CERCOPAN

Category: CERCOPAN battles illegal loggers, CERCOPAN helping communities in Nigeria, Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Nigeria | Date: Oct 09 2009 | By: cercopan

By Richard Carroll - Rhoko Manager

“It’s a good idea” said the chief, “I like it, but this idea of an election..it can’t work. No, better we just make an appointment of good people.” “But Chief,” I replied despairingly, seeing the previous night’s 3 hours of negotiation over this point slipping swiftly away with each nod of his advisor’s head, “we discussed this, we need to have a democratic election. Appointments have been tried before and they don’t work; these people represent the community’s voice- they need to be chosen by the community.” So began another round of debating on this point. It was a topic of alarming regularity over the next two weeks with apparently nobody in the village believing it was possible to hold a trouble free election. “It has never happened here; it’s not possible” was the consensus. “Trust me, it can be done.” Was my reply through gritted teeth, as I then settled down to once again explain my plan.

CCDC elections -  Richard distributing voting tokens

To be fair I understood the concerns, the election we were planning to hold was to re-inaugurate the village Community Conservation & Development Committee (CCDC). This body initially conceived by CERCOPAN has the responsibility of deciding how the substantial funds from tourism royalties and other CERCOPAN related payments are spent. They should be used to finance any community development project that the CCDC and Chiefs’ Council agree upon, providing it does not detract from concepts of sustainability and conservation. The chiefs were worried that certain timber dealers and others hungry for influence in the area would try to hijack this committee and disrupt the peace in the village. There had been similar attempts recently as those involved in illegal timber exploitation are gradually being squeezed out by the community’s collaboration with state forestry departments; and they were looking for a way to stem the tide.

  At the polling booths

I had already held a series of meetings with people I felt were key individuals in the community. These were young, literate people with a passionate desire to see their community make the most of its opportunities. We had been sitting on the floor around the bedside of one of my staff- Matthew, who was recovering from a motorbike accident, discussing village politics. As we spoke these people not only bemoaned the lack of influence they felt they had but also put forward a vision of how they believed things could be better. It struck me, this was the core of what the CCDC should be and within a few days I asked them to gather themselves and any like-minded individuals they could find for a strategic meeting. Within a few weeks this group had helped to pass out information leaflets, discussed relevant issues and encouraged other people to nominate candidates they would trust to represent their needs in the decision making process. General assembly meetings and manifesto nights for the proposed candidates all helped to add to the buzz being generated in the village.

Iko Esai residents waiting to vote

The morning of the election came around; I set off from Calabar at 6am, having been up all night constructing ballot boxes, and promptly ran into trouble. Heavy rains the night before had rendered one section of the dirt road impassable and I found myself axle deep in a quagmire of sticky orange mud. With no small help from a group of friends from the nearest village, who had happened upon my predicament, as they ferried colossal mounds of bananas to the highway on motorbikes, I was finally freed; arriving tired, filthy and apprehensive to the village. Rapidly organising ourselves, the election team swung into action. Registration and voting stations were manned, security employed at the door and the village bell rung to announce the start of proceedings.

Women Registering for the election

I am told that there was an element of the village connected to the timber extractors grumbling amongst themselves that they were going to disrupt the day; that no election would hold unless they said so. However, they failed to leave their corner of discontent and so missed the atmosphere of celebration 5 hours after polls opened and the successful candidates were announced to the massed crowd. It was extremely gratifying to hear the talk outside the classroom which served as a polling station; “free and fair” could commonly be discerned amongst the other incoherent jumble of triumphant conversations in the local Iko dialect. So happy were the participants with the days events, that I may have made a rod for my own back as it has been suggested we assist with the re-election of several other bodies in the village! I couldn’t be happier with the group of men and women that the community chose to represent them over the next 3 years and despite their initial misgivings, neither it seems could the chiefs. I’m not entirely sure, however, how I feel about the new nickname they bestowed on me; ‘The Bulldozer’- though it does have a certain ring to it.

Tags: Cercopan, Community Conservation, Iko Esai, Rainforest protection, Sustainable development

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Category: CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Education, Environmental education saving endangered primates, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Oct 05 2009 | By: cercopan

Usually a trip to Agoi is an anticipated event, often for an exciting occasion when the local community are even more cheerful than usual and their specially brewed, extra ‘hot’ spirit is more readily available.  This trip however, was quite different from those usually encountered.

