Charles Thorp Comprehensive sponsored swim

The photo above is of 20 Charles Thorp Comprehensive pupils – including 3 GAW swimmers Rachel Forster, Jade Galloway and Kirsty Buchan – who completed a sponsored swim on Friday 15th November.

Their task was to swim the equivalent of the English Channel in the pool, which is 1280 lengths, or about 32,000m. However they actually managed 1922 lengths, which is the equivalent of 48,050m in an hour and a half – so they swam the equivalent of the width of the Channel and a half!!!

The event was organised by Kirsty Buchan with the help of her school friends and Gateshead and Whickham ASC were only happy to help.

They’ve only just collected all of the sponsor money in and the total they have raised a staggering … £1,483.39!  Well done to everyone involved.

Kirsty wrote:-

“We’re all very happy with the total and as the first major fundraisng event for the Ethiopia Team it was a tremendous success.

The money will go to the New Day Children’s centre in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, which is funded by Charles Thorp Comprehensive School.  Children are recommended to join the centre by the local school due to their circumstances and their commitment to education. The centre has grown from supporting just 12 students and employing 5 members of staff in 2006 to supporting 53 students now.

Many children in the town have lost their parents and are often living on the streets, neglecting their education to work from a young age so they remain in the poverty trap. The center offers them a place to go when they’re not in school, providing two meals a day and additional tutoring from the teachers at the centre. This mostly focuses on the english language, as from grade 9 (the equivalent of year 10) onwards all of their lessons are taught in english, so a good understanding of the language is vital to gain a proper education.

The centre also gives them a place to socialise, make friends and get clean, as well as taking care of their health. It provides a safe environment for children to learn and have fun, with the aim for each student to complete their studies up to grade 12 (year 13), when they will take their final exams and go on to university. The center has had a great impact on students, turning them into happy, healthy and confident young people.

When we visit Ethiopia in the summer, we’ll spend a week at the center, helping out by repairing the local school and sprucing up the center as well as making friends with the children and helping them with their english. It’s an excellent opportunity and I can’t wait to go! We will also be doing some fundraising to help pay for part of the trip.

Thank you so much for all of your help with the swim, it couldn’t have happened without the help of the club and the staff at Birtley Pool and everyone involved is tremendously grateful to the Committee for letting us use the pool. If you wouldn’t mind passing along my thanks to the rest of the Committee that would be great – it was a tremendous success and everyone involved really enjoyed it (despite some feeling pretty tired afterwards!).

Thanks again, Kirsty Buchan”