centre in Hyde. One suprise in store for us was the need for public liability insurance to do a collection. this has set us back over £200 before we even begin but is necessary in todays no win, no fee climate.

A full report and collection details will be posted here soon and if you have come to this site having read one of our leaflets please contact Sean on 07985 443 830 for further information.

Supermarkets

I have written to every supermarket within Tameside to request permission to hold fundraising collections on their premises and the only company to bother responding has been Morrison's!

Sadly Morrison's are unable to offer us any dates but at least they had the courtesy to reply.

Letters to head offices I think!

Contact!

I have emailed the Headmaster, Charles, of the local school in Kiagware in the hope that, as he has an email address, he can facilitate communications from the UK and give us an idea of the best way to help:

Dear Charles
>
>www.tameside2kenya.com
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>I have been passed your email address by Debbie Lee in the UK.
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>I am a Councillor in Tameside (UK) and a colleague of Cllr Roy Oldham who assisted in the building of the clinic near Kiagware. You may already be aware that Cllr Roy Oldham died in July this year and I would like to honour his memory by supporting the people of Kiagware.
>
>I am planning to ride a motorcycle from UK to Kiagware in June 2011 and bring with me some anti-Malaria drugs and funding to help the people in your village. I would also like to leave the motorcycles with your Chief to help distribute the drugs to the villages.
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>I would be grateful if you could pass this message to the chief and ask him to contact me so I can organise the visit and discuss how we can support your village in the future.
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>With best wishes
>
>Regards
>
>
>Councillor Sean Parker-Perry

I am delighted to report that I have recieved a reply, in broken English, from Charles! This is fantastic news as we can now arrange the logistics for the final leg of the journey:

Hi Parker. Greatful to read your email. Not been aware of Oldham's death! Making arrangements to meet area chief over the good news. Regards to council workers and former mayor Margaret Sidebottom. To email you soon. Thanks.

Establishing contact

I have a meeting today with Debbie Lee from Ashton who has spent several years fundraising, very successfully, for the Kiagware region.

Debbie will be able to give an insight into the road access and has offered to establish contact with the village chief and local headteacher.

Our charity application has now been submitted to the Charity Commission and we await a positive responce. Once we have the registration details the next step is to formally commence fundraising!