Bolnore Macmillan Coffee Morning

One Bolnore resident decided to join in with the national fundraising campaign for Macmillan Cancer Support by hosting the first World’s Biggest Coffee Morning in the village.

“I’m not aware that there has ever been one before,” Della Mold explained, “so I wanted to give it a go.”

The event was a great success, raising over £500 for the charity, as Della sold cakes and held a raffle on the day.

“It was a fantastic morning with donations for the raffle from local businesses, including the Bolnore Co-op food store. It gave me a great feeling to know there are so many people that care and will help.”

Bolnore dads take on 3 Peaks Challenge

By Ben Harris

The Three Peakers were James Brazier, Russell Cheverst, Jamie Grant, Ben Harris, James Sherrell, Nolan Sorrell and Andy Walton. We’re all Dads of kids at Bolnore Village Primary School, and one Grandad, David Grant, was ‘safe hands’ behind the wheel. 

Our trip started from the school gates at 9am on Friday 10th August. We headed straight to Snowdon and started the clock from Pen-y-Pass at 5.45pm. We finished Snowdon in 2 hours 50 minutes, much to David’s surprise.

Scafell Pikes was ascended in the dark, beginning at about 1.30am, just before the cloud descended for the tricky walk back down. Completed by the time the sun fully rose in 3 hours 20 minutes.

Then the long drive to Fort William for the final, highest and longest peak, Ben Nevis. We set off with 6.5 hours to go, with everyone getting to the summit within three hours and then the tired, crowded, never-ending last leg down to the finish line after 5 hours 20 minutes. 

The whole challenge, once David had driven 280 miles to the start of Snowdon and then taken us safely over the 470 miles between the Peaks, was completed in 23 hours 5 minutes!

We had amazing encouragement from our wives and families through all the preparations and especially during the challenge.

We have made over £1,000 so far, for Friends of Bolnore Primary School so far, with donations coming from within Bolnore Village, kind residents of Cuckfield, Friends of Falcon Health and Complete Electrical, and our amazing families! And... the fundraising page is still open: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/fobvps3peaks

Geoffrey Dennis | Village People

Cuckfield resident Geoffrey Dennis had an epiphany while working in the Bangladeshi capital as he saw hundreds of families rushing up the railway embankment one evening. It was the rainy season in Dakar and he was working on a two month consultancy project with the World Bank. As he walked back to the hotel where he was staying, the mass movement of people caught his attention. 

After a few days observing this practice Geoffrey decided to follow them and see where they were heading. When he did so he discovered they were building makeshift shelters under plastic sheets on the railway tracks. He began talking to some of the families and learned that these were folk who live in shanty towns below but that they had been flooded. As soon as the last train of the day left the station the rush was on to set up camp for the night. 

Over the remaining weeks of his trip he struck up a friendship with two such families and visited them regularly. On Geoffrey’s last visit before leaving Dakar he was greeted with a cake they had made for him. “I was so touched and humbled,” he said. He went back to the hotel immediately to buy up all the cakes he could find and returned to what became a party. “I realised what generous people these were, even though they had so little. I announced to my colleague on the plane home: ‘I want to work in the charity sector one day’.”

An excerpt from the full article by David Tingley published in the July/Aug 2013 issue of Cuckfield Life

Care International helping to help others start new businesses in developing countries: www.lendwithcare.org