We are very pleased to announce that our current fund raising total for Reach Out for Nepal 2017 has now reached £10,429 which is just a fraction short of our target of £10,500. When combined with the totals raised in 2015 & 2016 this brings the total raised for the fitting out of the Melamchi School to circa £24,500 almost exactly the amount budgeted for the costs of the fitting out of not only the main School Buildings & the Science Lab. but also for the Students hostel accommodation, it is far more than we ever envisaged in our early days after our first ROFN Day in 2015.

I have thanked many of the people who got directly involved this year so here I need to thank all those who donated & or took part in anyway on the day itself or indeed afterwards.

The culmination of this years fund raising will be the forthcoming presentation by Doug Scott OBE of his epic fight for survival ‘A Crawl Down the Ogre’ which he will be giving on 11th November at the Cafe. I am sure that it will be even more enthralling than his presentation last year which felt like an unbelievably relaxed & enjoyable evening at the Cafe so it promises to be a great round off for ROFN 2017 where we will be handed Doug a cheque for his charity Community Action Nepal to utilise on the fitting out works.

Doug will also be selling Nepalese artefacts, books & auctioning some of his signed photographic prints, all funds raised on the night as well as all funds from ticket sales will go to Doug’s charity CAN.

Looking forward we have to decide what lies ahead for ROFN for 2018 & on-wards. First priorities are to understand how the fit out works actually develop in practice. As I write this the school construction is well underway but we will be looking for an update on timescales from CAN & their contractors with a view to scheduling a visit by one or more of us at ROFN to view the completed works (these visits will be funded by the individuals themselves leaving all raised funds for the fit out works). If things progress well this could be in Spring 2018 but by Autumn 2018 at the latest.

We also need to look into on-going support in the years ahead. It is likely that some activities will be scaled back, in my case simply the physicality of the last 3 years running challenges finally caught up with me this year. Put quite simply if I can’t get any fitter then this years stunt should not be repeated – my body has told me quite sternly! But we are proud of what we have become a part of & the collective community & friendship which has grown around ROFN so if you have any ideas for 2018 please contact us, we would be delighted to hear from you.

For full details on Doug’s presentation please go to our Events page, the cheapest way of reserving & paying for tickets is by doing so at our counter, or you could phone us on 01690 720429, failing these for a small additional fee you can purchase through the Eventbrite website. Finally & please excuse the cliche but they are selling like hot cakes, we only have 30 or so left, so you do need to be quick off the mark to guarantee a seat.

Thank you from us all.

Paul