Ceesay Nursery School – The Documentary

A documentary is being made about the work we are doing to raise funds for a permanent school building for Ceesay Nursery School. After a week of filming at the school in Serrekunda, The Gambia, accompanied by our chair Diane Fisher, charitable production team Good causes, good karma have released the trailer for the film.

Also in support of the fundraising project, we are launching a crowdfunding page next week. Already we have raised a substantial amount towards the £20,000 we need to build the school, but there is still a long way to go. Donations can be made at our BT MyDonate page.

Help us raise awareness of the project by sharing this post with your friends and connections. You can also support charitable media production group Good causes, good karma by liking their Facebook page.

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Knitting Group Fundraiser for Ceesay School

A knitting group at Kings Cross Brunswick Neighbourhood Association held a fundraising event for Ceesay Nursery School right before Easter. They baked delicious cakes, encouraged all the community centre members to bring in items to donate to the tombola and made a beautiful display of all their hand-knitted items, to sell in aid of our project to build a permanent school building for the school.

The members were particularly keen on our ‘Buy a Brick’ campaign and several members purchased enough bricks (texting CNSG14 £3 to 70070) to have their names permanently painted on the ‘Gratitude Wall’ on the completed school building. Catrina Cannas, the very gifted knitting teacher, led this very successful fundraising event. This highly motivated group raised a total of £549.06 towards the new school.

Rock 4 Charity Gig Raises £1,000 for Ceesay School

Earlier this month (Friday 4th March) Rock 4 Charity’s Darren Sims, aka Daz, performed live at the Battersea Barge venue in south London, raising over £1,000 for our project to build Ceesay School in the Gambia a permanent building.

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Battersea Barge, London’s popular floating venue for music, comedy and cabaret entertainment, played host to Daz, drummer Paul Foss, and his crew, who drove up from Bristol to play to an enthusiastic crowd until midnight.

A particular highlight was an appearance by budding 10-year-old musician Cassidy Cockraine, one of Daz’s guitar students, who came along with her mum. It was a fantastic show – Daz and his band had everyone, including the bar staff, dancing to his exuberant set.

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We held a successful auction, a raffle and also a soft toy and Rock 4 Charity t-shirt sale, with all proceeds going directly to the Ceesay Nursery School building project. Prizes included a set of 4 tickets to Historic Royal Palaces, a bottle of single malt whiskey, an original photograph by famous photographer George McLeod and a selection of music from the Ninja Tune record label.

The gig was the first of a number of fundraising events we have planned in 2016, all with the goal of raising £20,000 to fund the building of a permanent school for Mr Bakary Ceesay and the poor and orphaned children under his tutelage in Serrekunda, the Gambia.

If you wish to donate towards the building project, or to support of the ongoing running of the school, please visit our How to Help page for more information.

Charity Concert Organised for School Building Project

This Friday (4 March) we are hosting a charity rock gig at the Battersea Barge in London to raise funds for our project to build a permanent school building for Ceesay Nursery School.


Rock musician Darren Sims, aka Daz, and his friends will be playing rock classics from the likes of Queen, the Beatles, the Killers, Kings of Leon, the Jam and more.  There will also be a raffle, auction and members of our volunteer team will be offering themselves up to be waxed in the good name of charity!

If you have anything that could be offered in the auction (beauty treatments, vouchers, signed memorabilia, tickets for events, etc) all donations are gratefully received. Please contact us to find out how to donate.

Otherwise, the gig itself starts at 7:30pm at the Battersea Barge venue, floating on the River Thames at 9 Elms Lane, SW8 5BP. Join us for a great evening of fun and fundraising.

Marathon Runner Contributes Money Raised To Ceesay School

Friend of the school Ben Morris ran the Isle of Wight Marathon last month, raising over £1,000 in the process, which he has kindly donated to our Ceesay Nursery School building project.

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“I’m not a super keen runner so it takes something special to motivate me to get out there,” Ben told us. “I’ve been a keen supporter of Ceesay School for a couple of years now, so when I set myself the target of completing a marathon before I turned 40 it seemed like the perfect opportunity to spread the word about the work that Diane and her team undertake, as well as raising some money in the short term.

“The thought of doing that made the 18 mile training runs in the rain worthwhile and certainly kept me motivated on the day. Running in excess of 20 miles without headphones means you need motivation, believe me!”

With Gift Aid, Ben raised £1,232.22, which is a significant contribution to our goal over the next year of raising £20,000 to build a permanent school building in Serrekunda for Mr Bakary Ceesay and the young Gambian children under his tutelage.

“Massive congratulations to Ben for running the Isle of Wight Marathon,” said our chairman Diane Fisher, “running and suffering and hurting and braving the weather.

“What an incredible thing to do for the kids at Ceesay Nursery School. A big, big thank you, which will be complete when I can show Ben photos of the opening ceremony (or even get him to come along) of the new nursery school that he will have helped build!”

Ceesay Nursery School AGM

 

The London-based team of fundraisers for Ceesay School held their 3rd Annual General Meeting last month, fuelled by some home-cooked Gambian food – a delicious national dish called domoda, made from chicken, carrots, pumpkin, chilli and peanut butter sauce.

The past year was reviewed, and the coming year planned for. These were the main points of discussion:

Past Year

  • 28 children have been sponsored this year, 6 more than last year.
  • The charity’s yearly income has increased by 50% on 2014.
  • Ceesay School supporter Charlton Manor Primary School in London sponsored 2 teachers and a maintenance professional to visit the school in February. A video was made of their trip to raise awareness.
  • A ongoing food programme was put in place in March to ensure the children got a healthy, fresh free lunch.
  • Teacher Adama has now completed 2 and a half years of her formal training, funded by Charlton Manor Primary School and the generosity of its pupils and parents. She will qualify in July 2016.

Year Ahead

  • The main plan for 2016 is to raise £20,000 to build a permanent school building for Ceesay Nursery School, with £2,000 already raised. Fund raising plans and ideas include:
    • Friend of the school Ben Morris will run a marathon in the Isle of Wight.
    • Charlton Manor Primary School will sell clothes at a future school event.
    • Using a crowdfunding platform.
    • Obtaining a grant.
    • A trip to the Gambia in the spring to film the teachers and children, tell their stories to raise awareness of the school and the charity.

More news on all of these to follow.

Running 10K for Ceesay Nursery School

Dawn Dobson, the treasurer for Ceesay Nursery School, is taking part in the Nike Women’s 10km race in London’s Victoria Park on Sunday 21st June.

Nike Women's 10k London

She is aiming to raise money to go towards the £20,000 needed for our project to build a modern, safe, well-equipped nursery school for the children at Ceesay Nursery School.

The new school will have:

  • 3 airy, well equipped classrooms, for Nursery 1, 2 and 3
  • Separate toilets for boys and girls and hand-washing facilities with running water
  • A library
  • A kitchen with electricity and a refrigerator to keep food fresh
  • A headteacher’s office
  • 2 safe, contained play areas
  • A food-growing garden

If you would like to support Dawn in her run and contribute to the school build project, please visit our donation page.