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News

Container Shipment to Sierra Leone

Thanks to the generous donations to our recent Ebola appeal we have been able to make a good start in helping the local community in Sierra Leone as they begin to recover from the effects of the Ebola outbreak. This was continued with the shipping of the latest container of humanitarian aid supplies to the region.

The container was packed with filled boxes containing clothes, shoes, educational supplies, school uniforms, school equipment, toys etc This will help families who have been unable to earn a living during the crisis or children unfortunately orphaned as a result.

The container has just arrived in Sierra Leone and should be unpacked in the next couple of weeks.

The school supplies are particularly timely as schools have just started to go back following several months closure during the Ebola Crisis. Many children are now back in school but some parents have struggled to pay the small school fees to be able to send their children back, having been unable to work during the crisis. School fees are typically only around £10 a term per child, but what may seem a relatively small sum to us, it’s the price of a cinema ticket or 3 cups of coffee!, will be hard for some families to find. Education is more important than ever for these children, and should anyone wish to donate towards this they can do so through the website or by contacting us directly. Many thanks to all those who have supported our appeal so far, your contributions, both financial and in goods, are very much appreciated by us and those who will be helped.
Container leaves UK

News

ISAT Charity Run

Nigel Bostock, a RAF Policeman NCO, currently working at Freetown International Airport in support of the Department for International Development-led effort to combat the spread of Ebola, has undertaken a solo half marathon, running 13 miles around the airfield to raise funds for the Foundations work in the local area. Local Westminster staff were on hand to provide support to Nigel. Donations are still coming in but to date several hundred pounds have been raised by Nigel, with donations coming from the local community at the Airport, colleagues, family and friends of Nigel’s including his local church. It’s not too late to support Nigel’s run and should anyone wish to donate they can do so through the Foundations Donation page. Well done and many thanks to Nigel.

Nigel Bostock ISAT start Jpeg
Jpeg

News

British Independent Retail Association (BIRA) Community Awards 2015

At the recent BIRA Conference our Trustee Alan Wolstencroft, the owner of Fashion Fabrics in Banbury, was awarded the Charitable Champion Award, at the Gala Dinner, for his outstanding work in Sierra Leone.

Delegates were informed that during the past year, although Alan had not visited Sierra Leone because of the e-bola crisis, he had continued fundraising for the development at 3 schools that he supports including providing subsistence allowances for the teaching staff.

Alan had undertaken 36 speaking engagements raising £14,350 of a total of £33,600 raised during the year. Since his first involvement in Sierra Leone, 10 years ago, Alan has delivered 290 talks raising a total of £63,400 of a total of £124,100 for his Sierra Leone projects.

Alan was presented with a certificate, a plaque and a bottle of champagne and a cheque for £1,000 towards his ongoing projects.

Alan acknowledged the support that he receives from his family, his staff, customers and suppliers, BIRA members, Westminster Group PLC, Goodwill & Growth for Africa UK Banbury Rotary Club and dozens of organisations and hundreds of individuals.

Alan explained that he is returning to Sierra Leone at the start of June and some of the money may well be used to pay school fees (£10 per term) for children whose families cannot afford to pay the fees due to the increased cost of living caused by the e-bola situation.

Alan explained that every £ goes directly to the projects and that the money will help him to continue to “make a real difference” in Sierra Leone.

 

Alan Wolstencroft Award
Alan receives his award from Neil Robinson, Group Accounts Sales Manager, Toolbank (award sponsors) and Tony Hawks, the Awards compere who is a TV and radio comedian
Alan Wolstencroft Award speech
Alan delivering his thank you speech
News

Rice presentation

WASS team led by DASM john Drummond was warmly welcomed by the Paramount chief and his kinsmen and were ushered into the chiefdom local court venue which was utilised for the presentation ceremony. SDM Ibrahim Koroma made a brief statement on behalf of the Company explaining the imperative need for WASS to work side by side with the local authorities in the fight against EBOLA wherein he made mention of the holding centre constructed by WASS for the chiefdom as an excellent approach to mitigate the rampant spread of EBOLA. DASM John spoke on the importance of WASS contributing to the fight against EBOLA

