The Forfar Academy Autism Base is a secondary provision within the Angus area which caters for pupils with severe and complex autism. Autism is a life long condition which affects a person ability to interact with the world around them. Providing lots of experiential and practical tasks, such as gardening, cooking and social activities, is valuable as it allows them to understand their environment in a more meaningful way and provides them with practical life skills for adulthood. Angus council will shortly be laying a rubber surface in the playground which will make it a safe useable space for these pupils and at the moment we are fundraising to buy equipment for this area. Currently the school has provided gardening equipment through this fundraising and we will be selling tablet at the Christmas café to raise more money. We have also just been given £250 from the Forfar Roof Truss Company to buy an outside table that can seat up to 10 people plus a space for at least one wheelchair. To provide more practical and sensory experiences for these children we are now looking at building a sensory garden and I am writing to ask if there is anyway you would be able to help us with this. The main pieces of equipment we require for this are planters and compost. Having this equipment would increase the pupils access to the outside area and provide practical and sensory experiences children on the autistic spectrum require. It would also increase the quality of life of these pupils and increase their opportunities for learning. If you can help even in a small way it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this letter.

Rotary Clubs can help us reach out to children like Lilly by fundraising in support of the Neuroblastoma Alliance!


Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer diagnosed in the first year of life and causes 15% of childhood cancer deaths. 2 children are diagnosed every week in the UK with this aggressive cancer. 60% of children are classified at diagnosis as high-risk, where despite intensive treatment, the majority are not cured. HOWEVER, THERE IS HOPE.
Children with advanced neuroblastoma can receive chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy, stem cell transplant, and immunotherapy. New treatments that utilise special antibodies are being trialled in Europe — including the UK — and the USA. The criteria for participation in these trials vary, which is why some children have to travel to abroad. The treatment is often needed urgently.

This is where the Neuroblastoma Alliance UK charity steps in and funds this PRIVATE life-saving treatment which can cost from £200-300K. Not many parents are successful in getting statutory funding for treatment abroad, but they think that giving their child a chance for life is more important than cost. We agree. As a charity we want to say YES, WE CAN HELP YOU to every child with neuroblastoma that comes forward asking us for help, both now and in the future. We hope you agree with our aims and will consider supporting children with neuroblastoma by making a donation or organising a function on our behalf,

Please contact us for further information
or for help to start your fundraising.

Julian Shields
Volunteer Administrator
Neuroblastoma Children's Cancer Alliance UK
3-4 Sentinel Square, London NW4 2EL

My name is Sara Walker. Back in April I was lucky enough to receive £100 sponsorship from Forfar Rotary Club towards my medical placement in Uganda, Africa between July-September this year.

I have safely returned, and been thrown straight back into my course - out in Dunfermline for my General Medicine attachment - so I do apologise for my delay in sending you this email.

I wanted to email again to thank you all at Forfar Rotary Club for your support; I had an incredible time.
While out there I really did do and see so much. I feel very lucky to have had such an experience.
Sometimes the placement was extremely difficult due to the conditions faced out there by some and consequently the detrimental effects their poverty has on their health; it was very shocking on quite a regular basis.
From an academic point of view I saw some incredibly interesting cases and I found the differences and often similarities in treatment of disease out there fascinating. However, I also feel I learned about a lot more than just medicine from the trip; it was eye-opening going to a developing country for a start and I was incredibly fortunate to meet some interesting and very like-minded souls while out there who helped to make the experience a more enjoyable as well as educational one.

As I said, the VSO that was based in Shulinab but also worked with the satellite villages, spent a lot of time with the groups helping them to achieve what they wanted with the money that was donated by the Rotary.
Starting with the group based in the satelite village of Meriwau:
They were the ones that were desperate to have their own building in which to hold the women's group because previously they had been based in the Health centre. That location was inappropriate as whilst the women were trying to get on with their sewing work, the children would be messing around with the stuff that belonged in the health centre. As you an see, progress is being made, although somewhat slowly! Remember that Meriwau is a very small village with perhaps only 80 residents, a lot of them children, and not all the women attend the group every week! Unfortunately due to the particularly bad rainy season the Rupununi suffered this year, the women have been spending a lot of time on their farms as the prolonged and heavy downpours caused their cassava to rot,
resulting in them having to pull it all up and process it before it is all wasted!

The ladies of the main village, Shulinab, had shown a lot more progress:
The garden I was telling you about that has just been constructed and where they plan to plant different vegetables that can be sold for a small profit for the group but also which can be taken home for the families of the women working in the garden.
A kitchen has just been built to allow the women to do larger scale catering in the village. The idea is that once the garden is up and running then the women will take over the catering when anybody passes through the village requiring a meal. At the moment this is done by Faye, one of the villagers, but she is happy to pass on that responsibility to the group, which will be a great way for them to make money.
The original money G$40000 donated to the village was not enough for them to purchase the material and pay the workers to build the kitchen and to buy the materials for the fencing for the garden, so the group, headed by a young lady called Tessa Joseph, organised various fundraising events such as:
Selling fresh juice and snacks such as bread, different kinds of cakes, and other sweet things predominantly based on flour, at the village market on a Sunday. They also often had main meals and wine to sell to the villagers.
They also organised a fun day where participants paid to enter certain races and if they won then they won a prize They had a cycle race, an old lady race, needle and thread race and various ones for all different ages!
They also sewed school uniforms for the children when they were due to go back to school!
From all this they managed to increase their money to G$120000 and used this to purchase the supplies they required.
They are now left with G$28,983 but have managed to secure a contract with VSO where they will rent their main building to the new volunteer who will be arriving in the next few weeks. The previous VSO house unfortunately burnt down in a recent accident! This will bring in a guaranteed monthly income for the group of G$35000. It is hoped that they will relocate to my old house in the village to carry out their work in the meantime!
As I also mentioned to you, a large number of the students passed their exams (equivalent to the old 11 plus system) to go to high school in the nearby town of Lethem. A number of families may not be able to afford to support their children and so the womens group hopes to be able to step in and help so as not to deprive any children from the opportunity.
A project, previosly funded by the European government I think, which provided the primary school children with a main meal every lunchtime, whilst also providing employment in the village and using locally sourced produce, has been passed over to the Guyanese government who can no longer afford to keep the project running. The Shulinab women's group hope that they will be able to support their children in some way by providing at least a small snack for them when they are at school to help the children to concentrate!

Both groups that I managed to visit, again sent their sincerist thanks for the donation that was received from Forfar Rotary club, without which the progress that has been made over the past couple of years would not have been possible.

Lots of love,

Fi xx

Dear Rotarians

On behalf of the Committee and the gymnasts of Phoenix (Forfar) Gymnastsics Club, I would like to say a huge THANK YOU for your recent donation. This was put towards the puchase of medals and trophies for our recent Club Championships. We had around 70 boys and girls competing on the day and all had a fantastic time.

Again, Thank You.

Fiona Reid
Secretary