Danny and Joe doing a presentation to our friends at the seventh day Adventist church in Skegby,and to thank them for their recent cash donation to people in need charity.
On the 24 th March 2016 Rotherham Sitwell rotary club have invited us for a Cheque presentation to our charity people in need worldwide.
A Cheque was presented by Yogesh Bhimpuria president of Rotherham Sitwell rotary club at the Calton park hotel to people in need worldwide, charity number 1104645.
2016 Welcome to our 2016 news letter,
Thursday 21st April,
Loading up time was with us once more and at 08-30 we collected the van from Perry’s vehicle hire Mansfield, from there we proceeded to the Complete Mobility Shop Sutton-in-Ashfield to collect the items they had so kindly stored for us through the winter, plus more new mobility items they had donated for this years trip, from there we called at a ladies bungalow in Sutton to collect an electric wheelchair, the next stop was at Rotherham to collect a donated electric scooter and specialised Fire fighting equipment from the British fire service, and from a group of ladies in Rotherham some lovely hand knitted blankets, then we returned to Sutton-in-Ashfield collected two brilliant bicycles, then we called it a day.
Friday 22nd April,
The loading continued with the many lovely items that had been donated from the Parish of Skegby and All Saints Stanton Hill, and from the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Sutton-in-Ashfield, these consisted of paracetamol, soap, toothpaste and brushes, children’s books pens pencils crayons, hand made woollen items blankets cardigans hats and slippers, the people of Rotherham and Sutton-in-Ashfield had certainly done themselves and us proud. everything from the UK was now loaded and apart from our own personal belongings the van was ready to go.
Saturday 23rd April,
A last minute phone call from the Complete Mobility Shop they had an electric wheelchair and new batteries for a young person that they delivered to the house brilliant,
15-30hrs it’s time to depart for the overnight ferry from Killinghome to the Heok Van Holland curtesy of Stenaline North Sea to Hume we are extremely grateful.
Sunday 24th April,
Thanks to the Captain and crew of the Stena Transporter for a safe and comfortable crossing we arrived on time at the Heok Van Holland and having had a good full English breakfast, we disembark and make our way to Weorden Holland to meet our friends, and collect a large amount of new clothing for both children and adults, the van is now fully loaded and after a welcomed cup of tea we said goodbye to our friends in Holland and start our journey across mainland Europe, arriving late evening at Meggenhofen Austria.
Monday 25th,
We drive through Austria and Hungary arriving at the Romanian boarder later afternoon the van is cleared to travel we change some GB pounds for Romanian Lei buy the necessary documents and drive another four hours arriving at the city of Deva, it’s late we have a couple of beers then get some sleep.
Tuesday 26th April,
08-00 we depart Deva to make for our first destination a four hour drive to the city of Sighisoara we are visiting and donating some of your items to a charity run Christian centre for the elderly and disabled, that relies on sponsors and charities to keep it operating, they were so very grateful for the amount of clothing, blankets and walking aides that was given, mid afternoon we depart for the town of Victoria at the foot of the Fagaras Mountains to visit the special needs school to see if all is well with the touch sensor equipment and to make a later date to meet and buy £200 worth of special school supplies they need for doing projects with the their students, such as painting on glass etc then they have open days and try to sell some items and the monies raised helps to buy more.Wednesday 27th April,
We have an electric wheelchair for a very disabled boy in a village named Recea Dejani, a very poor family with no chance of ever being able to purchase such equipment, there was so much happiness and excitement from the boy and his disabled sister, and before we left we gave the parents and children new polo shirts, from there we traveled to Ghimbav for an overnight stay and a quick visit to the Samariteanul Milos Children’s home to arrange with them what work needed doing when we returned the following week.
Thursday 28th April,
Our journey took us to the city of Bacau and the special needs school we support, I informed the director less than one hour before our arrival and what a lovely welcome we received, once again we Checked the touch sensor lights were all working OK the director informed us they now employ two speech therapist and the equipment was helping many children, before leaving we gave books and pencils then it was time to head for Barlad.At the placement centre we were once again given a warm welcome, but on checking the sensor equipment we found it had a minor malfunction on the bubble tube and the solar lights were also in need of attention, we immediately examined the bubble tube and found out that the pump had burned out we told them that if they had notified us we would have brought a replacement pump, ( but we think it was a matter of pride )we contacted the manufacturer SpaceKraft who immediately said they would replace the pump no problem, so their electrician was shown how to replace it and the arrangements were made, and the solar lights will also be replaced.
Friday 29th April, ( Good Friday in Romania )
After breakfast we sorted a variety of clothes toothpaste and brushes soap and paracetamol, the remainder of the crayons and books, then we are able to give the electric wheelchair donated by Complete Mobility to a young boy who can’t walk, and at midday we left for Hirsova and a weekend break.Saturday 30th and Sunday May 1st was a public holiday, but life in the rural villages continue we gave out some clothes and the remaining blankets and a new home was found for the two bicycles,
On Saturday night at 23-30hrs we went with our friends to the village church to see a ceremony of lightning the candles, but unknown to Joe and myself the actual light is flown into Romania from Israel, and the flight was delayed by one hour, but the ceremony eventually took place this was another first for us.
