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OU Uppingham Society
Uppingham Society The Uppingham Society is run by Basil Frost (M 45) and is a branch of the Uppingham Association. It is responsible for financial grants issued to OUs involved with charity work or raising money for good causes via sponsored activities. Below is a selection of causes which have been supported. Freddie Branson (WD 01) has recently returned from a second visit to Peru, where he worked with a small privately run charity Amantani UK dedicated to protecting children’s rights. In March 2007, he visited Cusco in order to work as a volunteer in the charity’s orphanage. On the last day of his stay there, he went to visit the poorest and most forgotten district of the Cusco region; Ccorca. Shocked by the poverty and neglect in the district he first started to help with nutrition, educational materials and teachers, giving special attention to the children of 3-5 years, supporting the ineffective play-schools that were in existence as well as increasing the salary and therefore hours of the teachers, guaranteeing their attendance at the same time. On top of this they have held several courses for the training of the district’s playschool teachers, as well as running three holiday courses during the two-month
summer holiday (a particularly hard time for these children) – this was a great success with more than 150 children attending. It has now been a year since they entered the district, progress is slow but little by little they are starting to see a difference in the Kindergartens and Primary Schools of the district.
During 2008 Freddie has broadened his support to the secondary school of the district, where he was horrified to find out that the pupils have to walk up to more than three hours to arrive at school and then the same trek to get back home. This, amongst other factors is largely to blame for the worryingly low number of young people in the district that actually finish their education (85% of the college students quit their studies before graduating). And so in trying to erase this as a factor, he has established a small modest boarding school for 21 of the secondary school’s girls, with hopes to grow in the future in order to be able to accommodate all the schools pupils.
Freddie Branson (WD 01)
Following in the footsteps of other OUs The Karen Hilltribes Trust For many years Uppingham has created a proud tradition of sending young OUs to Thailand in their Gap years to assist the Karen people through this remarkable charity. In October 2008 Sophie Lusty (Fd 03), Nikki Hughes (Fd 03) and Emily Duncumb (Sa 03) left for Thailand to continue this excellent work. They will spend six months living with the Karen people in a village teaching English in local schools and assisting with clean water projects. The Karen Hilltribes Trust is a UK registered charity with a Thai Foundation in Bangkok. The long term vision is to see the Karen people empowered to help themselves in a sustainable way. At the heart of this lies the need improve health. Reducing disease such as malaria and typhoid will benefit the local economy with more time available to earn money. With a sustainable source of income,
the Karen will be able to invest in their social infrastructure such as education. We hope that in the future every Karen child will have the opportunity of a full education.
The Adam Cole Foundation Following the sad death of Adam Cole (F 89) The Adam Cole Foundation was set up by his family and friends one of which was Benjamin Elson (WB 89) to help make a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged children through sport. They wanted others to benefit directly from Adam's life, to share in one of his passions. The Adam Cole Foundation is for all those children who have not had the opportunity to experience what sport can offer: the way it can help build confidence, provide a sense of achievement but, most importantly, the fun and enjoyment to be had from just playing
it. £150k has been raised so far, with £50k of the money raised being given to Cambodia where Adam was sponsoring a little girl through Action Aid before his death. The first project undertaken was in Asia and they are working on further projects to raise much needed money. For more information on this charity please visit http://www.adamcolefoundation.org
Any OUs who wish to apply for a grant should send a brief letter in their own handwriting, to the Secretary of the Uppingham Society, c/o The OU Office, Uppingham School, Uppingham LE15 9QE. The letter should state details such as where, when and the duration of the work and for which charity the work is raising money for.
