News of successful applications for Grants from the Jo Walters Trust.
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Dear <<First Name>>

I hope this email finds you in a restive and / or festive frame of mind. We wanted to take the chance to send an update about some of the things the Jo Walters Trust has been doing in 2018 before the year is out. It's been a great year of both grant giving and fundraising. Below we're announcing the successful recipients of both our UK-wide Maths grants, and our Aberdeenshire Outdoor Education grants, and there is news about our latest grant to the Outward Bound Trust. 

We are so grateful to all our supporters and wish you a very good 2019 when it comes. 

Warm regards, 

Lucy 
Aberdeenshire Outdoor Education Grants
 
We're delighted to be able to announce the successful applicants for our 2018 Aberdeenshire grants. There were some brilliant projects which applied, and we were really pleased that due to some huge efforts at fundraising (see some below!) we were able to approve grants totalling £11,000 rather than the £6,000 which we had budgeted for. The projects that were successful are outlined below, but you can read more about them on our website. Keep checking back too as we'll be sharing updates as to how the projects are going as we get them. 
  • Banchory Academy: £500 to create an outdoor space at the school to create an outdoor learning space

  • Transition Extreme Sports Ltd (SC036358): We have awarded this charity £2,000 to provide skatepark coaching sessions in local facilities to young people at risk of taking part in risk-taking and anti-social behaviour.

  • Aboyne Canoe Club SCIO (SC047329): £1,500 to pay for suitably sized equipment (wetsuits, drysuits, buoyancy aids etc) for the young people in their club and summer camps.

  • 1st Kemnay Scouts (Charity Number SC039162): We have awarded this scount group £2,000 to go towards the £4,000 of a new marquee to replace their second hand aging army marquee that has served the Scout group well since 1947! 

  • Mucky Boots: £1,000 to pay for Forest School Level 3 training for a member of staff, thereby enhancing and expanding the opportunities provided to Aberdeenshire children and schools.

  • Gordon Schools, Huntly: £1,000 to help the school to re-open their climbing wall and make it accessible to a wider range of physical abilities so they can use it as a gateway to outdoor excursions.

  • Aboyne Academy Alternative Curriculum Group:  £1,000 to introduce a project for groups of pupils that would benefit from learning new skills in cycle maintenance & riding skills, allowing pupils to enjoy the local outdoor environment & learn skills in map reading, discovering local flora & fauna and the history of the area. 

 
UK-Wide Maths Grants
 
We are also really pleased to announce that we have been able to approve over £4,000 in grants to fund 6 projects which should help a range of people develop their mathematical ability. The successful applicants (the photos above are a few of the projects already in action) were as follows - there is more detail about all of them here: http://www.jowalterstrust.org.uk/grant-awards/2018-grant-awards/239-2018-maths-grant-awards.html

Wath CofE Primary School: £600 to spend on helping all children at the school become time experts. 

Littlemead PTA: £1,000 to introduce Maths themed playground markings in this area which has a high level of deprivation and social problems. 

Troon Primary: we awarded £500 to help this Scottish primary school create an engaging and stimulating outdoor numeracy base

Liberton High School: £350 to pay for 2 visualisers to be used to improve their students ability to hold mathematical conversations. 

St Werburghs: £994.13 to provide  'FUN'  mathematics workshops for parents at the school so that they feel more confident playing games with their children at home.

Elmwood School: this SEMH school where most of their students are diagnosed with ADHD and autism are creating an interactive Maths area where the students can physically tackle problems and puzzles in a dedicated area, with hands on resources for them to explore. 
 
We are really grateful to the Association of Maths Teachers for their expert advice with these grants, as well as specialist input from Barbara Johnston and Robert Northridge all of whom were invaluable in helping us make the difficult choices of which projects to fund. 
In 2018, the Jo Walters Trust made another grant to the Outward Bound Trust to pay for a group from Girvan, in Ayrshire, to take part in a residential outward bound course. There is a full report here, but we particularly liked this quote from one of the participants after completing a gorge walking expedition: 

“I learnt that not everything is as easy as we want and that we have to fight against it to get where we want.” Natasha, 15
 
Fundraising
There have been some terrific fundraising efforts in 2018 for which we're very grateful. These, and also some very generations from individuals, meant that we were able to make more grants than we had budgeted for which was really brilliant. 
 
  • Above you'll see the post race photos from Jack Smith and Al de Montfort who used the 2 Jo Walters Trust places in the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October to raise funds. They both did extraordinarily well and we were very proud to have had them running for the Jo Walters Trust!
  • Kincardine Working Week-end: in March, many of Jo's friends from university gathered to stay at the fabulous Kincardine Castle and were put (willingly) to work bonfiring, planting trees, building walls and a bit of sledging too, amply rewarded with delicious food and drink while staying in the castle. We are very grateful for the generosity of Andie and Nicky Bradford in offering this week-end as an auction prize again at the JWT and Teapot Trust 2017 St Andrew's Ball. 
     
  • Schools: we received very generous donations too from several schools who raised money for the Jo Watlers Trust in 2018, including Belhaven Hill School who held a baking sale organised by Jo's god-daughter, Gordonstoun School which donated 50% of the proceeds from the collections at their annual OG Carol Services, and the Murray Lindsays who painted stones and sold them at their school fair in Perthshire. 
  • Garden Opening: the Gladstones very kindly again opened their garden at Capenoch through Scotland's Gardens Scheme, and nominated the Jo Walters Trust as their chosen charity. 
If you have an idea for an event or something you'd like to do in aid of the Jo Walters Trust please do get in touch - info@jowalterstrust.org.uk and let us know - we'd love to help if we can! 
Copyright © 2018 Jo Walters Trust, All rights reserved.


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