We had received information that a drill monkey was being kept as a pet within the village.  Our first response was to inform Pandrillus, another primate organisation based in Calabar who specialise in drill monkey and chimpanzee rehabilitation.  Due to their current schedule and as Agoi is so close to our forest site, they asked us if we could go and remove the animal from the situation.  CERCOPAN will never buy an animal, as it encourages people to try to catch them for financial gain, and we try to avoid getting the police involved as it deters people getting in touch to donate animals already in their possession.  In these cases we try to negotiate with the owners and hope to persuade them to give up their animal, making them understand why it’s better for the individual and for them.

Rescued Juvenile Drill monkey     

When we first sent our CERCOPAN representative to see the owner we found it very hard to get our message across.  The owner, did not want to give up the animal.  He said he had paid 4000 naira for the monkey, now a juvenile male named Chris, from a hunter back in January of this year.  He had been caring for it since then and it had been living in a small wooden box constructed from wooden planks at the side of his house.  The box only had some small holes to see out of and soon he would grow far too big for the box, as adult male drills grow to a huge size.

Adult male Drill Monkey

When our first approach was not working, we attempted to negotiate with someone who had the power to sway the owner’s opinion; the local chief of the village.  The chiefs of a village often have the final say in many decisions and solve many disputes involving village residents.  After consulting the chief he spoke to the owner and began to change the owner’s position on the situation.  To begin with the owner still wanted a reward in the form of guaranteed employment.  Again we had to explain that if we agreed to such terms we would continually have this problem in future situations, and inadvertently increase the number of primates removed from the forest when others decided to use them as a means of getting a job.

Eventually he understood our position and we reached an agreement whereby he would receive a certificate stating that he had donated the drill monkey to us.  We left to prepare a certificate and returned, again to a big discussion about the situation.  Luckily we still managed to make him see he was doing the best thing and Chris was handed over in front of a crowd of around 50 people.  In addition to his certificate we presented him with information leaflets about why it is wrong to hunt monkeys and a poster urging people to protect the highly endangered drill monkey.

To make the entire event official, various traditions had to be adhered to.  After the exchange of monkey and certificate, further exchanges had to be made involving kai-kai; the locally brewed spirit that happens to be particularly strong in Agoi.  This isn’t the kind of exchange where each party buys a bottle and the other takes it home to drink leisurely in their own time - this is when both parties buy a bottle and both bottles must be finished by the end of the gathering.  A little speech was made by both sides and then each departed, swaying slightly from side-to-side!

Chris was brought to our Calabar site late the next evening where he remained in our quarantine area overnight and where he had more space than he had been used to before.  He seemed to enjoy it so much that, by the next day, he was so eager to run around more he managed to escape our trained staff and cause havoc around the office.  After destroying several office items, chewing keys off computer keyboards and peeing on important papers, we finally managed to calm him down and return him to a travel box.  After that he was taken to Pandrillus and reunited with those of his kind.  Now he is busy making new friends and learning what it is really like to be a drill monkey!

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, Community Conservation, Drill monkey, Endangered primates, Nigeria, rehabilitation

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Category: CERCOPAN battles illegal loggers, CERCOPAN helping communities in Nigeria, CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Education, Environmental education saving endangered primates, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Rain Forests, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Oct 01 2009 | By: cercopan

 The October edition of the CERCOPAN monthly newsletter can be dowloaded from the link below

cerconews-october-2009-edition.pdf

Hope you enjoy it! Look out for the next issue on the 5th November.

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, Community Conservation, Conservation, Endangered monkeys, environmental education, Guenons, Mangabeys, Newletter, rehabilitation

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Category: Cercopan, Communities, Life, Nigeria, Rescued neglected bush dog | Date: Sep 14 2009 | By: cercopan

  As many of you may remember, a few months back we rescued a bush dog, Ticky, from appalling conditions in our host village Iko Esai.  She was found under a broken umbrella in the pouring rain, covered in sores and being home for a vast number of parasites including ticks, fleas and worms.  She was too weak to even stand and we discovered the reason was because she had been removed from her mother before she was ready to finish nursing.  Sylvain, our mona research coordinator, gently carried her back to our camp along the difficult 30 minute bike journey, through flooded rivers and with thunder crashing around our ears.  It was there we began to nurse her back to health and she started her new life as our camp mascot, surrounded by love and care.

