LOCAL GROUPS FOCC Clitheroe - Charity 1071169 Area: Clitheroe is in the Ribble Valley in Lancashire and is a market town. It is surrounded on three sides by picturesque villages, the fourth side being Pendle Hill Group Coordinator: Heather Whittaker - tel. 01200 429112 - email Our 2010 visit was blessed with lovely weather. This meant that any time we had a spare hour, which wasn’t often, we could walk the 5 minutes to the castle playing fields where our Belarusian boys fancied their chances at fighting 13 year old English kids. Fortunately, an international incident was averted. We took the children on a guided tour of Blackburn Rovers football ground where they played indoor football and all received a replica kit. We also visited Legoland at the Trafford Centre, Manchester, played 10 pin bowling, had lunch out at an Italian restaurant, visited a fire station where a helper fell of an engine a fractured a couple of ribs, visited a primary school, a wildlife park and a petting zoo. The highlight for the kids, though, was the trip to Blackpool, visiting the tower and its circus. Blackpool fascinates most children, especially those from a landlocked country. We had people come to us to train us in pot making and juggling. We also swam and danced each week and the final party went a storm with a well rehearsed Michael Jackson Thriller routine. Since the visit, our attention has turned to fundraising, an increasingly difficult activity. We have an annual raffle at a local supermarket, an Easter treasure hunt on foot around our castle, a soup and sandwich lunch on our main street and a kitchenware party. These raise about £2,000, far short of the £10,000 needed each year. During this year’s visit we are having the children bag packing at Sainsbury’s. The brownies collected £500 in 4 hours when they did it recently, so we are hoping to emulate this. With regard to this year’s visit, we are going to a children’s adventure centre for a day, Manchester Science and Industry Museum, Harewood House, Leeds and a local Community Centre and a Sheltered Housing development. We are also going to Stonyhurst College, a public school in an ancient, beautiful building for a barbecue lunch, cricket and rounders. That should be quite a culture shock and not just for the children! As usual, we will be attending a local church where the children will sing their little hearts out. I have not mentioned the full programme but it is quite a busy one. We are always looking out for supervisory help, so please contact me if you can offer us any services.
It’s the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl this year. On the news, we hear of the Japan disaster reaching Maximum alert level 7 at the time of writing. They then say that the Japanese pollution is only one tenth of Chernobyl. It makes you think!! People are still becoming ill and dying in Belarus. We must keep doing our bit!
David Wymer Chairman of Clitheroe Group
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Patron: Nick Park
Creator of
'Wallace & Grommit'
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