News and Events

“Shop Til You Drop”

Jane Bennett, a parent of a child at Millfield Prep School, and her outstanding team of volunteers organised a wonderful charity Christmas Fair in Charlton House Hotel in Shepton Mallett. Stalls with unusual, pretty, tasty and appealing gifts were on display for two days for parents and locals to “shop til they dropped”! Jane has been inspired by Tim and Lesley Kelly, very dear friends of Libra who have been taking humanitarian aid to Romania for many years. Thank you to all of you in Somerset!

October trip

This year’s October planning trip has gone very well indeed. We were thrilled to welcome Stephen Carville and Graham Childs from Peter Symonds and Ann Johnson and Tricia Harriss from Brockenhurst, who joined us in Sacele, Onesti and Comanesti. They were very impressed with Libra’s work and the work of our partner organisations in Romania and are delighted that their students have the opportunity to take part in such an organisation.

Tragedy and travesty

In amongst the successes, the last few years have also brought some very sad stories. The plights of young disabled and disowned children needing medicine and medical attention are still desperate. There have been a number of occasions where children known to Libra and Libra’s volunteer students, have died or suffered unnecessarily because of a lack of proper medication, medical attention and care. These oversights are dire, and should not be common, if apparent at all, in a country which has EU status.

New homes at the Alexandra Centre in Onesti

The Grand Opening of Casa Bogdan, Casa Gabriela and the therapy unit in the Alexandra Centre in Onesti was in October 2011. The SERA Foundation has donated the two new homes to accommodate 12 children in each. They have done a fantastic job and everyone is very excited about the new facilities. The children dressed in their national costume and performed dances in their groups for the opening. VIPs and dignitaries gave speeches, the priest blessed the buildings and Corina is happy to have 24 youngsters living in these lovely new homes.

The Trout “rocks again” to “Rockmania 2”

After the celebrations of THE wedding, one wondered whether there would be any energy left for the third annual night in the Trout with “The Band”. How silly a thought was that with a packed house, “The Band” and “Friends” on great form, grub and hospitality from Max, Norma and the team and superb organisation and support from Sally Parker.

Best of all was the money we raised for two worthy causes: the regular “house charity” of “The Band”: Winchester Night Shelter and the Libra Foundation. In all a massive £1,240 was raised and thank you so much to all who came and made it such a success.

The sale of tickets was so successful that on Saturday afternoon we were greeted with a request to lay up for at least 90 people! That then turned into well over 100 so sorry if it was a squeeze!! Guests arrived, and seemed to keep on arriving, and we were treated to some lovely gentle songs from “The Band’s” hit list. A delicious dinner of chicken satay and meatballs followed by goulash and salad was rounded off with a taste of red, white and blue profiteroles (profiteroles filled with red strawberries, blueberries and white cream!) and following a short talk about the work of the Libra Foundation, the Band got going again.

All the players performed some great hits, Hattie Stacey, Cat Kennedy and Peter Waldron gave some great vocals supported by the rest of the band: David Parker and Chris Ellis on guitar (both of whom had a rare GOM (ask Maddie!) tonsil outing, Don Riddell on Base, Chris Kennedy on Drums, the “Rocking Rector” on keys, and not to forget the unsung hero on the mix: Tom Ashby.

The tables were moved into the garden giving space for the participants to swing, sway and generally do a variety of multi generational “moves” to the beat and the guest singers (Louise Waldron, Anne Jeffes, Rachel Ashby, Lara Dunn, Izzie Payne, Sally Johnson, Fiona Micklefield, Maddie Woosnam and Andy Payne) provided an added dimension to the evening that had to be seen to be believed, causing much hilarity in their wonderful attire various.

So all in all a great night and thanks to all who took part.

April visits to Romania

Virginia Darley has returned from the annual planning visit to Romania which has produced a few alterations to our planned programme. It became clear that will be insufficient staff resources from the schools in Comanesti as a result of the very tough times that they facing. However the Mayor of nearby Moinesti, having seen the success of Libra’s integration project in Comanesti, has invited us to transfer our project to Moinesti, and plans have been completed to achieve this.

Tim Tofts and two of our long-standing team leaders also travelled to Romania in April to deliver presentations to our partner schools. Their aim was to recruit teenage volunteers to assist with the projects in the summer. Translators, assistance with the children’s activities and host families for our students were on the agenda and they met many old and many new faces in support of Libra’s summer work.

