Diocesan News
Celebrities Support Parish Auction For Kenyan Water Pump (Connor)
Big names from UK stage, screen and sport are supporting a fundraising drive by St Paul’s Parish Church, Lisburn, to sink a water pump in a Kenyan village.
A host of items including books, TV scripts, DVDs and clothing signed by celebrities will be up for grabs - even Tom Daley’s swim shorts - as will tickets for the West End production of ‘Wicked’ and the chance to meet its star Rachel Tucker!
Robbie Williams, Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Steve Redgrave, Rory McIlroy, Gary Lineker, Tim Henman, Kim Cattrall, Dame Shirley Bassey, Anne Robinson, Doris Day, Bruce Forsythe, the Top Gear team and PM David Cameron are among almost 90 famous names to donate items to this parish fundraiser.
The pump will be constructed beside the new Oloosuyian Maasai Girls School in Kajiado, a partner diocese of St Paul’s, where the church operates a number of water projects allowing it to provide educational and health services as well as spiritual work. The new water pump will be used by more than 200 families – many of whom currently walk miles to their nearest water hole.
Three fifths of the overall £10,000 needed for the pump has already been raised by Church Mission Society Ireland (CMSI). The £4,000 needed to complete the project will also enable a pump house to be built using funds donated in memory of the late Mabel Jamison, whose son Mark has organised the auction.
More than 100 items will go under the hammer, including an Ulster Rugby shirt signed by the 2010 squad, books personally signed by musician Sting, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Little Britain and Bill Oddie, DVDs signed by Jude Law, John Motson and comedian Rob Brydon, a signed BBC script from Eastenders, sporting paraphernalia including Tom Daley’s shorts, items from Manchester United, Chelsea and Rangers and much, much more.
Mark’s late mother is the inspiration behind the auction, and Mark gathered this fantastic list of items simply by writing directly to the celebrities or their agents. “I am very pleased with the response. It seems to have struck a chord with some of the celebrities. I find that if you get to the celebrity themselves, it is no problem for them to send something,” he said.
Mark’s mother Mabel died in June 2009, just a few months before he travelled to Kenya with a team from St Paul’s. He felt the £1,500 donated in Mabel’s memory would make a vast difference to the people in Kajiado, and in consultation with CMSI Mark donated the money for the new pump house.
But he now wants to raise the outstanding money for the pump it will protect. If the auction and other fundraising events generate more than the £4,000 target, this will be donated to other vital water projects in Kenya.
The auction will begin in St Paul’s Church Hall at 8pm on Friday November 19, with viewing from 6.30pm
For further information please contact:
Connor Diocesan Communications Officer
Contact Details
Karen Bushby
028 4066 0798
07766103880
[email protected]