BRUNEL "2"

Since Autumn 2003 we've been busy with what is probably our most ambitious fund-raising effort yet - buying a school (or 'BRUNEL 2' as it's come to be known).

There are still around 115 million children throughout the world who have no access to even the most basic schooling. In addition, many of these children are also forced to work from as young as four years old, often in quite shocking conditions - so solving the problem is not just a case of providing schooling, but of breaking the cycle of poverty that is the root cause of child labour in the first place.

Although the cost of providing schools in economically developing countries can be surprisingly low, this is still a tremendous challenge for us to take on - not to mention the issue of sustaining the school once it is built. However, the way in which our children have responded has been fantastic. In less than a year we've raised well over £1000 through a range of events including cake, toy and sandwich sales, table-top games, quizzes, raffles, an ongoing small change collection, and even a very public sponsored head-shave! What's more, with the exception of the head-shave, virtually all of the events have been planned and organised by the children themselves -proving once and for all how much they are capable of, given encouragement.