A week later Diana Heatly and Olivia Darley (Trustees), Laimon Ng (Speech and Language Therapist) and Andy Blake (wheelchair technician) travelled to Romania to give therapeutic advice and to share best practice for these very needy children with their carers and families.

We are also pleased to announce that Zoe O’Grady has joined to work in the Alexandra Centre in Onesti as a Gap Student for a few weeks.

Student’s UK Training Day rated as “excellent”

The main UK-based Training Day for students took place on Sunday 6 March in Brockenhurst College, with almost all of the 2011 student team present.

Evaluation forms give a good indication of students’ enjoyment or lack of, and the overwhelming response from the 2010 training was that the students wanted to have less presentation and more interaction. With this in mind, the training day was designed as a mix of activities for students and trainers. The day culminated with each project team given one hour to choose a theme and prepare a short skit supported by artwork, music and drama. These are all useful, transferable skills for the projects in Romania.

The Sacele Team’s “Jack and Jill” highlighted simplicity and activities designed specifically for those with special needs. Comanesti’s “Seasons” was a wonderful medley of art and song, emphasising teamwork and a good use of materials in a very short space of time. Bacau’s “Three Little Pigs” were saved from certain vulpine death by the quick thinking of the team’s First Aid Skills, all learnt from their session earlier in the day from Clare Drot, a Sister at Southampton General Hospital. Onesti had the measure of Harry Potter and the sorting hat, creating their own lyrics and tune for the Hogwarts School Song. All were highly entertaining, enormous fun and gave the students vital practice for what will be required of them in the Summer.

The student’s evaluation forms rated the day an overwhelming success with 93% rating the day as either “good” or “excellent”. Further formal training will be given in Romania, but many students asked to have another UK-based day. There is a possibility of a student planning day on Saturday 30 April at the Libra Lodge.

Our thanks must go to all the students who attended the day and to the teachers, trustees and presenters who took time to give of their knowledge and expertise, with particular thanks to Simon Laycock for arranging for Brockenhurst College to be opened up for this key day in the Libra calendar.

Libra bikes ride again

Saturday 5 March started as a cold grey morning though, for the third year in a row, we were blessed with a dry day. At first light Ben Groves-Raines, Bill Darley and Howard Boot set out from the Blackwater car park just off the Ornamental Drive by Rhinefield to lay the directions for the 50 intrepid cyclists taking part. Shortly afterwards, Heidi Groves-Raines and the girls arrived to erect the gazebo for registration and to welcome the cyclists and supporters with hot dogs and hot drinks. The marshalls took their positions ready to cheer, encourage and if necessary, rescue. The cyclists gathered for their photo shoot and then sped off to complete the course, some undertaking the 50 kms for higher stakes.

The team commented that this was the best course yet, especially with the downhill, flat road surface that heralded the end of the ride. Our huge thanks both to those who rode for Libra, and also to all those who helped with all the other aspects of this event. A very special thanks must go to the Groves-Raines family without whom this event would be nothing like as enjoyable as it is, and to Howard Boot for his enthusiasm in his financial support for us.

A total of £3,500 was raised from this great event - another wonderful team effort!

ASDA Bag Pack raises £1,460 for Romania

21 Libra students plus an assortment of friends and relatives manned the checkouts at ASDA’s Chandlers Ford branch on Saturday 19 December to pack shopping bags for weary Christmas shoppers.

We are grateful to all of those that took part, and also very grateful to ASDA for allowing us to perform this service for their customers. We believe that we assist in the store in keeping checkout queues down to a minimum on this very busy shopping day when all of their checkouts run at full capacity and thereby help them to improve turnover and ease the flow of customers through their store.

The day raised £1,460 for our activities with the children in Romania in July 2011, and we know that this will be valued by the children and by their carers.

Libra Team 2011 First Together

The new Team for 2011 gathered in Bella Italia in Southampton on Sunday 5 December for a delightful evening of Italian food and getting to know each other. Students from each of the participating colleges got to meet their peers from other colleges who would be travelling with them on their project in July 2011. Much pasta and pizza was consumed, concerns and worries about the projects laid to rest and new friends made. All of the Trustees were there as well as a number of the Group and Team Leaders. This was a useful and fun evening for all of those present.