Ticky being nursed on her first night at Rhoko Camp, after ger initial rescue 

 In our last ‘rescued dog’ update we announced she was firmly on the road to recovery and we are pleased to say she has now finally reached her destination!   Her patchy fur has fully grown back and all her wounds are healed.  She has put on plenty of weight, with a big belly hanging around her spindly little legs!  Her true character is shining through and she is excelling at her guard dog duties, taking her cue from our older camp dog, Simon.  Perhaps her bark isn’t quite as threatening as Simon’s, with its squeaky tones intermingled with low growls, but she is always on the lookout for passers-by.

  Her strength has grown even more and now she runs around camp, following us to our huts and playing with us in the grass.  She still tries to play with our older dog, Simon, but he has decided he’s a bit too old for these games and tries to find a quite spot where he can continue to be a grumpy old man.  I think he also gets jealous, as he’s a big dog and is unable to climb onto anything comfortable like a chair (although he was caught having pushed into Sylvain’s hut and asleep on his bed once)!  Ticky, on the other hand, has found one of our cushioned chairs particularly comfortable, and has become an expert at climbing up various small boxes to get on to it!

Ticky; patch-free and chewing the clothes of our volunteer, Sylvain.

The other week our camp manager, Richard, bought back some tasty treats from the city for our guarding duo in the form of two large bones.  Both are nearly as long as Ticky herself and she struggles to get a good bite with her small mouth.  For some reason though, which ever bone she is gnawing on is not as tasty as the one Simon is chewing, and so she always tries to muscle in on his!  He’s not too pleased about this but is showing more tolerance as the days go by!

Ticky trying to get her little mouth around such a big tasty treat! 

  In addition, we have begun general training with her.  She understands ‘sit’ even if she doesn’t always follow the order, and we are trying to teach her ‘stay’, as she regularly tries to follow us in to the forest.  Our favourite one though, and I think hers is ‘paw’, where she lifts up her paw to shake hands.  Perhaps not as practical as ‘sit’ or ‘stay’, but much cuter and it is becoming a very popular welcome with our visiting tourists!

By Amy Baxter, Mangabey Project Coordinator and temporary Office and Finance Manager

Tags: Cercopan, community, Conservation, Cross River State, dog, Iko Esai, Monkeys, neglected, Nigeria, rescued, volunteers

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Category: CERCOPAN helping communities in Nigeria, CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Education, Environmental education saving endangered primates, Nigeria, Rain Forests | Date: Aug 07 2009 | By: cercopan

Hi, I’m Carrie and I am just coming to the end of a six week stay as a short term volunteer at CERCOPAN. I am currently working on my PhD at the University of Florida focusing on Environmental Education and Primate Conservation and hope to come back for a much longer period next year as part of my studies. I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Rhoko camp, but the definite highlight of my trip was working with the Rhoko education officer, Mike, and organizing an overnight stay for 12 members of the Iko Esai Conservation Club.

Conservation Club group

CERCOPAN has initiated the formation of over 20 conservation clubs in rural and urban schools; encouraging the youth of Nigeria to actively promote and participate in environmental campaigns and events such as the annual June 5th World Environment Day celebrations and tree planting programmes. This rainforest adventure however, gave the children a chance to experience the sights and sounds of the rainforest first hand and to gain a solid background to conservation and primate ecology…using the forest as their classroom!

Conservation club members learning about monkeys

The students were amazing and I was extremely impressed with their knowledge and their desire to learn more. Everyone was sad when the activities were over and it was time to leave, but all agreed they had a wonderful time and that we definitely do it again soon. CERCOPAN hopes to run such trips for conservation clubs from urban schools in the future, as some of these children have never seen the rainforest before.

It took a long time to persuade the children that this snake was plastic!

