LAST UPDATED:Jan 2012

Thank you for visiting our web site.  We are a small charity active in Tadworth, Walton and Kingswood that provides support to a number of overseas aid projects that have some direct connection to this locality.  Typically this might mean that someone, who has friends or relatives in Tadworth and is now working in the developing world, identifies opportunities for us to fund improvements to the lives of some of the poorest people in the world.  We find that relatively small sums of money can make a huge difference, thus by providing under £1000 we helped a community of some 6,000 people in Africa to gain access to clean water. We pay the annual wage costs of £300 pa for an agricultural advisor improving crop yields in a remote area of Malawi, and we pay the £1,000 annual salary for a village school teacher in Nepal, one of the poorest nations on earth.  You can see details of all the projects we currently support in the main body of our web site. The sums of money provided by TWOAT are of course tiny in comparison to the large charities but you can be sure that any money you donate to us will go to the overseas projects that we support with no deduction for any costs of administering TWOAT or soliciting donations and with a clear idea of how the money will be spent.  

Mike Fox, Chair, Tadworth & Walton Overseas Aid Trust

Christmas Appeal

Our Xmas Appeal this year is in aid of two nursery schools in very poor parts of Africa. One is in Madagascar and was brought to our attention by the local Mothers’ Union organiser, Laurette, whom we first encountered when she visited the Good Shepherd Church in Tadworth.  A member of our committee, Bob Gunn and his wife Jill met with her during a recent trip to Madagascar and were told about her efforts to raise funds for a nursery school in a poverty-stricken mining village in northern Madagascar. We sent money to help provide a fresh-water well and ablution block and to pay for setting up the nursery school. The nursery opened in October 2011 and is providing a valuable start in life for 28 children aged 2½ to 4 years old. They can learn and be looked after while their parents work in the mines. The nursery now urgently needs funding of £500 for the materials to build a shelter in which to cook lunches (the labour will be by the local community), storage for books and papers and some basic play equipment for the children. The village is called Ambondromifehy

The second school is located in Sierra Leone, where less than 40% of adults can read. It was brought to our attention by a Tadworth resident who was visiting Sierra Leone where Ruth Evans, a friend of her daughter, was working as an advisor to the government. Ruth had discovered the school operated by a local pastor in a single room with a leaky roof. He was funding payments for teachers by working part time as a builder as well as continuing his ministry.  Ruth raised money amongst her friends to fund the construction of a sizeable temporary shack for the school which is partitioned into a number of teaching areas. The school has expanded to include 100 children.  TWOAT has funded construction of a toilet block and agreed to pay stipends for the next 3 years for the 5 teachers now needed at a total cost of £1,000 per year.  We are also using our charitable fundraising web page on VirginMoneyGiving to help Ruth gather more donations from her friends and relatives for the school.  We sent £500 in September to pay the 5 teacher stipends up until March and we are hoping our Xmas Appeal will provide the next £500 needed to pay the 5 Pastor’s School teachers up to August. It is incredible that we can fund teaching 100 children for so little.

For more details of the Pastor's School and to donate to it visit our VirginMoneyGiving web site here. where you can see pictures of the school and read Ruth’s account of how she discovered it

Upcoming events  

Quiz Evening

We will be holding our annual Quiz evening on the evening of Saturday February 25th in Christchurch Hall, Walton Street Walton.  Come as a team (up to 6 members) or by yourselves to be joined up with others.  Admission £10 including light buffet start 7.30pm.

St Cecilia Chorus Singathon

On Saturday the 3rd March at All Saints Church in Banstead High Street, the members of St Cecilia Chorus will be singing continually from 9am until 9pm to raise money for good causes including TWOAT. Please drop in and support them or sponsor one of the singers - tea, coffee and biscuits will be available. You can support the singers by sponsoring them in aid of TWOAT by visiting our VirginMoneyGiving page and following the events link.

Previous Events

Street Carol singing

We visited several streets and various pubs and restaurants in Walton and raised just over £200.  We were very grateful to the Fox & Hounds and The Chequers for giving our singers some refreshments on a cold night. 

Sing Carols

A choir from Walton Primary School sang for us and nearly £700 was raised.

Annual Social Meeting

Over 50 people attended our ASM and heard a presentation about St John's School for the Deaf in The Gambia and the excellent progress they have made over the last few years.  We raised £900 to help them continue their work.

Sponsored Walks

John Allinson lead our two annual ten mile sponsored walks which this year  raised over £2900. This was a record for us so many congratulations to John and the more than 30 walkers who took part and their many sponsors.

Our experiment with using VirginMoneyGiving to make it easier for sponsors to provide donations on line was a good success with over £900 being donated via that route.

Barbershop Singers Saturday 14th May 7.30pm

This event featured The Downsmen at The Good Shepherd Hall, who very kindly donated their services, and attracted an audience of over 50 who enjoyed renditions of Sweet Adeline, Do You Hear The People Sing (from Les Mis.) and many more favourites.  This event was organised jointly with BREAD (click on the name to visit their web site) and raised over £500 for projects in the rural community of Berega in Tanzania.

Auction of Promises

The Auction of Promises raised a record sum which will be in excess of £4300 when all the money has been collected; very many thanks to those that promised and those that purchased.  A list of items in "Promiser" order with the winning bidder's name is included below.  However, you should still ensure that the person claiming the item does have a voucher from TWOAT or the donor before giving the service.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/displayEventDetails.action?eventId=10128&charityId=1002729&invocation=evt0050

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/displayEventDetails.action?eventId=10128&charityId=1002729&invocation=evt0050