Candlelight Carol Concert

All Saint’s Church in Milford-on-Sea was the venue for a wonderful evening of candlelit Christmas Carols and popular music on Saturday 4 December. Members of The Total Voice Choir, The Total Voice Children’s Choir, St Nicholas Singers and Crescendi joined together to give the audience a wonderfully varied set of performances.

This was Crescendi’s World Debut performance and Libra was delighted to offer them this opportunity to make their first appearance in public. The BBC were so impressed that they were invited to appear live on BBC Radio Solent’s Christmas Eve Breakfast Show and to repeat their performances live on air, including Joanne Corbin’s beautiful solo, for the benefit the whole Solent region.

We are extremely grateful for the hard work of the members of all of the choirs, and especially the efforts of their directors in helping us to bring this musical event to Milford. We are also most grateful to the 300+ audience who turned out despite the dire weather. Libra rewarded them with mince pies and mulled wine in the interval to warm the hands and the hearts. Huge thanks are also due to the All Saints churchwardens and the church's technical crew who spent all day and all evening ensuring that the event was a memorable and successful one.

The event raised a fantastic sum of £1,554 which will significantly help the disabled and disadvantaged children in Romania. We hope to repeat it next year.

Farewell to Rosie

Rosie joined us in April 2010 to assist the students and the Libra organisation with event fundraising. Due to a re-structuring of our fundraising system, the students are encouraged to raise the money more independently and Rosie’s post was no longer needed. She left us in December after a wonderfully successful Carol Concert (see above). The Trustees and all the members of The Libra Foundation would like to say a heartfelt thank you to her for all her hard work.

Libra's Therapy Trip to Romania

A week was spent in Romania carrying out a programme of visits to three centres to give physiotherapy and occupational therapy input.

The first day was spent in Sacele providing a presentation on sensory integration to the staff at the Bradet School. Staff were aware of sensory integration theory and were able to take away new ideas for practice. A questionnaire was circulated to the staff and parents at the School. We are hoping for replies by the end of November in preparation for the therapy trip in April.

The Alexandra Centre in Onesti was the next stop on the visit, where 3 days was spent. In this time we had 32 individual contacts with the youngsters which involved assessing new children, reviewing and adjusting equipment such as wheelchairs and assessing the suitability of the environment for wheelchairs, given a recent move upstairs.

The final visit was to the Daniel Centre at Bacau where a presentation on feeding and positioning was given to staff and parents for children with autism and cerebral palsy. Specialist equipment was provided to the parents and staff to aid with the task of feeding the children and a good time was had by those taking part, particularly when practising the techniques on each other with custard and cheesy puffs.

In conclusion, both the physiotherapy and the occupational therapy offered, whether theory or hands on activity, were well received by the three centres that were visited and Libra have been invited back to visit all three in the future.

By Diana Heatly and Fiona Stoppard

FAST comes to visit the UK

Libra has been delighted to host Daniel and Ema Hristea for a wonderfully inspiring day together. Daniel and Ema are the directors of FAST, one of our principal charity partners in Romania.

Our first visit was to South Baddesley Primary School (SBS), a school rated as Outstanding by OFSTED. Our very special thanks to Mrs Nugent, SBS's Headteacher, who spent so much time showing us around. The message that “Learning is Fun” could not have been clearer as children were clearly seen to be focussed and “on task”. The happy buzz, the inspirational environment and the welcome that we received was delightful. The upshot was a discussion about creating an “area of excellence” in a school in Sacele, or even in FAST's own Ziurel Centre. Thank you Mrs Nugent and all at SBS.

The afternoon visit to see the students of Brockenhurst College's Construction Department in Hardley was also a resounding success. The Hristeas gave a brief presentation about their Better Homes Project to the students with a view to developing a new source of volunteers. We are delighted to report that the response was positive from the students, who are all training in skills for the construction industry. Libra now hopes to have a new "building" arm as we prepare to take a team of Brockenhurst College construction students to Sacele to help with the Better Homes work over there. Thank you to Jerry Whiteley and his team for making us so welcome. We look forward enormously to adding our help on the Better Homes Project to the educational work we are already doing in and around Sacele.

It was a thought provoking day for Daniel and Ema, as well as for us.

2010 Summer Projects bear results

Now we are all back from the Summer projects it is time to reflect on what was done and what was achieved.

