India - A Month Today!

It's hard to get my head around that Selection, Fundraising and Training have all come and gone and that in a months time I'll be sat on a plane on my way to Dubai to change for Hyderabad and then onto a sleeper train to Ongole! Still to some, that sounds crazy, but I think I've just about got my head round it!

More importantly, I cant wait to start teaching and preparing lessons and resources to take overseas with me. After training back on Coll it feels like everything is slotting into place and I don't think I could feel more prepared mentally for whats to come. Physically, on the other hand I still have an awful lot of packing to start!

So to end this blog here, before I start a new one to document my time overseas, I would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported me in fundraising efforts, cake sales and just general good luck wishes but more importantly to everyone who has been there surrounding me with positivity to take this step and volunteer with Project Trust overseas for a long period of time.

Although I have reached my personal fundraising target any other donations that people would like to make would still be of great benefit to Project Trust and these donations can be made on my virgin money giving page.

Once again thankyou, and I hope you look forward to reading my new blog about what we're up to & how we're getting on at Andhra High School in Ongole, India!

India P8 Country Group - Miriam & Izzy off to Bangalore - Desk Officer Tom - Me & Jade off to Ongole

Support of the English Speaking Union

I am over the moon that the English Speaking Union Exeter Branch have supported my volunteering and given an educational award of £400 towards my fundraising for teaching in India. I look forward to sharing my stories, photographs and memories with them whilst I'm away and look forward to meeting the members once I return home.
:)

Seaton Town Hall Carnival Bank Holiday Weekend!

On Saturday 23rd August both my Granny Emmie and Granny Betty and Ted had a stall at the table top sale at Seaton Town Hall. As it was the carnival weekend the hall was rather busy and although I was working, I was kept up to date and heard that they had a good morning and good fun selling items on the stalls; and not only selling but also receiving kind donations and spreading the word about my fundraising and Project Trust.

From the sale and the hard work from my Grans and Grandad they raised another £130 towards our fundraising total. I cannot thank them enough for their persistent hard work and dedication towards our fundraising and also to those who donate things to sell.

Granny Emmie at her stall! Selling homemade flapjacks along with other goods! :)

My Granny Betty and Ted at their stall! Stall number 1! :)

Curry Night Sixth Form Party

I was unsure whether to make this post a gallery or a write up of the evening, but I think the photos tell more of a story than a few sentences.

However there is one thing I would like to say, and that is simply - THANKYOU!
£345 was donated.



My Mummy and I!

I was overwhelmed by the donations so generously given by all, and especially from those who donated four times the amount! I hope everyone had a fab evening and were happy with results!

Lastly... thank you for not trashing the house and being extremely respectful of the place (even if a couple of bulbs went out, (not mentioning any names!..). I don't think it could have gone any smoother!


Serving Curry!

Davo and Jack fancy dress!!



Annabelle and the girls on the door, and eating curry in the kitchen!



Decorated the dining room and lounge, and little nibbles on the go.



More curry, and George (brother).

Girlies in the doorway (Rosie, Sophie, Beth) and out on the decking around the fire.



Jack and David... and Rosie and I in the Hallway!
Thank you :)

Mahavir Trust Support

I am also very thankful and appreciative of the £75 donation from the Mahavir Trust.

Lions Club Support!

I am really grateful and incredibly lucky to have received the support of the Seaton Lions Club. After writing to the Seaton Lions Club and receiving a reply I was invited to give a talk about Project Trust and the things I would be doing in India as part of the Project.

After meeting the members I was given a £500 donation cheque towards helping me reach my fundraising goal. The link for the article and to read about the other brilliant things the Lions Club do to support the community can be found below.

:)

http://e-clubhouse.org/sites/seatonuk/

A teeny weenie table top and some more donations!

Colyford Hall Sunday 27th July - I would like to thank my Granny Emmie for her morning spent at the table top sale, all of which gathered £15 in donations, of which I am very grateful for.

Sales of goods donated - Thanks to Granny Betty and Ted and everyone who has donated second hand goods; from advertising in the paper and selling the items we have been able to raise £151.

Thank you to everyone who supported us, and are continuing to donate items to be sold on.

On a separate occasion family friends have also bought goods taken from Granny Betty and Teds table top sales totalling another £127!

Once again, thank you for everyone's unbelievable support!

