Marcel Wagner and his wife Sally, the founders of the charity Gap-Africa, visited Shiplake recently to be presented with a cheque for over £19,000. The donation to the charity stemmed from when a former College Chaplain, Robert Prance, held a 24 hour 'Orgonathon' many years ago. Robert, always a great supporter and champion of the work of Gap-Africa, had sat at Shiplake Church's organ for 24 hours playing hymns and other bits of music. He was well supported by regular visitors , who spent time making coffee, singing along or simply listening to Robert, and helping him raise an incredible amount of money.
The original plan was that the money raised would be invested and that Gap-Africa would draw the interest every year to use for the Kikunduku Schools Project (KSP), with which Shiplake College has had a long relationship. But with interest rates remaining low in recent years, resulting in just 20p a month in interest, Shiplake College decided to close the account and hand the full balance over to Gap-Africa. In any case, since the 'Organothon' took place, Gap-Africa has become a registered charity.
Marcel Wagner comments "Sally and I, along with all those involved with Gap-Africa and the KSP, are extremely grateful to Shiplake College for the decision to donate the funds to us in this way. This is a huge boost to our, usually, meagre funding and means we can embark on a few more spectacular bits of spending at the KSP. We will be using this year's Expedition Society visit to assess suitable projects and will report back on this in 6 or 8 months once the ground work is completed and the phases determined. I also need to run all this by the trustees in the autumn when we get back."
The donation, made at the end of the Summer Term, came shortly before the Shiplake Expedition Society embark on their month-long trip to Kenya, which will include undertaking a desk-building and classroom-painting project at the KSP, climbing Mount Kenya, wild camping in Buffalo Springs National Reserve and zip-lining across and white-water rafting down the Tana River. There is a lot to fit in and the 9 boys and girls, along with Marcel, Sally and Miss Jenny Unwin, depart tomorrow, Thursday 9 July, and return on Thursday 7 August.
