News and Events Archive 2007

7 June 2007 - Ethical Gifts in Action - Pageant's Ethical Gift Scheme has now been in operation for about 18 months. Our new page shows some of the people who have received these gifts. It includes the story of a couple, who at their wedding, decided to give Pageant Ethical Gift Tokens to the bridesmaids, best man, parents, ushers etc as 'thank you' gifts. (page now deleted)

30 June 2007 - IceCold fundraising total - Pageant has just received the final cheque from Ice Cold in Bakalarr for £2677.41, bringing the total raised for Bakalarr BCS to £4,803.19.

29 June 2007 - Bandit back home - Bandit reached Falmouth yesterday. We hope to bring you news of their exploits soon. (see Bandit page)

20 June 2007 - Bandit returning - Bandit reached Ponta Delgada last week, and they are now on their way back to Falmouth. (see Bandit page)

12 June 2007 - Bandit reaches the Azores - Our latest report shows that Bandit was just 36 miles from Ponta Delgada in the Azores at 2pm UK time yesterday, at the end of the outward leg of the Azores and Back Ocean Race. We hope for news and possibly some pictures as soon as they get in touch.
(see Bandit page)

8 June 2007 - Abuko LBS Update - Pageant member Jeannette Mars visited the school to meet the children who write letters to her Worldclass children at Ridgemede Junior School and take them a special gift of ‘Mr Majeika’ books. (more details)

6 June 2007 - Bakalarr Inter School Sports update - Bakary Gitteh writes:
"The competition is over and I am happy to inform you that our school boys beat Essau at the final stage and our girls also did well by going up to final stage by winning all their games but have lost the final one. Generally both boys and girls did very well by coming up to the final stage in the tournament. It was a very tough competition. The competition is now over and the other schools went back to their various schools last Sunday night. We are now preparing for our end of year exams."

2 June 2007 - Azores and Back Ocean Race starts today - read more

31 May 2007 - Bakalarr Inter School Sports - Message from Bakalarr headmaster, Bakary Gitteh
"I am pleased to inform you that our school (Bakalarr Basic Cycle School) is again hosting the inter school sport competition which started last Sunday, 27 May and will end next Sunday. It is not our turn to host but because of our facilities that is why we are hosting it again.
This is because of the good job you have done in the school such as toilets, basket and volley ball lawn and the buildings etc. On this note I thank you very much and may God give you good health and long life and a success in your efforts in helping Gambian people. We are proud of you. NB: Seven schools including Bakalarr are there."

31 May 2007 - Open House for Pageant members, 15 July 2007  - see details

25 May 2007 - 200 Children Sponsored - Pageant now has 200 children and young people who are being sponsored to pay for their educational expenses. Read more about our sponsorship scheme and if you are interested in helping a student with the costs of their education, then see our sponsorship enquiry page.

9 May 2007 - Millennium Health Microscope - Pageant has donated £1000 to this project, and will get 10-20 microscopes for distribution in up-country areas of The Gambia. see MHM page

2 May 2007 - Millennium Health Microscope - A new low cost, compact microscope is being developed, which will revolutionise the diagnosis of infectious diseases, such as Malaria, in developing countries. The Millennium Health Microscope Foundation is currently fundraising for Stage 1 of the project. see further details

1 May 2007 - Gambian Mini Market at Ridgemede Junior School

27 April 2007 - Azores and Back Ocean Race - Mike Martin and Fraser Currie have entered this year's AZAB race with Bandit. They have named Pageant as their chosen charity, and are fundraising to provide desk units for Campama Lower Basic School in The Gambia. see further details about Bandit and AZAB

24 April 2007 - Jurunku visit in February 2007. Pippa, Jon Quinnell and others visited this school again, looking at the progress being made in the school gardens, and also at the next project requiring attention - the derelict kitchens. see further details

12 April 2007 - Shap Ahoy T4 Challenge - We now have the diary of their trip to Bamako and Timbuktu, and all the pictures.

4 April 2007 - Tina's art project brings hands-on art to Kings Kid Academy and KMJ Nursery School, creating a jungle and an ocean.

