Hi, I am Teddy Bainbridge and I am raising money toward the opportunity to travel to Kenya for 10 days this October with the Port Vale Foundation, in collaboration with the African Adventures Foundation. On this trip I will be visiting a partnered school in Kenya where I intend to be volunteering to help educate the schoolchildren of Kenya, while being introduced to some of their ways of life.

I have been volunteering at Port Vale F.C. since summer last year after I took part in the NCS Programme during the school holidays. During the programme, I went camping for 5 days with mostly new people as a way of developing social skills, and we raised £550 for the NHS Royal Stoke University Hospital Children’s Ward. After completing the NCS programme, I was informed of an opportunity to travel to Kenya and volunteer in a school where I could help teach children who aren't as fortunate as those in the UK, who are able to enjoy free schooling up to the age of 18. Not wishing to pass on the opportunity to offer my help to the community in Kenya, and to witness the spectacle and culture of Kenya, I signed up. I have been fundraising since November to raise the £2,145 cost of attending the trip.

I will also have chance to see the sights of Kenya on a safari. During this, I will have the opportunity to visit an Elephant Orphanage on the outskirts of Nairobi, where a keeper will tell me about the conservation work that is done there. I will also get to hear individual stories about some of the elephants that have passed through the orphanage and even get to see the baby elephants being fed.

Hi, I am David Bainbridge. Given the cost of this amazing opportunity for Ted I was, as you can imagine, very keen to help him with his fundraising activities! Towards the end of last year during a stock take, I noted a collection of buckets of enamel stock with old manufacturing references. This stock has been on our system since well before my time here (2005) and there is no reference to it’s origin. As we know, enamel will remain perfectly usable for many years if kept clean and in good condition. I therefore decided to offer Ted the opportunity to use this material to try to raise some funds for his trip. He has re-packaged all of the stock and, very kindly, Ann Jones has agreed to test fired all of the colours. Ted will have the resulting material with fired colour tabs available for sale at Conference where he will have his own table. Hopefully those attending Conference will pop by Ted’s table and learn a little more about this charity’s activities, and maybe take the opportunity to purchase some unique material in the aid of a good cause. We would like to thank the Guild for providing this opportunity and look forward to seeing you all in Stirling.