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The trustees have worked hard to ensure that all the money raised from the tremendous generosity of donors (and pain of volunteers doing all those agonisingly challenging events!) goes to good use. John-Henry had some big life plans, and we believe we have some excellent projects to support, reflecting many of the things he would have loved to be involved with.

We are now agonsingly close to having raised £100,000 over the past four years (£97,300 as at October 2010) - a really remarkable feat. On this page, we tell you what we’ve spent the money on to date (currently £57,097)and detail what we plan to spend the money on in the future.

OUR PLEDGE TO CONTINUALLY SUPPORT:
We were keen to support from the beginning a number of causes that JH felt closely about and that would ensure a legacy to him.
1. The John Henry Memorial Prize
We donated a lump sum to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2008 to create a yearly prize of £250 forever!

The John Henry Memorial Prize goes to the student who has given it their best and who is most likely to take what they have learned and go further with it. The Course Director helps choose the person for this in consultation with the trustees to ensure that the person also fits in with JH’s spirit – in particular that working hard should also go hand in hand with a good dose of fun and humour!

We have now given three JH Memorial Prizes, all of whom have written in to thank us. Do read about all the recipients here.

2. Monthly standing order
We support, on a monthly basis as John-Henry did, the charities Christian Aid and Medic Malawi. In 2003, John-Henry went to Kenya to help work with Street Children in the Rift valley. On his flight over, he got talking to a person who had recently set up a medical based charity that provides funds for hospitals in Malawi. JH was bubbling with enthusiasm when he stepped off the plane and clearly the person had made quite an impression on him. It had been in his mind to go to Malawi and visit the charity and for this reason we want to support them in their excellent work. For more details about Medic Malawi, please visit their website.


WHAT WE SUPPORTED IN 2010

Our main focus this year has been to continue to develop links with the London School of Tropical Medicine. We have now released money to help fund two fantastic PhDs! Ruth Ashton (JH Memorial prize winner in 2009) and Sally Jackson (this year's prize winner)are now working in collaboration with NGOs and have recently started their PhDs.

WHAT WE SUPPORTED IN 2009

Cheltenham Maggies Centre - £9,000
We felt that the support we have all had from Gloucestershire and the resonance JH’s life has had with other people in similar situations meant that we felt we ought to help fund the Maggies Centre that is being planned in Cheltenham. John Henry was not a big believer in funding cancer research as he felt that money could be far better spent researching more curable diseases elsewhere. Nonetheless despite all the brilliant support he received, waiting around in oncology departments is a pretty average experience and a Maggies centre will massively improve the lives of those in a similar situation to JH.
At the time fo writing this (November 2010), the Maggies centre has just opened which is a massive boost to the local area so well done all you local fundraiser in particular!

The Socadido Goat Project - £1,400
Socadido, based in the Teso Region, Uganda continues to provide goats in kid but also runs a Breeding Centre, where imported Boer billies are crossed with local nannies to produce a strain that produces more milk, more meat and fetches a higher price at market. To reach out to the rural communities, Socadido is developing a programme of educating farms on the latest techniques of goat husbandry and stationing Boer billies to which neighbours bring their nannies for servicing. Because they breed rapidly, goats are the most efficient means of quickly raising living standards. They are soon converted into essential household goods, cows, oxen, ploughs, land, even houses and, importantly, there is money to meet medical and school fees. For people with nothing, a goat provides the bottom rung on the ladder out of poverty and it is no surprise that locally, the humble goat is often referred to as a ‘miracle worker’.

Medic Malawi - £4,500
In August 2009 we donated £4,500 towards the first operating theatre at St Andrew’s Hospital, Malawi. Our funds went to crucial equipment such as an ECG machine and various surgical instruments.
St. Andrew’s Hospital, funded by Medic Malawi, offers maternity, OPD, in-patient facilities, Under-5 clinics, mobile clinics, health education programmes, Nutrition Rehabilitation Unit, HIV/AIDS testing and counselling. Originally intended to serve a catchment area of 35,000 people, the hospital now finds it is treating patients who are travelling (sometimes on foot!) from as far as 80 kilometres away because of the quality of care offered and the certainty that necessary drugs and medication will be available.
St. Andrew’s Hospital is staffed entirely by Malawians, but does accept volunteer staff from the UK and elsewhere. When it opened it was a small rural clinic with only a dozen staff: it is now a Community Hospital with a staff of 58.


Down Right Kenya - £7,000
In 2009 a team of cyclists led by Peter King (Rob's brother PK) cycled unsupported from the UK to Kenya to raise money to build a secondary school. Our donation has ensured that this building is now well underway. PK is a trustee of the local charity HSK that JH went to visit many years ago.








Newent community School/Kenya Link project £3,600
The donation to JH's old school was spent on a variety of projects including supporting widows and children affected by HIV in the region as well as supporting an organization that offers job training in tailoring, hairdressing, secretarial skills, tie dying, batiking, and recently computers to unwed mothers, girls, and others in the Obunga slum community in Kisumu.

HELP - £1,400
Dr Andy Douglass and his wife Ceri who were retiring from a GP practise in UK have gone to Uganda to continue working there. They will be spending time at the Medical unit in Lira and the donation will be used to buy medical drugs and smaller equipment and requisits.

WHAT WE SUPPORTED IN 2008:

1. £1,200 was donated to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge for their work in supporting people living with cancer.

2. £1,200 has been donated to Cheltenham Hospital to go towards two different projects:
• A "Maggie Centre" to be built which will offer advice and support in a non-clinical and informal environment taking a very holistic approach. These centres have had fantastic reviews and you'll find lots of information on the website about them.
We had a lovely letter from Maggie's Cotswolds where the money is being spent:
"...It is wonderful to get a real sense of what a great guy John-Henry was and how lucky you are to have known him. I am sure people will continue to do all sorts of (crazy) challenges in his memory to help you fulfill the inspiring projects you have planned, both in the UK and abroad."

3. £1,000 has been donated to The Newent Kenyan link partnership. This was started in 2001 between three schools in the UK and three schools close to Kisumu in Kenya. The school in Newent (JH's Alma Mater) has been itself raising funds and forming close ties with the students and teachers of St Georges in Kenya. The money raised is being spent on developing basic services such as a better water supply, a toilet block and a well stocked library but also for better medical access. For more information on these projects, please visit the website, Newent Kenya Link.