4 April 2007 - Campama Lower basic School - Pageant gets their toilets back in working order, and is raising funds for new desk units.

News Archive January - March 2007

23 March 2007 - Seminars for Gambian science teachers - Joe Brock, Head of Science at Collyer's Sixth Form College in Horsham, has produced a science handbook for teaching Upper Basic Science (roughly GCSE) and Senior Secondary Science (roughly AS level) in The Gambia. Joe's new book contains 73 experiments and he also designed kits containing items that are inexpensive and readily available, at least in UK, with which to conduct these experiments. 40 of these kits were assembled and taken to The Gambia by Joe, some of his students and some Pageant members. He gave a series of five seminars for science teachers, showing them how to use the book and kits for teaching their students.

14 March 2007 - Update on the Pageant Loan Scheme

12 March 2007 - Exhibition of Ousman's paintings opens

7 March 2007 - Pippa's Gambian Trip Diary - a condensed version covering her recent visit to the Gambia.

7 March 2007  -  Sarjo's new wheelchair - handicapped student Sarjo Badjie gets a new 'all terrain' wheelchair to cope with Gambia's country roads.

4 March 2007 - New Crab Island Page - Crab Island Upper Basic School is about 5km south of central Banjul, and provides education for children aged 13 to 16. Pageant members Brenda and Keith Farrington have helped to set up a computer lab, woodwork and metalwork rooms, a home economic centre and a technical drawing classroom at this school. Read all about it on the new Crab Island page.

3 March 2007 - Exhibition & Sale of Pictures  Pageant is holding an exhibition of paintings in Horsham Library from 10-24 March. The pictures are original paintings in watercolour and gouache on A4 sized art paper by an A-level student, Ousman F Sowe, of Essau Senior Secondary School in The Gambia. Ousman paints pictures based on scenes related to The Gambia and the proceeds of their sale are helping him to continue his education and develop his artistic talents. Ousman's home is close to the village of Kunta Kinteh (of the book 'Roots', by Alex Hailey) and many of his pictures depict aspects of the slave trade of bygone years.

Admittance to the exhibition is free and the paintings will be for sale from the exhibition. The library staff will put the customary red dot on any picture that is sold, but purchasers can arrange collection as soon as they wish, rather than wait until the exhibition ends. We have replacements to fill up any spaces. Very reasonable prices: unmounted picture £10, mounted original picture £12, framed original picture £20. A4 size prints £3.

21 February 2007 - Car Auctions in Banjul - Three of the five charity auctions of vehicles from the 2007 Plymouth-Banjul Challenge have now taken place. (see full auction results) All of 'our' teams vehicles have now been sold. IceCold's Suzuki Samurai Jeep raised 76,000 Dalasis (£1,363), Ibrakeforcake's Isuzu Trooper raised 39,000  Dalasis (£700), the Desert Mice Jetta raised 57,000 Dalasis (£1,022) and First to the Bar's Escort raised 66,000 Dalasis (£1,184). All proceeds from the auctions are split between the Association of Small-Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) and the Gambian National Olympic Committee (GNOC).

8 February 2007 - lots of new pictures on the Ibrakeforcake Plymouth-Banjul Challenge page.

6 February 2007 - Pageant North meeting - Ann Keating has arranged a Northern Meeting on Sunday 25th February at 2-00 pm at 8 Ashling Court, Tyldesley, Manchester, M29 8QS.

3 February 2007 - Science kits for Gambian schools - Joe Brock of Collyer's is going to The Gambia with Pageant, taking science kits for 40 Gambian schools, and running seminars for Gambian teachers.

26 January 2007 - Pictures of IceCold's visit to Bakalarr.

24 January 2007  - The Artemisia Project - We now have pictures of the first training session for villagers on how to cultivate Artemisia, which can be used to combat malaria.
We also have pictures of Ibrakeforcake's visit to Sinchu Baliya.

Plymouth-Banjul and T4 Challenge updates

23 January 2007 - IceCold - final updates from Banjul, now on their way to Gatwick

22 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy - Tim and Nick have made a donation of £250 to Pageant. We have also added a couple of pictures to the page - more pictures and the full story of their journey soon.

