Scottish Catholic Observer

Schoolchildren from across the country have been putting others before themselves over the past weeks and months, and have raised magnificent amounts of money for various charities working at home and abroad.

Despite being one of the smallest Catholic school communities in Scotland, staff and pupils from St Peter’s Primary School, Dalbeattie, were delighted to discover recently that they have been one of the most generous and active schools in the country when it comes to raising money for Catholic aid agency, SCIAF.

The school has raised thousands of pounds for the charity over the past 20 years, and this year the school community has been as generous as ever.

A number of activities have taken place in the school in the past few months, which culminated in a prayer service of thanksgiving and a talent show that included performances by every pupil in the school.

“It is fun to raise money and to know it is going to a good cause,” Zoe Valentine, a primary seven pupil at St Peter’s, said.

Jacob Ray Halliday, a primary six pupil at St Peter’s, added: “I feel good about myself when I donate to SCIAF.”

This year the St Peter’s community raised more than £220 for SCIAF.

Meanwhile, youngsters from St Patrick’s Primary School in Coatbridge have raised a large sum of money for the Schiehallion Ward at Glasgow’s Yorkhill Hospital for children.

A girl from the school’s primary four class is currently receiving treatment at the ward, and her classmates decided they wanted to help out in their own way.

Therefore, the pupils decided to hold a sponsored Welly Walk in the town’s Dunbeth Park. The pupils raised the fantastic total of £1050, which they hope will help their classmate and other children receiving treatment at Yorkhill.

The St Patrick’s pupils recently had the opportunity to present a cheque to Karen Marshall of the Schiehallion Ward and also took the opportunity to thank everybody who donated money to such a worthwhile cause.

The pupils of St Cuthbert’s Primary School in Hamilton were delighted to recently present substantial cheques to three of the school’s chosen charities.

The pupils engaged in a Fundraising Friday programme during the six weeks of Lent and raised the tremendous amount of £3478 through their hard work.

Patricia Clark, from Macmillan Cancer Support, Harry Doyle, from SCIAF, and George McAleenan, from Let the Children Live, were pleased to visit the school and receive the generous donations from pupils.

Martina Hendry, St Cuthbert’s acting headteacher, commented that she is ‘immensely proud of every pupil at St Cuthbert’s for raising this magnificent sum of money.’

“The whole school community worked together during the period of Lent demonstrating their thoughtfulness for people less fortunate than themselves,” she said.

Like their counterparts at St Cuthbert’s, pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School in Stepps have also been working hard to help those less fortunate than themselves.

The school’s pupil council this year chose Mary’s Meals charity to be the focus of its Lenten campaign and—through various fundraising initiatives coupled with the hard work and commitment of the St Joseph’s pupils—raised a total of £2000.

“Our children are very enthusiastic and inventive in finding ways to part others from their money,” Elizabeth Dornan, St Joseph’s headteacher, said.

In a separate venture, primary seven pupils from St Joseph’s took part in a social responsibility project organised by North Lanarkshire Council’s Youth Music Initiative.

The project involved the pupils writing and recording a song onto CD format.

As part of the initiative, the pupils made a number of presentations and were also asked to investigate a charity.

The pupils chose the Marie Trust, which assists homeless people in Glasgow, and, in addition to finding out more about the charity’s work—they raised £365 for the trust through sales of their CD.

—[email protected]

PIC: TOM EADIE