Special thanks to Jan Valkenberg (a former CERCOPAN volunteer) who raised the funds for this and other education activities. I would also like to thank the principle of Iko Esai secondary school for allowing the students to attend, Mr. Hans the science teacher, and the students themselves: Nkoyo, John, Promise, Patricia, Peace, Regard, Gabriel, Oboon, Uso, Redual, Erong, and Akima.

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, children, Communities, Conservation, Conservation clubs, Education, environmental education

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Category: CERCOPAN helping communities in Nigeria, Cercopan, Communities, Monkeys, Nigeria | Date: Mar 30 2009 | By: cercopan

CERCOPAN has recently undertaken to build a community centre for our host community Iko Esai, thanks to the funding support from Esso (Exxonmobil). Over the last two months CERCOPAN staff and volunteers have been working very hard with the help of some contractors and local labourers to get this project off the ground. Last week we finished phase 1, the preliminaries including clearing the land, pegging the site, building a storage shed, and moulding the first hundred and fifty bags of cement into blocks for the foundation. Amazing how much work goes into constructing a building!

Completed Storage Shed

Just to mould one bag of cement into blocks requires a lot more effort than one might think! First we had to visit a number of dealers to purchase cement, sand and related tools and to bargain with truck owners to transport the goods to site (not easy when trying to stick to a budget and prices are increasing weekly). Negotiations broke down three times, dates were changed, we were even forced to carry 600 bags of cement into the volunteer house to save money when we discovered prices were about to go up and it was too early to transport them to site (if stored too long in the humid conditions at site the cement becomes hard). Then the Rhoko Manager needed to garner community support to help carry local sand, gravel and water to the site and to coordinate accommodation and transportation for the few non-local workers. This involved writing an article for the noticeboard, attending a chiefs meeting and enlisting the services of the Iko Esai town crier. Finally there was the actual hiring of block moulders and then the moulding, drying, stacking and watering of the blocks!  

Packing and transporting sand from the river

Offloading sand at site

Now that the first 4000 blocks are ready, we have begun phase 2: excavation and laying the foundation. Stay tuned for regular updates of our progress!

Stacking the moulded blocks

Tags: africa, animal, Cercocebus torquatus, Cercopan, Cercopithecus erythrotis, Cercopithecus mona, Cercopithecus nictitans, Cercopithecus preussi, Cercopithecus sclateri, Communities, community, Conservation, developing communities, endangered species, mona guenon, mona monkey, monkey, Monkeys, Nigeria, Nigerian wildlife, Preuss’s guenon, Preuss’s money, primates, putty-nosed guenon, putty-nosed monkey, rainforest, rare species, Red-capped mangabey, red-eared guenon, red-eared monkey, Sclater’s guenon, Sclater’s monkey, threatened species, volunteers, wildlife

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Category: CERCOPAN helping communities in Nigeria, CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Communities, Monkeys, Nigeria, Rain Forests, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Feb 10 2009 | By: cercopan

A group of short-term volunteers arrived recently from Holland to provide the children of Iko Esai a brighter future – illuminated in blue, green and yellow to be precise. The group of seven came across our recently introduced “working holiday” program in which anyone interested can visit our forest site as short term paying volunteers to help with the various initiatives CERCOPAN carries out and gain a valuable experience working with a grassroots conservation NGO. As community development was something they were very keen on, the group combined their efforts to raise approximately USD$1200 before coming out, which is being used to fund the renovation and sprucing up of two schools in CERCOPAN’s host community, Iko Esai. So far they have almost completed cementing the floors in the Iko Esai Primary School classrooms, and the painting of the interior and exterior walls of Iko Esai Secondary School.

Their hard work each day does not go unnoticed, especially from the children who regularly gather around in large groups to watch the renovations in action. The floors that were previously composed of packed sand have now been transformed into smooth concrete surfaces, and the bare brick walls transformed from a dull repressive grey to bright and cheerful blues, greens and yellows. Though these and other renovations that are soon to be underway are very important, the most rewarding transformation will surely be the renewed motivation of the village children inspired by the generous donation of time, money and efforts from CERCOPAN’s most recent group of short term volunteers. Panting the school  

Do you want to help? Check out www.cercopan.org for more information about volunteering with CERCOPAN.

Enjoying a relaxing break in the river after all that hard work!

