We are delighted that, despite pandemic restrictions, and thanks to your support, we remain financially stable.

With the easing of restrictions, some of our regular fundraising events are returning, with the first of 2022 being a clothes swapping event in Cambridge in February – organised by trustee Amanda Morris-Drake – which raised several hundred pounds. If you’d like advice on holding a fundraising event for Batemans do get in touch.

Looking further ahead, the Batemans catering stall is booked for its traditional outing at the Truck Festival in Oxfordshire in July. The picture above shows two of our supporters doing their thing at the event back in 2014!

Madeline Peters organised various amazing fundraisers in 2021, from baking cakes, selling flowers and bunting, to running a half-marathon. Her fantastic, and continuing efforts, have raised more than £1,000 towards Batemans’ Grand 100 total.

Meanwhile, to mark her 80^th birthday, long-term supporter Helen Fletcher has also raised more than £1,000 for Batemans. Unfortunately, like so many, she had to self- isolate for a while. But the great news is that, during her isolation, Helen used her creative skills to design and print greeting cards to sell for Batemans, adding to her fundraising total.

 

 

Thanks to the hard work of our team in Chennai, Christmas, New Year and the celebration of Pongal was as busy a time for our youngsters as ever.

The children were treated to a special dinner out by local sponsors on Christmas Day. They then celebrated Pongal having fun and games at our lovely Sendrambakkam land site, which will be home to our new school.

While building work on our school site at Sendrambakkam has not started due to the pandemic, it provides a lovely spacious, open and private ground out of the city for the children to enjoy and they travelled there for the day to celebrate Pongal.

As well as the children being given sets of new clothes and undergarments by local supporters, one of our long-term trustees and supporter, Natasha Conlon – with the help of her friend Mrs Sunith – organised a ceramic Christmas ornaments painting and decorating workshop especially for our children.

A table-tennis set has been donated so the children can now enjoy some ping-pong too.

The picture shows a tug of war taking place in the grounds of our Sendrambakkam site, during a day of games and festivities to mark Pongal.

 

 

See all the latest news from Batemans in our annual newsletter, published in November 2021.

 

A team of Batemans trustees has been working hard on setting out the future plans for our new school in Chennai, India.

The vision for the Satkaarya school reflects the transformational aims of India’s 2020 National Education Policy, providing inclusive, equitable and quality education in accordance with the UN’s 2030 development goals.

The principles at the heart of the vision include:

• In a safe environment, we aim for children to develop high levels of communication, whether this is through the development of literacy, numeracy, IT or artistic expression; and
• We aim to develop the unique character and potential of each child where they can feel emotionally secure through an advocacy of compassion and care, throughout their learning environment.

The charity’s curriculum committee includes two former head teachers and others with extensive experience in education. Trustee Marion Mills presented an overview of the plans at the annual Batemans Spice Lunch in September.

See the slides here, and if you would like further information please contact Marion.