Responses

  • The local chief in charge of the section where the Paramount chief hailed from in the person of Pa Alimamy Kapen expressed sincere thanks and appreciations to the entire WASS family for the unflinching support in the fight against EBOLA, and stated also that the chiefdom is appreciative of the fact that WASS has provided employment facilities for the youths.
  • The Paramount chief reiterated that WASS has contributed immensely to promote community development, Notwithstanding, the chiefdom is anticipating to initiate a chiefdom partnership society wherein they will be looking into sourcing/soliciting assistance for the award of scholarship for educational pursuit for sons and daughters of the soil in the future, they will attract the attention of company /agencies based in Lungi.

Finally, DASM John, presented the ten sacks of rice to the Paramount chief on behalf of WASS as a good will gesture in the fight against EBOLA, and subsequently photographs were taken

Rice Donation

News

Christmas gifts for Don Bosco Orphanage

Xmas-537Xmas-049Xmas-584Shortly before Christmas we were able to deliver some Christmas Stockings to the children at Don Bosco Orphanage, along with a donation to the Orphanage to enable them to buy some gifts for the children. The Orphanage was set up following the impact of the Ebola crisis to accommodate children who had lost their parents to Ebola and is housed in a former school. Karen Young and John Drummond from Westminster Aviation Security Services Ltd, visited the Orphanage and met the children and their carers to hand over the donations.

News

Cozy Comforts help Ebola crisis

children in onsiesPupils at Sibford School near Banbury raised a staggering £1115 when they held a ‘Cosy Comforts’ day in aid of the Ebola crisis.

The students paid to come to school dressed in various styles of onesies, blankets, lounge-wear and pyjamas, with all money going towards the Westminster Group Foundation Ebola Crisis Appeal.

Alan Wolstencroft visited the school to see pupils in their cosy costumes, to talk about the situation in Sierra Leone and explain how the money will be used.

We are very grateful to the Sibford pupils for their generosity towards this appeal.

News

Kick Ebola Out T Shirts

In the ongoing battle to contain and prevent the spread of Ebola it is important to raise awareness amongst communities.

In Sierra Leone, Bai Shebora Sheba Gbereh III, the Paramount Chief of Kaffu Bullon Chiefdom which includes the Lungi region, has been very active in raising awareness of his people and in that respect approached Westminster to ask if we could produce awareness T Shirts for the community bearing the slogan “Kick Ebola out of Kaffa Bullon, Sierra Leone”.

Westminster were happy to assist and promptly arranged for printed T Shirts to be made and delivered to the community.

Presentation of Kick Ebola Tshirts
Chief Bai Shebora Sheba Gbereh III displaying one of the T Shirts

Left to right in picture:
Mohamed S Kamara – Deputy Terminal Manager FNA/Community coordinator for Ebola locally
John Drummond – Deputy Aviation Security Manager WASS
Bai Shebora Sheba Gbereh III – Paramount Chief of Kaffu Bullon Chiefdom
Ibrahim Koroma – Security Duty Manager WASS/ Community liaison Officer
Foday K Sannoh – Major RSLAF Lungi Battalion Garrison

Events

Ebola Crisis Appeal

Ebola Crisis AppealThe Ebola situation in West Africa is now creating a humanitarian crisis on a scale far greater than most people realise with millions now at risk not just from Ebola but from the widespread effects that this crisis has had on the countries concerned.

Whilst many thousands have fallen victim to the Ebola outbreak this is only the tip of the iceberg. The fact is that the healthcare and emergency services in these countries are doing a heroic job with many brave healthcare workers giving their lives to try and help treat/contain the outbreak, but the truth is the system is at near collapse. This has, in turn, led to major problems in dealing with other serious health issues and killer diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and of course HIV/AIDS, all of which dwarf the current mortality rate of Ebola, together with the many other day to day health issues that require medical support that is no longer available. At best people who need such medical assistance may get cursory care but more likely there is no help available or worse they may end up alongside an Ebola patient.