In Onesti 12 students visited the children and young people of the Alexandra Centre. For 7 of them it was their 2nd visit; that in itself is a positive. Each day they visited a different unit and carried out activities; they brought joy, hope, fun, laughter and individual attention to their charges. 11 Romanian children spent 5 days on camp in Pralea, a beautiful location in the hills outside Onesti. They experienced a rich diet of creative and sporting games and ate food fit for Royalty!

In Sacele 16 students worked on 4 projects as follows:
8 students continued working with our partner organisation FAST, consolidating their work throughout the year by rewarding the children with a “People Who Help Us” project. Around 100 Rroma children participated in outings to the police station, the hospital, a soup kitchen, Carrefour, a library and the post office. All had their eyes opened to the world around them. Reports of children going home saying they wanted to become shop assistants or that they had understood the police to be bad people but now realised they were there to help, made the project profoundly worthwhile.

4 students continued to work with our partners at AAS, teaching the Rroma children and the institutionalised children the story of The Lion King and encouraging Romanian volunteers to think creatively and act, sing and dance with inspiration.

4 students started a new project with the children and young people of Bradet Residential School. Plans for The Lion King were swiftly put on hold when they realised that simple tasks of painting, sticking, sport and music were sufficiently challenging. Reports from the staff that one child had stopped wetting herself and another had turned a punch into a stroke suggested that the Libra message was getting through.

In Comanesti 12 students worked on the integration programme. Around 40 children and young people from 4 different organisations came together to research and learn about the water cycle. In excess of 25 Romanian teenage volunteers supported the project to help with accommodation, translation and activities. The culmination of the fortnight was a spectacular carnival in the centre of the town to which local dignitaries, including the Mayor, Directors and hundreds of locals came to witness.

On the Bacau project 14 students moved into the villages of Podu Turcului and Motoseni to support the FSC team and worked alongside Romanian volunteers to produce Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood. Approximately 200 children from these stunningly picturesque but incredibly poor rural areas attended the summer camps and experienced hours of fun, learning through play, attention and laughter.

But ................are there any long-term benefits?

It would be naive to think that 100s of Rroma children are suddenly going to start attending school to get a degree or that the gypsy children of Comanesti are going to keep in touch with the disabled friends they met in Casa Lumina. We don’t believe that the children of the Alexandra Centre are going to remember their meat and 2 vegetables or how to make friendship bracelets nor do we believe that the child in Bradet won’t wet herself again. We don’t even attempt to get into the very depths of the poverty, the discrimination, the drunks, the abuse or the sickness that we witness.

What we do profoundly believe in is what we are told by our partners; we hear that attendance for after school clubs has increased; we witness the residents of Comanesti joining in the fun of the carnival and registering the Rroma holding hands with the disabled holding hands with the volunteers and we are told of the resounding success of raising awareness in the town. We are assured of the continued importance of friendship, love and affection and we are told of the children’s year-round call in Onesti of “when are the English coming” and “when am I going to camp”? We see that children are rarely taught through play but we are privileged to witness the recognition from staff and volunteers of how successful visiting the workplaces can be and their amazement at some of the comments the children made showing that their aspirations had been raised and that they felt there was something worth working towards.
We see for ourselves Romanian volunteers returning year after year and becoming more creative in their thinking and their artwork. We hear the UK students talk of their increased self-confidence, their surprise at the real differences in other cultures and felt honoured to hear one of our UK adults describing their visit as “two of the most rewarding weeks of my life”. We strongly believe in the importance of loyalty and continuity to our partners and feel welcomed and rewarded wherever we go.

We know we can’t change the world but over the 4 years that Libra has been working, the students are right to be proud of what they have achieved, we can see change for the better and in the words of Saul Bellow “whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take small steps”.

Chris Mutch and Winchester Day

Much to the delight of the trustees and the Darley family in particular, Chris Mutch squeezed his big red lorry down George Road in Milford-on-Sea one Saturday afternoon. All the resources and equipment that has been accumulating in the dining room over the past 6 months has been donated or brought, unpacked, itemised, weighed, categorised, repacked and labelled in preparation for its departure to Romania. £12,000 worth of kit weighing in excess of 1,300kgs was loaded and Chris set off for Onesti. His text a few days later heralded the safe arrival of his lorry and all the Libra resources, a far cry from the difficulties experienced in 2009 when the art and craft equipment ended up in The Isle of Man by mistake! Thank you Chris and thank you to the staff in the Alexandra Centre who helped to unload it all and carry it up 2 flights of stairs!

