THE ROTARY CLUB OF CHURCH AND O/TWISTLE: ROTAKIDS

THE youngest members of the Rotary family are the Rotakids clubs.

The children are usually the year 5 students, and so every year a new group take on the Rotakids mantle.

Church and Oswaldtwistle Rotary have a number of very active Rotakids clubs, one such being at St Andrew’s Primary School.

The new Year 5 group are taking on the challenge of being Rotakids with great enthusiasm.

The Rotary ask that the pupils complete one international project and at least two domestic projects during their year, and St Andrew’s have already decided on their first ones.

They have decided to support a project called ‘Bikes 4 Africa’.

The children raise funds to enable a charity to recycle old bicycles, which are then sent out to Africa to be used by children who would otherwise have to walk many miles to get to school.

Each bike that they sponsor has a plaque screwed on to it which tells the recipient who sponsored their bike, along with a message from the children in the UK. In order to raise funds for this project, St Andrew’s are going to hold a toy sale and bake sale at school.

The toy sale is to be held on November 15 and the school would be very happy if anyone could donate good quality toys, children’s books or DVDs for the sale.

St Andrew’s is on Springfield Street in Oswaldtwistle, and any contributions can be dropped off at reception there.

On the domestic front the children are asking people to send in to school bar codes from Yorkshire Tea products, which can be exchanged for wheelchairs for disabled people in Africa.

They also hope to support a local charity ‘Only Foals and Horses’ in the new year.

Cath Heap, Church and Oswaldtwistle Rotary Rotakids coordinator said: “Church and Oswaldtwistle Rotary are extremely proud of the way that the Rotakids at St Andrew’s have risen to the challenge of completing their Rotary tasks.

“Along with fundraising for good causes, they have also taken on board the important idea of working within the community by bulb planting, and hope to be involved later in the school year in tree planting and litter picking.”

Any school which would like to become a Rotakids school can contact Cath Heap, the Church and Oswaldtwistle Rotary Rotakids coordinator, at cathheap57@gmail.com.