Sunday after lunch we traveled to the City of Iasi, it had been arranged that on Monday May 2nd to meet with a lady from another special school to discuss our offer of installing another touch sensor room, but sadly the lady didn’t arrive, two valuable days waisted.
Tuesday 3rd May,
We said goodbye to our friends in Iasi and made our way to Ghimbav and to start doing the work at the children’s home.
Wednesday May 4th,
We started the day nice and early and the plan was to remove and lift the old steel gates so that a new concrete drive can be laid, but before we could get started the heavens opened and it rained all day, so we used plan B and tiled a kitchen wall.
Thursday May 5th,The gate has got to be done we are getting short of time, the weather was still very unsettled but we had to work between the worst of the rain showers, with help from two others the gate was lifted in one piece and laid on the ground then the hinges that are welded on to the main support pole had to be cut off using an angle grinder then welded back on so the gate would be lifted, whilst this was being done we cut and chopped out the concrete so a thick metal plate could be positioned, then a smaller plate with an insert was welded in position so the main pole could turn without moving out of line, when the big gate was finished and repositioned, the same procedure was done to the small entrance gate, yes this is how it works in Romania, and We have to say it’s a good simple system that works well, it was a long wet and cold day.
Friday May 6th
We had a request for a young persons wheelchair that was needed at a special school in Brasov, we were able to help with this request and having spoken with the director and a senior official there maybe the chance of us giving more help in the future, later on Friday morning we met with the director and teachers from the special needs school in Victoria at the beginning of our journey we mentioned that our charity would be giving the equivalent of £200 in Romanian Lei so that they could buy special paints and materials for their work with the children, our day is complete.Saturday May 7th,
We have one final donation to make and to the Samariteanul Milos children’s home we presented to Maja Schyett president of the foundation with the equivalent of £400 in Romanian Lei to use at her discretion on the upkeep of the children’s home.
Sunday May 7th,
We leave Ghimbav and travel to the Ploesti region with equipment for the fire service of Romania donated from the British fire service, and for the villagers in the region clothes were donated, along with an electric scooter, this brought us through Monday 8th May, our van is empty the work of delivering your donated gifts is complete.
Tuesday May 9th,
We start our journey home a day earlier than usual but with a greater distance to cover en-route we have to pass through Ghimbav and we made a quick stop to say goodbye to the children and staff at the children’s home, our day ends at 19-00hrs at the boarder town of Arad.
Wednesday May 10th,
We leave our hotel 07-45hr and head for the border crossing at Nadylac, we had immediately noticed that security had been tightened up for reasons known and it was the same at the Hungarian Austria boarder were the van was once again examined internally, we arrived at Meggenhofen Austria 19-15hrs had a good meal a couple of beers and reflected on the day.
Thursday May 11th,
Our journey takes us out of Austria and into Germany passing through the boarder without any delay, but this was to change, as we passed an intersection on the autobahn two vehicles were sat on the hard shoulder doing vehicle checks, I looked in the mirror and mentioned to Joe that I think they are interested in our van, a few minutes later a VW minibus was sitting on our rear bumper, then he made his move pulled in the front of us the lights on top flashed on Customs Follow us, they took us into a parking area the minibus stopped and immediately six or more guys jumped out and at the same time a police car block us from the back, no this is not a paragraph from a James Bond novel it was happening, first our passports were taken, I was asked to open the rear doors while Joe assisted with the searching of the cab, the question was asked were are you going? Holland I replied, have you traveled through Bulgaria? No we have been doing charity work in Romania, after a 45minute check they wished us a good day and allowed us to continue our journey, we finally arrived at our friends house in Woerden Holland 20-00hrs
Friday May 13th,
We have a relaxing day had a walk to visit Nico the gentleman who had donated the new clothes to give a personal thank you, we then had a walk round the town did some shopping, returned home had a couple of beers before having a lovely meal and some reminiscing before bed.
Saturday May 15th,
After breakfast and more laughter we prepared to say goodbye to our friends and leave for the ferry home, but first we have a very special lady to meet Ms Nell Eichhorn from Stenaline North Sea who so kindly arranges our ferry crossing, it was so nice to meet Nell again and talk about our charity work.
Sunday’s May 16th,
Thanks to Stenaline North Sea for a safe and comfortable crossing we arrive on time at Killinghome we disembarked for home, our journey this year as had many highs we’ve seen laughter and tears, and thanks to our supporters our journey has once again been a success,
On Behalf of People-in-Need ( Worldwide) we say a special thanks to Saint Andrews Church Skegby and All Saints Stanton Hill, Seventh day Adventist Church Sutton-in-Ashfield, Rotherham Sitwell rotary club.Kira supplies, Complete Freedom Mobility Sutton-in-Ashfield, Crookstone Adventure Trust, KeepMoat Employees Doncaster, Stenaline North Sea, Perry’s Van Hire Mansfield, and to all our friends who make donations to our Charity,
We hope you’ve enjoyed the peopleinneedworldwide.web site .
Danny Charles Thompson & Joseph Brian Walker.