Renegade Conservatory Guy

When I finished work on Friday a few people wished me a good holiday…but it’s not a holiday, honestly!

I am having a couple of weeks off double glazing, but I’ll not be relaxing.

I’m flying to India tomorrow with three other trustees of Heal, a UK-registered charity dedicated to providing health and education for orphaned and destitute children in the Andhra Pradesh region of India.

I have been privileged to be the Head of fundraising for this small charity for a couple of years now, and it really is my part time hobby. I’m also lucky that I’m in a position to leave people in charge of our double glazing business, and take time out to do things I enjoy.

We’re going over to India with three main objectives:

1. Heal India trustees

We’re meeting some of the existing Heal India trustees and welcoming a few new additions to the team. We’re looking to strengthen the management team over there, to allow the charity to expand its good work.

2. New project

We’re now in a position to invest in a new project, so we’ll be assessing a number of different options in South India. Heal already supports over 700 children in Andhra Pradesh, mainly at our flagship project - the Heal Children’s Village. The challenge now is to develop and support a new residential school for orphaned children, or children from extremely poor backgrounds. There is a real problem with over 13 million Indian children being forced to work to support their families.

We believe that by giving children from such backgrounds a good education, then they can break the cycle of poverty.

3. Cycle India 2010

I helped organise the extremely successful Cycle India 2008, where 28 people from the UK, and 2 from the US flew to India and cycled 180 miles through the Indian countryside, finishing our ride at the Children’s Village. We raised over £100,000 for Heal - a massive amount for our small charity.

So, we’re planning now for a repeat performance - Cycle India 2010. Over the next two weeks we’ll be deciding where we’ll be cycling to and from, and making initial preparations. We’re hoping to take 30 people from the UK with us again, so if you fancy a really rewarding challenge, then get in contact with me.

Or you can visit the main Heal website, or our Cycle India blog.

I’ve invested in a Vodafone Modem thingy, so hopefully I’ll be able to pick up my emails and internet while I’m there. So, if you contact me, I may be able to respond. If not I’m back to work as usual July 15th.