2 April 2010
A terrible tragedy has befallen the children and staff of Lanark Grammar School, who have done so much to help Direct Link. Their school bus went off the road, into a river, whilst on a school trip, and 44 children and teachers were hurt, with one pupil tragically losing her life. Our hearts go out to all the children, teachers and parents at this appalling time. Gemma was one of the pupils on board the bus and was injured, but she is now back at home.

31 March 2010
Gemma has surpassed herself once again and organised a sale in the Tolbooth in Lanark. Assisted by her wonderful family, she raised enough money to purchase a crossbreed cow for the project. Every penny collected was donated to the project and nothing was deducted for the cost of buying all the prizes and for the rent ot the Tolbooth. Many, many thanks go to Gemma and her family.

An article appeared in the Sunday Post, describing the work of Direct Link, and this has brought in many donations, a new sponsor and a number of enquiries. What has been so exciting is the number of people who have telephoned to discuss projects of their own, where they have identified a need and have done something about it. There are so many 'small' people who are doing big things!

Lanark Grammar School has, once again, been collecting for various projects in the village, and have raised enough money for the refilling of the First Aid kit and to buy one or even two crossbreed cows. They are all absolute stars!

Granny Doris' blanket, knitted so lovingly for her by the East Neuk House Group, arrived, at last, at its destination and was handed to Doris in a ceremony attended by all the grannies.

Direct Link has also been working in Nairobi and Uganda, this year, and is sponsoring four children in Uganda and helping an ex-sponsored child in Nairobi.

Allan is now at University and working hard for his exams. He is urgently in need of a laptop for his University work, so if anyone has a spare one, please could you let us know.

6 February 2010
Weeks of preparation culminated in Direct Link's concert on behalf of Allan's university fees (see below). Carolyn Sparey Fox and Jeremy Fox played beautiful music to suit all tastes, at the Stirling Methodist Church, followed by tea and nibbles. The concert turned into a 'party', with different groups of people mingling and chatting long after the music had ended. An excellent sum was raised and a good time was had by all.

Wonderful news is that Sightsavers have agreed to bring their mobile clinic to the nearest town later this year, so that as many grannies and widows as possible can have their eyes checked and attended to.

7 January 2010
So much has happened during the second half of 2009 that it is difficult to know where to begin.

We have embarked on a programme of sight restoration for the grannies and widows and, to date, four grannies have had their sight completely restored, with others in the pipeline and due to have operations soon. This new programme was inspired by the East Neuk House Group who suggested trying to restore the sight of their sponsored Granny Doris. Doris was the first granny to have her sight completely restored and she was so excited she hardly knew what to do! She is now able to walk around the village visiting neighbours instead of sitting alone on her doorstep, starving. She was discovered there after three days, having eaten nothing because she could not see to find or prepare food. Lanark Grammar School have been instrumental in raising the funds for all the other grannies to receive their treatment.

Allan, one of our sponsored boys, has been offered a place at the University of Nairobi and a substantial amount of fundraising has been carried out in order to raise the money to enable him to take up his place, starting this month. A fundraising concert is being held on 5th February, in Stirling, with Carolyn Sparey Fox and Jeremy Fox kindly giving their time to play the viola and the flute. Gemma (see below) has recently raised another £1000 to assist with Allan's fees.

The Kids' Kitchen has been very busy feeding the primary school children at lunchtime, providing them with a hot meal to fill their stomachs prior to working in the school all the afternoon.

The Computer School is still very active and more money has been donated this Christmas, to pay another year's fees for the IT trainer.

15 May 2009

11 April 2009
The Kids' Kitchen is still up and running during the primary school term time and it is a very popular success. Even more so because the crops have failed yet again and there is a great shortage of food in the village at the moment. The price of food has also escalated, so the cost of providing food for the Kids' Kitchen has gone up quite substantially.

19 January 2009
Christmas 2008 has been an incredibly busy time for Direct Link. Fund raising started in September, with the sales of Christmas cards exceeding all expectations. We exhibited at a charity event and gained good publicity through the media.  One very special event was the presentation of a Diana Award to one of our most special fund-raisers, who is only 16 years old, yet has raised enough money to refurbish a granny's house, provide a water tank, refurnish the house, and then pay for weeks of food in the Kids' Kitchen.

Distribution of food took place over the Christmas period, thanks to all our wonderful supporters who bought chickens, goats and help-a-granny certificates to give to their friends and family as gifts. Have a look at our Direct Link Christmas 2008 photo gallery to see this latest distribution. Other photos can be seen on the Arrival of the Goats page and Granny Uniter's House page. 

Other kind donors have given enough funding to pay the salary of the computer trainer for another year, in the Computer Centre. 

The Kids' Kitchen has been a great success, with substantial sums of money raised for its continuation now that the children are back at school after the Christmas holidays.  Have a look under the tab The Kids' Kitchen Gallery for all the latest photographs of the children enjoying their lunchtime meal.

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