Tags: africa, animal, Cercocebus torquatus, Cercopan, Cercopithecus erythrotis, Cercopithecus mona, Cercopithecus nictitans, Cercopithecus preussi, Cercopithecus sclateri, community development, Conservation, endangered species, environmental education, mona guenon, mona monkey, monkey, Monkeys, Nigeria, Nigerian wildlife, Preuss’s guenon, Preuss’s money, primates, putty-nosed guenon, putty-nosed monkey, rainforest, rare species, Red-capped mangabey, red-eared guenon, red-eared monkey, Sclater’s guenon, Sclater’s monkey, short-term volunteers, threatened species, volunteers, wildlife

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Category: Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Monkeys, Nigeria, Rain Forests, Uncategorized | Date: Mar 04 2008 | By: admin

Whenever I try to explain my address to one of the many bike taxi’s in Calabar, I simply have to say “Dat monkey place” and the driver immediately knows exactly where to take me. In the local area we are definitely best known for our monkey rehabilitation and education work, but people are less aware that we also protect prime rainforest habitat. Protecting rainforest in Cross River is vital, not only to preserve the immense biodiversity of the region, but also to safeguard the livelihoods of human populations.

View from CERCOPAN tree platform over the Iko Esai Community forest

In communities such as Iko Esai, that are heavily dependent on the forest for survival, conversion can have devastating consequences, particularly for the poorest families. As such residents are working with CERCOPAN to develop and implement a Land Use Management Plan (LUMP) to conserve their forest for both immediate use and the benefit of future generations. The 12,000 hectare forest area is home to elephant, red river hog, drill monkeys, bushbabies, guenons, buffalo and Situnga among many other species both large and small. In fact, only a few weeks ago I almost tripped over a Pangolin whilst using the light from a mobile phone to sleepily navigate my way to the camp toilet!

Aerial photgraph of Iko Esai protected zones, Cross River National Park and surrounding areas

The Iko Esai Land Use Management Plan includes 4 zones; a core area (400ha), research area (2600ha), conservation area (12,000ha) and a sustainable management (for local timber extraction)/farming zone (approximately 8000ha). Whilst non timber forest products such as bush mango and snails can be collected in the research and conservation areas, all forms of exploitation in the core area are prohibited. This policy is upheld by Esira, Igwe, Obun and Gabriel, who patrol the area on a shift basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each member of the patrol team was once an Iko Esai hunter who has been re-trained by CERCOPAN to protect the very species that he once sought to kill.

Patrol members Esira and Igwe

It is very rare that hunters enter the core area, but even if they simply pass through, the chiefs council takes the matter very seriously. In fact, the last person caught walking within the core at night was fined two bunches of plantain, one crate of beer, two bottles of local gin and a goat! The monkey hunting ban is taken even more seriously as you can hear from the clipping from a speech made by the traditional ruler of Iko Esai that I have included below. Thankfully, not a single person has been found hunting or in possession of a dead monkey since the onset of the ban in 2006.

chief-owai.mov
Excerpt from a speech made by Chief Owai regarding the killing of monkeys

Signs placed around the boundaries of the core area (the reverse reads “By order of Iko Esai”)

In the future, we hope to develop similar agreements with the communities immediately neighbouring Iko Esai. This move would offer the potential to protect over 40,000 ha of habitat bordering the entire western flank of the Cross River National park. The National Park is home to over 199 species, including Leopard, Chimpanzee and the most endangered of all African primates; the Cross River Gorilla. By providing a buffer to the park we would effectively help to protect all of these species and to maintain the integrity of this globally important conservation area.

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Category: Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Monkeys, Nigeria, Uncategorized | Date: Dec 25 2007 | By: admin

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from all of the staff and Volunteers at CERCOPAN!

A couple of days ago I was handed a letter from the Conservation club of Agoi Ibami. I found it very touching and would like to share it with you.

“Community secondary school, Agoi Ibami gives Kudos to CERCOPAN
The good work of CERCOPAN in conservation of nature and primates deserves commendation, especially her introduction of conservation club in secondary schools within and outside of the catchment area of the Rhoko camp. The introduction of conservation club by the coordinator in 2003 came up due to the relocation of a refuse dump in the school. It gained popularity in 2004 when it was inaugurated by the educational unit of CERCOPAN under the leadership of Mr Jerry Akparawa and uncle Tony.