20 January - Shap Ahoy - Tim returns to UK.

19 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy - Tim and Co back in Bamako, and preparing to return home.

18 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy - Tim and Co are now in Segou, on their way back to Bamako.

17 January 2007 - IceCold have crossed into The Gambia, and are at the Barra ferry. Latest news is that they have reached the Safari Garden Hotel in Banjul, so they have completed the Challenge. They quickly called in at Bakalarr on their way, and are meeting the headmaster on 18 January. they will be returning to the UK on 23 January.
Shap Ahoy - Tim is in Mopti on his way to Djenne.

16 January 2007 - IceCold reached Zebrabar campsite yesterday, with the ambulance crammed with survivors from the cars which didn't make it through the desert. They have now left for the Gambian border and Banjul.
Meanwhile in Timbuktu, Tim has sold the Shap Ahoy car and is travelling back to Bamako with Ray and John in their Landrover.
Ibrakeforcake have now returned to the UK. They will soon be posting their story and photos on their blog.
P.S. if you wondered if Dave and Linda of Iron Mighty got hitched, just see their website.

15 January 2007 - Desert Mice and First to the Bar! have now returned to the Netherlands and Wales. They have raised over £1800 for renovations at Kings Kid Academy. See full report and pictures.
IceCold are probably now at Zebrabar campsite.

14 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy progress Tim has reached Timbuktu (Tombouctou).
IceCold break their radio silence.

13 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy progress Tim and Co have now got as far as Tonka on the way to Timbuktu (Tombouctou).

12 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy progress. Nick has now flown home, so Tim travelled in convoy to Niono, and will try to make contact with the other group.

12 January 2007 - Plymouth-Banjul teams visit schools
Kemo phoned Pippa yesterday to tell us that PBC teams had been visiting some of Pageant's schools:

• Desert Mice and First to the Bar! had visited Kings Kid Academy. The staff and children had welcomed them with a one-hour presentation and everyone was very happy! Jacob Amadi (Headmaster of KKA) wanted to thank us personally for suggesting that his school should be one to receive support from rally teams. He said he was truly grateful for the assistance they are receiving and that the children were very excited about seeing the rally teams (and vehicles, I expect!).
• Ibrakeforcake had visited Sinchu Baliya LBS earlier in the week (probably Tuesday) and had also been welcomed with a full presentation by the children, which Kemo said went very well. Both these presentations will have involved singing and dancing and probably a short drama enacted by the children. We will bring you pictures as soon as we have them.
• Kemo had also met up with Iron Mighty and helped them to distribute all the sportswear and kit that they were carrying. This included a special Pageant consignment of two large filled kitbags for the Gambian national cricket team (cricket is now starting up in a big way in The Gambia) - Ram International have most generously provided bats, pads, gloves, balls and stumps as well as a complete team set of shirts, trousers, caps etc, all embroidered with the Gambian team badge. We will make sure we see the team in action while we are there in February - many of the cricket matches are played at the Independence Stadium in Banjul, which is a short walk from our hotel. Iron Mighty also featured on page 23 of the Guardian on 11 January. (link)

11 January 2007 - IceCold have crossed into Mauritania, and started their trek across the desert.
Shap Ahoy have reached Bamako

11 January 2007 - Horsham Inner Wheel Fund Raising for Pageant
Pippa and Ian gave a talk to the Horsham Inner Wheel (Inner Wheel members are generally females who are or were related to a Rotarian or former Rotarian) in November 2006. They were invited to do so by Sue Cato, current President of the club, who has adopted Pageant as her chosen charity for the year. Since then, funds have been raised for Pageant as follows:

• £260 was raised at a private party where no presents were wanted but instead items were auctioned and the amount raised was given to the charity of the successful bidder's choice.

• A staggering £600+ was raised from a Christmas lunch open to Inner Wheel and Rotarian members, hosted by Sue Cato.

Sue says that 'every member who attended your inspiring talk was greatly impressed...' - we also are impressed by their efforts and would like to take this opportunity of saying a public 'Thank-you' to Sue and all the Inner Wheel members who have been so generous in their support of Pageant.