From one extreme to the other...............on a windy sunny day in June, Winchester College held Winchester Day – described by one member of the team as “the day Dads turn up dressed in top hat and tails and Mums turn up in their posh frocks, to watch their sons play cricket!”. Although not exactly what happened, it was not far from the truth. Following a bugle call from outside the porter’s lodge and the marching of the boys in green on the parade ground, elegant people paraded around the very beautiful grounds of Winchester College, sipping Pimms and watching performances of sports, arts and music. Members of the Libra team bravely wore their pink t-shirts and captivated passing attendees, explaining the project and raising awareness, thus inspiring generous donations. When the Wykehamists had their first foray into the Rroma communities, they won’t have failed to notice those extremes!

Olivia Darley is appointed as a Libra Trustee

We are delighted to announce that we have a new Trustee: Olivia Darley has agreed to join the Board with effect from 12 May. Olivia has worked on the projects every Summer for the last 10 years. This makes her more experienced in what we do than anyone else in Libra apart from Tim Tofts. She also has the benefit of having been involved in every level from new student recruit, through the sixth form into the Team Leadership, so she has enormous experience in what it takes to learn and get established in each role within Libra. This gives her unique insight into what our teams’ training needs are, what activities in Romania work and, critically, which do not.

Olivia is a prime example of how Libra can influence our students’ lives. Having graduated from Surrey University with a degree in Psychology, she now works as a special needs teacher at More House School in Frensham which educates over 300 boys with learning difficulties, some of whom board there during term-time. She is used to teaching in a multi-disciplinary team with children with challenges such as speech and language difficulties, autism and behavioural issues.

Olivia will be the youngest Trustee by some decades, so she will bring a fresh and more youthful outlook just by virtue of her age, as well as her experience of working in Romania. Olivia will carry responsibility for the children’s activities across all of the projects in Romania, though in 2010 she will be largely based in our new project in Bredet, near Sacele, where she will be the Deputy Leader for the Sacele Team.

Thank you to New Forest Ice Creams

A huge thank you to New Forest Ice Creams for their generous donation to our Brockenurst College Students for their Ice Cream Sale. The students followed the weather forecasts and booked in for a sunny day raising a grand total of £92.60!
Chris Veal was wonderful to work with and even made a board for the students with a delicious New Forest Ice Cream selection!

Thank you Chris and all the team at New Forest Ice Creams.

Farewell to Anna and Hello to Rosie

Having joined us in February and brought a whirlwind of ideas and creativity to Libra’s fundraising, Anna went out to South Africa in March to visit her partner and has now made the “huge yet exciting decision” to move over there. We have thoroughly enjoyed her input in the office and her attendance at many of the student meetings and are sorry to see her go, but very happy that her new life in South Africa beckons and wish her the very best of luck!

Rosie is a qualified teacher and has worked for a variety of charities including Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Mencap New Forest. She brings a wealth of experience as a fundraiser and event co-ordinator. There have been 25 fund-raising events so far in 2010, with many more planned, so we look forward to working with her and warmly welcome her into the Libra Family.

Volcanic Ash delays Spring Planning Team’s Return

Volcanic ash delayed the return of the Libra Planning Team from Romania but enabled them to squeeze in more volunteer presentations and radio interviews. Tim Tofts (Trustee), Olivia Darley (Deputy Group Leader), Louise Darley (Team Leader) and Alex Harden (Student) visited 8 schools to promote an ethos of volunteering and to invite Romanian students to join Libra’s six summer projects.

The response was pleasingly positive and we hope to see a strong volunteer body to support our work in the Summer and to provide assistance to our partner organisations in Romania.

Therapy Fact-Finding Visit

Libra’s very own Occupational Therapist, Rosie Mitchell, visited all the projects in April to undertake a fact-finding exercise, researching the need for therapy input. Inevitably she was well received in all locations and introduced to prospective projects. Rosie is moving to Scotland in the summer but has promised to stay involved and help develop the therapy side of Libra. If anyone is interested in OT, physio or autisim/behavioural issues, do please get in touch with us!

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