As this year’s Rotary Interact Presidents, the opportunities to raise awareness for charities have been extensive. We have worked closely with our committee to hold a number of successful events for Gofal Cymru, a Welsh mental health charity supporting young people across 11 Welsh local authorities. Alongside our main charity, we have raised money for the 5Cs, who support a hospice in Minsk, Belarus; Guide Dogs for the Blind; WWF; Macmillan and Martha’s Place.
Last summer, we organised several small events, including a College and Staff Quiz Night, which raised £200 for Gofal Cymru, essentially kick-starting our year of fundraising. With questions put together by our team, and with support from our Head Students, we had a very successful evening, and the Rotary Club of Cardiff Breakfast were also eager to participate. From cake, sweet and pizza sales for the Prep and Senior schools, to parties and film nights, we have many good memories. One of our major events was the much-anticipated College Mixer last September, which raised an impressive £1400. Later in the term, we organised the College and Staff Netball match to support Alalay, and five teams participated in very competitive matches, including a tense College vs. Staff shoot out; it was Year 13 who remained unbeaten throughout the event, winning the shield this year. This tradition, as well as the Boys’ and Staff Leg Waxing, were very entertaining, and had a large turn-out. We raised over £100. For the younger years we arranged film nights, the perfect occasion for them to understand our role within Howell’s, as well as in the extended community.
We finished off the year with two of our larger fundraisers; the distribution of Valentine’s Day roses and Easter eggs to Staff and College. These final events raised our total for this year to £2382.03, which we could not have achieved without the guidance and support from Mrs S Richards, Mr C Smith and Frau D Sadler. Thank you very much for giving us such an invaluable experience we will never forget. It was both rewarding and exciting.
We would like to say a huge thank you to our committee, who have worked hard to make our events so successful, and to everyone in both the College and the Senior School, who have participated or contributed to our causes - it wouldn’t have been the same without you.
Best wishes for the future,
Presidents Louise S and Grace D