Christopher Lowther shaking hands with the acting Head,
Mrs. Lynne Cupido on behalf of West Surrey Catenians President, Pat Quigley, in recognition of the donation
Mary Help of Christians Primary School,
Paarl, South Africa.
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January - March 2019
President's Charity
and
Bloodhound Supersonic Car Workshop
Christopher and Ann Lowther visit Mary Help of Christians Primary School every year in Paarl, during their trip to South Africa; they give a Bloodhound supersonic car presentation to inspire the learners in science and engineering and run Bloodhound balloon car workshops.
Christopher is a chartered engineer and a UK Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Ambassador. He visits schools in the UK and in S Africa to promote STEM careers since there is a world shortage of people with these skills; they are desperately needed to solve the world's many practical problems.
Over the years Christopher has briefed members of the West Surrey Catenian Circle about his trips to the school in S. Africa. This year, the Circle President, Pat Quigley, has kindly agreed to nominate the school as one of the charities he will be supporting and in March 2019 a donation of £500 was made. It is interesting to note that the school was founded in 1963 by the Salesian Sisters at the request of the Archdiocese of Cape Town. Unfortunately there are too few Salesian sisters left to teach at the school but a sister is on the Board of Governors.
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Mrs. Cupido, the acting Head of the School, has sent a very warm message of thanks to the President and to the members of the Circle who donate to the President's charity on a regular basis.
Mrs. Cupido's message is below:-
Good evening Brother Patrick
I sincerely thank you for your gracious donation.
The staff compiled a list of our most dire needs at this stage. We've decided the money will be allocated to purchase 2 CD players for the school. We currently have 1 CD player and it is shared by 18 educators.
Most of our learners live in an informal settlement, their parents work long hours and in most cases, they are in the care of the grandparents who are not able to assist them with schoolwork. For these reasons, we are going to use the rest of the money to purchase learning support material to assist learners with learning barriers.
Please thank the brothers of West Surrey Circle for this donation.
We are truly touched by your generosity.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Kind Regards
Lynne Cupido
