Glen Blease from Paderborn has been a tireless fund-raiser for the past six years, raising money for many charities, including Cancer Research through the Bobby Moore Fund and Help for Heroes.

For the last five years, Glen has also worked with Project Brazil, renovating a school each year in a deprived area. She also took part in the Great Wall of China trek in 2007 and worked with Project South Africa in 2007 and 2008.

In 2009, Glen trekked to the base camp in Everest, as well as renovating a school in Kenya. In the last three years, she has been involved with a school project in Kenya and a school and water project in Lesotho.

Two of the groups that Glen works with are Friends From Ireland, www.friendsfromireland.ie and HELP, the Human Elephant and Lion Programme, www.volunteeringafrica.org

This year, Glen is embarking on two ventures, the HELP conservation in Namibia and the Galana Dispensary project in Kenya with John Byrne from Friends From Ireland.

The Human, Elephant and Lion programme involves a two week spell of volunteering in Namibia, following endangered lions and elephants in a quest to defuse the conflict with local people that the animals face on a daily basis.

Project units consist of up to 10 volunteers, each with an experienced and well trained field guide.

The Galana Dispensary operates as a front line medical facility and is the primary source of emergency care for many thousands of local rural inhabitants.

The current dispensary struggles to offer the wide range of services needed, with the facility at present consisting of three desperately dilapidated rooms and extremely basic cooking and toilet facilities.

The project will involve renovating the existing building and building a further five rooms in order to provide adequate facilities.

Glen works tirelessly to raise money and relies on people’s generosity donating unwanted items to sell via her Facebook group and at the table top sales she holds the first week of every month at Tigers’ Den on Barker Barracks.

She admits that the fund-raising and projects are extremely hard work but says that they are equally as rewarding.

Glen said: “I would like to thank everybody who has donated items for charity and everybody who has purchased items from me.

“I now have a good stock of clothes, furniture, household goods and toys so if anybody is looking for something in particular, please contact me and I will see what I have available.

“If anyone would like to volunteer to help sort out items ready for sale I would also be very grateful.

“I would like to say a big thank you to Capt Ossie Osborne and his welfare team, for all their continued help and support over the last few years.”

If you would like to donate to Cancer Research or Help for Heroes, Glen has collection boxes around the garrison and NAAFI.

If you would like to donate or take part in this year’s projects or can volunteer to help sort donated goods, Glen can be contacted through her Facebook group ‘BFG Glen Blease Recycling for Charity’.

Back to top

Children at William Wordsworth School in Sennelager have been learning about health and growth with the aid of some locally purchased eggs!

Year 1 and 2 teacher, Damian Cunningham bought 10 eggs, which he then incubated at the school for three weeks. The whole school got involved with the study, looking for chicks inside the eggs with a special torch to see them moving around and learning about what care they would need when they hatched.

They also listened to the chirping noises coming from inside the eggs in the incubator and watched as the eggs moved around as the chicks tried to break free.

Four eggs hatched in total, all on February 29, and two classes of children were present to see Fluffy, named by FS2, emerge from his cracked shell. The three other chicks were called Nougat, Goldie and Spiderman by Year 1 and 2 classes.

Toni Blythe from class 1/2C said: “I like the chicks because we could hold them when they were one day old and they felt fluffy and warm.

“We had to put them back in the incubator for a few days after they were born to keep them safe.”

Inia Gaunavou from class 2C said: “The chicks didn’t look like this when they came out of the eggs, they were all slimey and wet.”

Genevive Cotter from class 1K said: “The chicks have really changed, they were all fluffy and cute but now have feathers on their wings.”

Mr Cunningham said: “This is the second year we have hatched chicks as part of our science curriculum and it is wonderful for the children to be able to watch something grow. Already, they have noticed many differences in the chicks’ appearance.

“We will be keeping the chicks for another three weeks, until the Easter holidays and then they are going to a German smallholding, which will be their new home.”

Back to top