:)
x

To the Library we go!

This month, in early August, both my Granny Emmie and Tom joined me as we headed to Exeter Library to seek out the Directorate of Grant Making Trusts Book to enable us to find charities to write to that were willing to help support us in reaching our fundraising goal, and to share my volunteering journey with now and in the future after my return.

Of course... we had to take a coffee break at the Boston Tea Party before... then off we headed for the next 4 hours of (nearly) silence!

Time keeps flying...

This month I would like to say another great big thank you to my grandparents who took the time to take part in another table top sale of which together raised another £125.

Their support and continuing efforts are worth the world and I really appreciate their continuing support.

Also, this week to my excitement we have finally had the addition of a new printer, which, I know to many isn't the most exciting news ever - but the life of letter writing has been made a million times easier!

This month especially has been increasingly busy with work I am finding it difficult to attend all fundraising events and sales however I am looking forward to our next fundraising get together on the 15th of August with the Sixth Form Leavers once we have collected our results!

In the meantime I aim to run a ‘Sweets in the Sweetie Jar’ competition soon. So keep a look out!

Aside to this, I have recently returned from holiday to the fantastic news that the Seaton Lions Club will kindly be making a donation of £500 which will be of such a great help in supporting us in reaching our fundraising total. I really am so grateful for their support and am looking forward to being able to meet and talk to their members about Project Trust and my 8 months placement on the 12th of August.

Thank you for reading,

Take Care,

Abbie

x

Last months little fundraisers!

So exams have finally come to an end - Hurray! And although June was a very busy month with studying and revision, a few smaller events helped us along nicely.

Tuesday 24th Entertainment - I would like to thank my granddad and those who supported him for his singing and performing of music in front of a small crowd, all of which gathered £50 in donations, of which I am very grateful for. Thank you to those who supported him.

Saturday 28th - Seaton Town Hall. Thanks to my Granny Betty and Ted's efforts, along with having the opportunity to talk to the locals in the community about my volunteering project we were able to raise £78. Thank you to everyone who supported us.

Sunday 29th - Colyford Hall. I would also like to thank my Granny Emmie who took a few items along to the table top sale at Colyford Hall last sunday. Although a quiet morning, we still managed to raise £25 toward our fundraising totals. Every little helps, thank you to those who supported.

Once again, thank you for your continuing support.

Abb,
x

Axe Valley Sixth Formers... Results Party Fundraiser!

For all of those in those Sixth Form at Axe Valley, collecting results on August 14th - We are having a fundraising event to celebrate finishing our A-levels, whilst helping to support my fundraising.

Lots of curry, and an Indian food style buffet will be provided... along with a few drinks, and just the general music, dancing, partying, gathering and stay at our house! Will be good to all meet up for one of the last full times after having a few weeks apart!

Will look forward to seeing those who can come, and hopefully we will be able to raise some extra funds toward our fundraising total and have a good time at the same time! Remember... the 15th August!

If in reading this, you know of anyone in Years 12 or 13 at Axe Valley Sixth Form that isn't added to the event, please don't hesitate to pop me a message!

Thanks again, Abbie!

xo

Leaflets!

Thanks to Starre Design & Print who printed my design as a donation, free of charge, http://starre.co.uk/ , and the girls helping hands my 'Abbie In India' leaflets have been printed and folded successfully!


Outside!

Inside!
 

Soph folding the leaflets!

And Ellie and Chloe!
 

 Thank you girlies! And thank you Dais for arranging the leaflets to be printed also!
 Don't hesitate to contact me if you would like one sent to you!
 Thanks again!

Abb
 xx

Dad vs Dartmoor!

So Proud of Dad for completing the Dartmoor Classic in 4 hours 58 minutes on this years Dartmoor Classic, the 22nd of June. Not only did he complete the 67 miles in an awesome time especially in the heat, he also won a Silver Medal!!

And on top of all of this, also raised £100 in sponsorship towards our fundraising! Thank you to everyone who sponsored him, supporting us in reaching our fundraising goal!

And of course, good on you Dad - well done!! 

Party in the Park

Today we had a small fundraising stall in the 'Party in the Park' in Seaton. The event was situated in the park next door to the skateboard park. Though there were odd showers of rain the sun still kept coming and the activities were busy catering for children of all ages throughout the afternoon, with many other stalls selling too!

