" Christmas Wishes from Celtic Park to Africa "
Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 10:27 am
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Myself with Father Willie Brandon handing over a cheque for £3,500.
On Tuesday December 22nd I travelled through to Dunblane the headquarters of the Society of African Missions (SMA) to hand over a cheque for £3,500, this is the latest donation to the Walfrid Well's Fund. The fund was started about two years ago to provide the finances to open wells for clean water in villages in Africa; mainly in Northern Nigeria; to date it has raised over £30,000; a magnificent achievement, added to all the other worthy causes which have been supported by the Celtic fans in that time; it is really remarkable.
This all started when the Association was looking for some way to follow in the charitable footsteps of Brother Walfrid, we looked at various options but decided that providing clean water for the children in Africa was the most appropriate, I knew the two priests involved Fr Pat Mc Guire and Fr Willie Brandon and through discussions with them the fund was set up. It costs approximately £250 to open a well; in the present consumer world we live in that doesn't go very far, but for them it means an awful lot. In most of the villages the women are sent to draw water from a source which is usually about five or six hours walk away, they draw the water at night so that it is cool which means setting out at 6PM and returning at 6am just in time to get the kids ready for school and the men to go into the fields for the day.
There has been a magnificent response to the fund from the Celtic fans and their families, people have been dedicating them to loved ones who have passed away, as birthday presents to older members of their families, and clubs have been dedicating them to their own members, one of the recent donation was for over £800 from the Kinning Park CSC, we also had a donation of £750 from Port Glasgow No 1 branch; they dedicated three wells to their three oldest members, the Association donated another £1000, and there is a substantial donation on the way from the Scarborough branch in Ontario, Canada there has also been individual donations from the Devlin family in Port Glasgow and from Rosie O'Brian in Govan, all these donations are gratefully received and most welcome.
If anyone would like to donate to the wells or needs any more information please feel free to contact me. Let me take this opportunity to wish all Celtic supporters and their families a very Happy Christmas and a "Champion New Year"
Myself with Father Willie Brandon handing over a cheque for £3,500.
On Tuesday December 22nd I travelled through to Dunblane the headquarters of the Society of African Missions (SMA) to hand over a cheque for £3,500, this is the latest donation to the Walfrid Well's Fund. The fund was started about two years ago to provide the finances to open wells for clean water in villages in Africa; mainly in Northern Nigeria; to date it has raised over £30,000; a magnificent achievement, added to all the other worthy causes which have been supported by the Celtic fans in that time; it is really remarkable.
This all started when the Association was looking for some way to follow in the charitable footsteps of Brother Walfrid, we looked at various options but decided that providing clean water for the children in Africa was the most appropriate, I knew the two priests involved Fr Pat Mc Guire and Fr Willie Brandon and through discussions with them the fund was set up. It costs approximately £250 to open a well; in the present consumer world we live in that doesn't go very far, but for them it means an awful lot. In most of the villages the women are sent to draw water from a source which is usually about five or six hours walk away, they draw the water at night so that it is cool which means setting out at 6PM and returning at 6am just in time to get the kids ready for school and the men to go into the fields for the day.
There has been a magnificent response to the fund from the Celtic fans and their families, people have been dedicating them to loved ones who have passed away, as birthday presents to older members of their families, and clubs have been dedicating them to their own members, one of the recent donation was for over £800 from the Kinning Park CSC, we also had a donation of £750 from Port Glasgow No 1 branch; they dedicated three wells to their three oldest members, the Association donated another £1000, and there is a substantial donation on the way from the Scarborough branch in Ontario, Canada there has also been individual donations from the Devlin family in Port Glasgow and from Rosie O'Brian in Govan, all these donations are gratefully received and most welcome.
If anyone would like to donate to the wells or needs any more information please feel free to contact me. Let me take this opportunity to wish all Celtic supporters and their families a very Happy Christmas and a "Champion New Year"