A very local charity

Pictured above are our next door neighbours, Ian and Barbara Bradford, playing with Jemima during the winter snowfall. The Bradfords are not only neighbours but also supportive and committed members of Saint Barnabas Church. Ian is a PCC member and Barbara organises our intercession rota. We are therefore very grateful to them, not least because they already offer so much of their own time running a charity, Antokia, which they founded themselves. It is the charity which our Sunday School is again proud to support this Lent.

The Antokia Children’s Charity supports disadvantaged children in Uganda and focuses on education as the means to them improving their own lives and enabling them to take an active part in the development of their community – perhaps of their country. The genius of Ian and Barbara’s charitable work is that it is small and localised and thus goes direct to the heart of a needy community ensuring there is no possibility of corruption or government interference.

Antokia all began when Ian and Barbara’s daughter was teacher training in Uganda and moved a deaf child into a special school, pleaded with them to help fund him. They now support 50 primary children, covering fees, lunches, uniforms, scholastic and hygiene materials. They support 13 children in a primary school for disabled children and sponsor 40 secondary children, and several post secondary students, including medical and nursing students. The project has even seen them build class rooms and latrines!! You can find out more by following this link here and you might donate whilst doing so!

Another way of supporting Antokia, whilst thoroughly enjoying yourself, is to attend a forthcoming concert in the Chapel at Tonbridge School on Thursday 18 and repeated on Friday 19 March at 7.30pm. The first part of the concert will be the Overture to Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet but the highlight of the concert is a setting of Psalm 122 specially composed for Tonbridge School by the very popular composer Howard Goodall. This was commissioned after the chapel burnt down in 1988, and was first performed in 1993 in Rochester Cathedral. It will be the first time it is performed in the setting it was composed for making this a very special night indeed. It was scored for Symphony Orchestra, Organ, Chapel Choir, and a chorus that involves the whole school, half the school on each night. On these occasions the choir is being supplemented by girls from Benendon School.

Tickets for the concert are £10 each, and can be purchased from the Box Office 01732 304241