HFH,

Hi... Glad you liked the photos... This year getting ready for school has been somewhat busy time so i have been really late with the newsletter... I think we've managed to kit out over 100 children this year.. The latest newsletter is here - not yet sent via email due to slight technical difficulties (New email program), but here's a paragraph or two and the full thing is avialable on our website here

http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Newsletter/2008-03.htm

HMS Illustrious
We were contacted earlier this year by Tim Denley, an Able Rate in the Royal Navy on board a British Navy aircraft carrier, HMS Illustrious. HMS Illustrious was making a trip to India and would be docking at Vasco in Goa for a few days shore leave. In the past Tim and the crew have done community projects in the Caribbean, Sultanate of Oman and Africa and he hoped that he could do a similar project here during their shore leave in Goa. Tim mentioned there might be 20 or 30 willing volunteers for the day.

The first job we thought of was the external wall of "The Mango House". Most of the property has been worked on in recent years but the wall, because of the amount of work involved never got off the ground.
The plan was to re-build the wall to make it an equal height throughout and cement it in place to make it solid and safe. Unfortunately, time was against us, and we didn't manage to get the required permissions in time.

Thankfully, there is always lots to do around the house (as any of our volunteers will tell you), so we decided an extension to the water tower, a bamboo tree house and clearing an area in the forest to set up a football pitch would be a good alternative.

As the agreed date got closer the number of sailors went up and up and in the end 50 HMS Illustrious crewmen and women arrived in two large coaches which caused a little traffic issue on the small road outside the house. The crew brought with them a huge amount of recyclable items for the children, most of which came from a little 'down time' the night before.

Lots of materials were required for the day; bamboo, sand, stones and cement. We ordered the big items, stones and sand well in advance, although as the day approached there was no sign of either. In the end we ordered two lots of each hoping that one supplier would deliver in time. Finally, stones were delivered by one merchant and sand by the other literally with an hour to spare.

The guys (and girls) were split into groups and started work, clearing, building and fixing. As well as man/lady power in the garden there was a dentist and medical staff who came to check the children's teeth and to patch up any sores or cuts.

The day was a huge success, the water tower grew by 5ft, a large football pitch was cleared at the back of the house and roof tiles were replaced and fixed. The main project and the children's favorite by far was the bamboo tree house which was named "HMS Mango".

During the day we were also host to the Granada TV crew who were shadowing the ship for a TV series called "Warship" which is being shown on Channel 5. The show will be split into 6 parts and shown on Monday evenings. The last episode on the 23rd June will include the visit to "The Mango House".

The volunteers were quite excited about the sailors coming so thought it would be great idea to teach the children a song to sing to the sailors. What song did they choose? - "What do you do with a drunken sailor", I wasn't too sure how it would go down but thankfully the crew thought it was great and asked the children to sing it again and again.

The day finished with the crew presenting a framed picture of "HMS Illustrious", the ships emblems and the children all received caps, key rings and magnets.

We would like to thank everyone who was involved in the day and made it such a great success.