This newsletter is packed full of news of The Batemans Trust and the progress of the children in Chennai who we are all supporting. These are very exciting times as the charity pushes ahead with plans for a new school with boarding facilities that will help so many more children.
Earlier newsletters:
Mike Sewell, chair of the Batemans Trust and managing director of Cambridge-based communications agency CPL, explains why he has taken on a marathon challenge.
On Sunday May 25, I will be running my first-ever marathon in Edinburgh. Unsurprisingly, quite a lot of people have asked why I’m doing it – so here’s five of my reasons.
It’s for a cause that’s close to my heart
In 2006 my family spent a year volunteering for the Batemans Trust in Chennai, south India. We had a true once-in-a-lifetime experience, not least my three children who picked up a bit of Tamil and experienced the joy of going to school in a four-seater rickshaw crammed with eight people. More importantly, our eyes were opened to the way Batemans’ work helps to transform the lives of youngsters from some of Chennai’s poorest and most disadvantaged communities. The training has been hard but, without wishing to sound too trite, it would have been a whole lot harder if I hadn’t been able to draw on my own experiences to remind myself what it was all for.
I wanted to run a marathon before I’m 50
My fellow CPL directors Mark and Jonathan sometimes refer to me as TSTO – the“tall, skinny, tense one” – and they have a point. I’m the right build for long-distance running and have always thought I’d run a marathon at some stage. But coming to it without having run more than three miles in one go for about 30 years, the training has been rather harder than I’d expected.
I really don’t like losing to my brother
25-plus years ago my brother David, who is 11 years older than me, ran the London Marathon in 3hrs 23mins. When I signed up for Edinburgh I’d hoped that I might be able to beat that time – but since I’ve started training, I’ve accepted that this ambition is naïve at best. Whether or not I decide to run another marathon may depend on how close I get to his time this time round.
It’s (sort of) fun training with my son (and my dog)
My 13-year-old son Ollie sometimes runs with me. In principle, this is a good thing. But, annoyingly, he’s quite a good runner so it can be dispiriting to have him casually chatting all the way round while I struggle to keep up. The dog is rather more sympathetic, although I doubt Mo Farah has to carry poo bags during training.
I wasn’t meant to be doing it alone
Last December, my friend Patsy and I promised to run our first-ever marathons in 2014, and Edinburgh is the result. Patsy trained really hard and was on target to record a great time until, sadly, she injured herself a couple of weeks ago – leaving me to run the race solo. Having said that, she’s already helped to raise thousands of pounds for Batemans and will definitely be running a marathon within the next 12 months – and, depending on how Edinburgh goes – I may join her.
The Batemans Trust is CPL’s official charity and, over the past few years, the company has provided Batemans with thousands of pounds worth of pro bono support.
Support Mike’s marathon efforts by donating here: www.justgiving.com/patsyandmikemarathon
Batemans supporters in the Kent area raised around £2,000 for the charity in the latest annual lunch hosted by the Sheila and Gerald Wilton.
We apologise for omitting to mention this in our latest newsletter, particularly as this group of people have been such loyal and consistent donors to Batemans over the years.
Many thanks to Sheila and Gerald and everyone who supported the event.
The Batemans Wish List is a great way to donate to Batemans – and give a Christmas gift to your friends and family.
This year, the money from the Wish List will go towards our fundraising drive to buy a plot of land in Chennai where we will eventually be able to build our own school and boarding home.
Complete the Wish List here and we’ll send you a handmade gift card to pass on to the recipient of your choice.
If you would prefer to donate online – and do not require gift cards – please visit our Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/BatemansTrust
The Batemans Trust has announced exciting plans to buy land to develop our own primary school and boarding home in Chennai.
This major project forms the key part of Batemans’ strategic plan for the next five years, which revolves around ensuring the charity can continue to effectively meet the needs of Anglo-Indian and other deprived young people in Chennai.
By buying land to develop the charity’s first permanent home of our own, we will be in a much better position to control the ever increasing costs of some of our projects. The building would include a school for children aged between five and 11 and a boarding home for five to 16 year olds.
The charity has made some great strides forward in recent years, with an all-Indian management and teaching team running its key projects, which between them support more than 100 young people.
But there are significant financial challenges. The cost per child has almost trebled in five years, with spiralling rent and school costs. It’s great that we are running more projects but they are on different sites and this inevitably leads to higher costs.
Our ambition to buy land and then build our own modern and sustainable home – in a less expensive part of Chennai – will mean that, in the long term, our day-to-day running costs will be significantly reduced.
The Trust is undertaking a fundraising drive with the first milestone being to raise the £70,000 required to identify and buy a plot of land, ideally before prices increase too much more! This year’s Batemans Wish List gives you the chance to help kickstart the process.
To support this – and to help ensure Batemans’ ongoing projects continue to be effectively supported – the trustees are also advertising for a part-time fundraising expert, who will focus on applying for grants from public and private bodies. See more about this role here.
Read Batemans’ 2013 newsletter, find out all about our plans to buy our own plot of land – and see how your support has made a difference in 2013.
The Batemans Trust would like to ask you to host a Batemans Curry Supper to help raise money for our new campaign to buy a plot of land in Chennai.
The idea is that you invite guests to a curry supper in your home, asking each one for a suggested contribution of £10 to £20. Proceeds can be donated to Batemans either by cheque or via our Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/batemanstrust.
Why not try to invite some friends who are as yet unaware of the life-changing work we do in Chennai? If your guests are interested you could direct them to our website where they may be inspired to sponsor a child or host a Batemans Curry Supper themselves.
If you require any extra newsletters or sponsorship forms for your supper, please email mail@batemans.org.uk.
Some delicious and authentic recipe ideas from southern India are available here.
Do send us any photos of your evening for inclusion in our publicity material.
Good luck and happy cooking.
A massive thank you to all of you who helped us raise the money needed for a Batemans Bus. The changing nature of our charity means we have several projects based in different parts of Chennai and it’s been a logistical and costly challenge to transport our children around this busy Indian city via rickshaws, taxis and hired minibuses. Our own minibus will help reduce costs and mean the children spend less time getting to and from their schools.
Support the Batemans Trust by attending one or more of our 2013 events. Find out the details – and see the booking form – here Batemans Events 2013