Plymouth-Banjul and T4 Challenge updates

10 January 2007 - The IceCold teams are on their way towards the Mauritanian border. No mention of the ambulance brakes, so I guess they are fixed.
A later field report says they have reached Mauritania with no trouble.
Ibrakeforcake have posted a late update about the last stage of their journey to Banjul.

9 January 2007 - The IceCold ambulance has suffered more mechanical trouble in Dakhla, with the brakes failing. They hope to source the required spares locally, and then continue. However, it seems that the other teams at Dakhla have snuck off across the border without them.
Shap Ahoy and three other two wheel drive cars are now heading for Bamako, and the other five T4 cars (4wd) are taking a more westerly route.
Desert Mice and First to the bar! have finally arrived in Banjul, after a long wait at the Barra ferry.

8 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy have crossed into Mali.
The IceCold teams arrived at Tan Tan last night without further problems. Latest news is that they have arrived at the campsite at Dakhla. They are almost back on schedule despite everything!

8 January 2007 - Brian Howard, the new Mayor of Haslemere, Surrey has named Pageant as one of his two charities for the coming year. A Burns Dinner is being held at Wispers School in Haslemere on 20 January as part of the Mayor's fund raising in aid of his charities. The cost of the dinner is £40 per head, which includes ALL drink - no canny Scot can afford to miss this one!!

7 January 2007 - Pippa has just spoken to Dave Wells from Iron Mighty! He is at present in the Safari Garden Hotel (rally HQ) drinking Gambian Julbruw (beer)!! They arrived yesterday after a nightmarish time at Barra, where there was a 3-day queue waiting to cross to Banjul - no ferries had been running during the festival!! He has seen Ibrakeforcake on the Banjul side, and has heard rumours that Desert Mice and First to the bar are still in Barra waiting to cross. The line was very bad, so she did not get any more details from him - he is now mostly concerned with getting all his sports kit distributed and then getting married!! Date fixed for wedding on 10 January, as far as I can remember - we helped him get the papers sorted before he started off on the rally.

Further news from Kemo: He is meeting up with Dave Wells from Iron Mighty tomorrow to distribute the sports kit, and has also arranged with Ibrakeforcake to visit Sinchu Baliya LBS to take their materials, plus some more materials for GTTI (the auto engineering department). He has not yet heard from Desert Mice et al... but confirms that the ferries are having to deal with huge amounts of vehicles. He says that he, Wandifa and Alimatou will all be VERY busy for several days!! The container that was being driven down with a lot of Pageant stuff in has also just arrived, adding to their workload!! He says he is sure they will be able to manage.....

Shap Ahoy have now sorted out their money problems, and are setting off for Nema.
IceCold's ambulance is now in good health again, and the latest news is that both teams are getting close to Laayoune where they will spend the night.

6 January 2007 - The IceCold ambulance has suffered more problems. At first they thought it was gearbox trouble, but the latest diagnosis is a dead fuel pump. Hopefully, when this is replaced they will be on their way. Latest news is that the ambulance is fixed, but they are not sure what the problem was!
We have had no news from any of the Group 1 teams for a while now. We assume that they headed into the desert on about 28 December, where mobile phones don't work, and landlines are rare. They should reach more civilised parts in about 7 days - so anytime now there should be some news.

5 January 2007 - both IceCold teams have reached Marrakech, where they will be having a rest day.
Shap Ahoy are at Nuoakchott.

4 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy have arrived at Dakhla in the south of Morroco.
IceCold spent the night in Rabat, and progressed as far as Khenifra, where the ambulance's universal joint failed. They have made repairs and are now on their way to Marrakech.

3 January 2007 - More details on IceCold's ambulance customs saga.
Shap Ahoy spend the night at Laayoune.

2 January 2007 - Shap Ahoy left Marrakech on 31 December, spent New Year's Day on the beach at Sidi Ifni, and are now on the long drive through the desert towards Laayoune.
IceCold's ambulance has now been released by customs after 27 hours.

1 January 2007 - IceCold arrive at Tangiers
We haven't heard from the other teams for a bit, but they are probably in the middle of the desert, and will get in touch again when they reach civilised parts.