Add to this the effects of all these deaths on families and communities who have been left devastated by their losses, coupled with a breakdown of civic structures, major loss of employment from the many foreign companies that have shut down or reduced operations, and the widespread hunger, and it is easy to see how this humanitarian crisis is unfolding.

Whilst Britain and other countries are now providing much needed aid and assistance much more is needed. The various charities and NGO’s operating in the region are equally doing a good job but the scale of the problem is huge.

We have therefore launched our Ebola Crisis Appeal Fund to help alleviate suffering in the region caused by this crisis and provide much needed support to the local communities. Donations can be in the form of monetary gifts, with 100% of all monies received going to the charitable cause, or donations can be in kind (clothing, blankets, non-perishable food, toys etc.) which will be distributed utilising Westminster’s extensive infrastructure and networks.

Please consider this appeal seriously and mention this request to your family, friends and acquaintances – the more we can raise on this appeal the more we can do to help alleviate the suffering.

HOW TO DONATE:

Details of how you may donate can be found on the Donate page available in the menu above.

Or by email to ebolaappeal@wg-foundation.org

Or call +44 1295 756300 and mention Ebola Crisis Appeal and you will be put through to someone who will assist.

Trustees

Peter Mackie

Peter is married with 2 grown up daughters. One a scientist and the other an artist, which makes for interesting conversations and helps him keep a balanced view on what is needed to make and maintain healthy communities.

Over the years Peter has been a trustee and chairman of a pre-school, a junior school parent governor and a trustee of a large independent church. He is currently an active member of his local playing field association and is a board member of Cherwell Community Land Trust, a charity that provides affordable housing and provides training and new skills for people wishing to build their own homes. He is also involved with a community outreach project in Banbury called the ‘Hill’ that is offering social and educational opportunities to young people.

To keep himself occupied with the rest of his time, Peter is Managing Director of a company focused on delivering practical disruptive business solutions that reduce energy use and environmental damage. He is passionate about finding and introducing improved ways of thinking and working that provide benefits for the whole of our global community.

Peter joined as a founding Trustee of the Westminster Group Foundation in 2014.

Trustees

Alan Wolstencroft

Alan,  married with a daughter, originally started his working career as a sports teacher, he later retrained and specialised in human resources and health & safety for a number of years. Latterly he managed his own textile retail business.

Alan started his involvement with charity work at an early age and continued this through school, college,  teaching years and beyond.  In 1982 he joined Banbury Cross Round Table, where he subsequently held many positions including Chairman and was made a Life Honorary Member in 2005 for service to Round Table. He has also served as a member of a medical support charity at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford for ten years, being their chairman for seven years.

In 2004, Alan joined the Rotary Club of Banbury, an international service organisation. In 2005 he visited Sierra Leone as volunteer with the Rotary Mission Challenge team to build a hospital. He  subsequently visited the country on nine occasions and has raised funds for the building and development of four schools and other much needed resources to these communities.

In 2009 he was made a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, this is the highest award given by Rotary Clubs for Rotarian’s and members of the public for exceptional sustained community service.  In 2013 Alan was presented with the Rotary International “Service Above Self ” award, one of only 150 awarded worldwide that year. He became a Trustee of Goodwill & Growth for Africa UK in 2008. Since his first visit to Sierra Leone he has raised in excess of £211,000 for projects in the country.

Alan will receive a Rotary  “Champions of Change award”  (one of only 12 awarded annually), with other Rotarian’s from across the country, at a ceremony hosted by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff in Cardiff City Hall in May 2018.

Denis Spiller, President of Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland, commented:-
“The selfless and truly life-changing impact of our champions really demonstrate that we can all make a difference. Alan’s work in Freetown has given the communities a new lease of life. He is a very worthy recipient of a Rotary Champions of Change award.”

Alan is a founding Trustee of the Westminster Group Foundation.