The 'Party in the Park' was hosted by the Seaton Baptist Church and I would like to thank them for such a well organised event and allowing us to be involved. It was nice to see so many locals together and it was good to speak to people about what I would be doing overseas.

Overall we were able to raise £95 towards my fundraising total in the space of two hours.
Thank you to all those who donated and bought cakes and books, it is very much appreciated.

After our two fundraising events and after many generous donations our total is currently, £498! Thanks to everyone for their continuous support.

Gran and Grandad, Aunty Susie and Tom!



News!

The Article. Tuesday 13th May.

I would like to thank Mrs Slade once again for publicising my volunteer placement and organising this article for the local newspapers! I am really appreciative for this!

Our next fundraising event will be a car boot sale at Rousdon, Raymonds Hill which I am hoping will be on the Sunday 1st June (Weather Permitting)! Also I will be organising a sweetie jar estimate challenge for a small fee of 50p in which the winner will win the jar of sweets! I shall bring the jar around to tutors in the coming weeks and I will post more information closer to the time!

Thank you for reading!

Abbie :)

Did somebody say cake?!



So on Friday 16th May, we kicked off the fundraising with a cake sale! And here’s how it went...

With the weather on our side and thanks to the many people that supported us we were able to raise a fantastic total of £186!



I would like to thank everyone who helped with the stalls and selling of the cakes. I really appreciated everyone's help on the day, and everyone's positivity throughout! Without the many helping hands it wouldn’t have run as smoothly!

Also I would like to thank everyone who donated the cakes. My teachers, who were incredibly helpful, the science department, baking club and all of those from sixth form that made cakes to bring along. I cannot thank you enough! And of course my Granny Emmie and Granny Betty, and their friends who turned their homes into a bakery for the day in preparation for Friday!

And lastly I would like to thank everyone who came and supported us and bought cakes and made some donations. It really is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your support!

Best Wishes, Abbie

J

(Left to Right) Sophie, Jess, Rosie, Daisy, Me, Leah, Erica, Nathan, Jack and Chloe!



(Left) One of the Ten 'Abbie in India' Posters that was used to advertise the cake sale throughout the week! (Right) Piccys of the cakes and us at lunch break!
 



Onwards and Upwards!

This past week I have been busy wrestling with coursework deadlines and revision timetables, however I still couldn't help myself from designing my leaflet and creating my fundraising page, whilst reading returned volunteers rewarding experiences from their time away!

The support and excitement created from the news of my opportunity to volunteer overseas with Project Trust in India from both family, friends and school has already been incredible with everyone chipping in with fundraising ideas and even the first few donations!

In the next couple of weeks I hope to kick start my fundraising with the, (oh so, original.. but undoubtedly yummy!) cake sale within school, which I hope may lighten a few sprits coming up to the exam period! I also aim to start event planning, filling up my calendar with fundraisers to come!

If you would like to support me on my journey by making a donation, all support is very much appreciated, however small. Please visit my fundraising page at;

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AbbieDowse

Thank you for visiting my blog!
The views expressed on this blog are solely of my own and do not reflect the views of Project Trust.

I was also, thanks to Mrs Slade, featured in this months school newsletter!


May 2014 School Newsletter! Thank you Mrs Slade for your time and support!
http://axevalley.devon.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/05/May-2014-Issue-14.pdf

Selection Week

On the 13th of April I flew up to Glasgow, took the next train to Oban where I stayed overnight, and luckily met up with some of the other PT volunteers also heading to selection! The next morning we got on the ferry heading for the Isle Of Coll!

 

The Ferry!

 

Throughout the week we stayed with host families, all residents of the Isle of Coll, in which I stayed with a lovely couple and their most lively dog, Robbie! Along with interviews, we also taught a lesson, a presentation, dug some potato beds, climbed the highest hill on Coll and learnt (or tried!) to dance the Ceilidh!

 

I can honestly say it was one of the best week's I've had, with some really fantastic people! And to my delight I have recently received a letter saying that I have been selected as a volunteer with Project Trust to go to India!

 

Top from left: Charlotte, Lauren, Miriam, Kai, Jade, Liam, Emilija, Alex, Mia, Chris, Sam, Sorcha
Bottom from left: Izzy, Jade, Eleanor, Alice, Me!

Our final night together after the Ceilidh!

...Before boarding the ferry for the mainland!