The good works of CERCOPAN must not be wasted. To this end the youths, the stakeholders, farmers and all of the forest users should hear and understand the language of conservation and the ban on killing of monkeys”

Igban Dance group performing “Allow monkey to live”

The reason that this letter struck a particular chord with me was that it proved others had been similarly affected by the release occasion. As conservationists, it can be easy to become overwhelmed and disillusioned by the magnitude of the task we set ourselves. It is sometimes difficult to see how we will ever make a difference when despite monumental effort by people around the world, forests and animals continue to disappear and attitudes often remain unchanged. The release occasion was special to me because for the first time ever, I no longer felt the aim of my job was to stall for time in the hope that circumstances would change before nothing was left. I felt as though we had changed circumstances, we were winning and that all of our hard work was truly worthwhile.

Man from Iko Esai wearing monkey skull necklace when CERCOPAN first arrived in the village

When CERCOPAN first began working with the village of Iko Esai in 2000, monkeys were hunted, the forest was being logged and conservation was a word that people simply didn’t use. Seven years on, the 300ha core area is fully protected from all forms of exploitation, the village have imposed a ban on hunting monkeys and conservation is becoming a part of daily life. On the 9th November we organised an occasion in the village to mark the release of three mona monkeys into the core area. The aim of the event was to raise awareness of the release project within Iko Esai and in the neighbouring communities of Owai, Agoi Ibami, Ekperem and Ifumpka. Although we set an agenda, we gave the villages’ free reign to present whatever deemed appropriate.

Conservation club drama presentation

It is difficult to select one particular part of the release occasion that affected me most, to be quite frank there were just so many memorable moments. It could have been when the Igban dancers presented “Allow monkey to live”, or when the children cautioned through drama and song that they would be left with nothing if destructive activities were allowed to continue. I certainly had tears in my eyes when person after person, from village after village, stood up and proclaimed the desperate need to protect their natural heritage. In the end however, I believe the greatest impact for me was hearing a crowd of over a thousand people from many different communities all chanting “Allow monkey to live” in unison. When you spend each day working to protect and conserve primates, what could ever mean more than that?

Please click on the small video clip below to view an impassioned speech on the release occasion.

allowmonkeytolive.wmv

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Category: Cercopan, Communities, Education, Nigeria, Uncategorized | Date: Dec 21 2007 | By: admin

There are many components which have contributed to the success of our community programme, but the most important has been establishing royalties, community development projects and employment. In 2006, we started the sustainable livelihoods program in Iko Esai and worked with the youth association to sponsor 9 men and 9 women in alternative livelihood apprenticeships (driving, sewing, baking). We also trained and sponsored 4 groups of men and women for training in snail farming, bread baking workshops and small business development.

Bread making training in Iko Esai

Our latest project is to build a community centre in the village. The centre will include a visitor area, small library with reading rooms and a classroom/ meeting room. We hope to hold adult literacy classes at night (after people have returned from farm), health seminars about HIV and the benefits of clean water etc and sustainable livelihoods training. The centre will also be used as a centre for conservation education where we will offer lectures and show films about wildlife.

When I first announced the building of the community centre to the Chiefs council a few months ago, everyone became deadly quiet. After a few moments the clan head, Chief Etan spoke and said “Sometimes it is impossible to put into words how you feel”. He then disappeared and was away quite some time before returning with a grin on his face brandishing a large bunch of bananas. In my own country we say it with flowers, but it seems in Iko Esai, when words are simply not enough, you say it with bananas.

Members of the Chiefs Council - Centre Chief Owai, (Traditional ruler), Left Chief Etan (Clan Head)

A couple of days ago, Chief Etan and Chief Owai (the traditional ruler) took me to visit the land that they are donating for the centre. It was difficult to tell which of us was most excited. Obviously it will be a long process and this was only the first step, but from small beginnings big things can grow. We are now seeking funds in order to complete the centre, watch this space over the coming months to read about our progress.

Claire, Richard and Mike (Community Liaison Officer) visiting the new Community Centre site

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