Cranleigh Interact Club

The student members of the Cranleigh and St Joseph's Interact Club, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cranleigh, have recently been raising money for the 'School In A Bag' project. Run by The Piers Simon Appeal, the project works with children overseas who are victims of natural disasters and for whom education offers their passport to a life out of hardship and poverty.

The youngsters presented the charity with a cheque for £250, which they had raised by selling wrist bands, T-shirts and their most popular fundraiser - doughnuts!

The proceeds were used to purchase 17 school bags, which the club members enjoyed filling with school equipment, including pens, pencils, water bottles and lunch boxes. The bags will be sent to schools in Africa, and each bag is numbered so that the students know exactly where they have been sent.

Since it was formed four years ago by students from Cranleigh School and St Joseph's School, Cranleigh, the Interact Club has been a keen supporter of various charities.

In 2011, the pupils raised £500 for 'Help for Heroes'. Then, on 14 November 2012, the Club President, Sophia Ambrose, was delighted to present Jeremy Heath, from Water Aid, with a cheque for £500. Water Aid works to help communities in developing countries with have no clean water or proper sanitation.

Other charities the Interact Club has supported include Touraid, which gives children from the poorest parts of the developing world the opportunity to come on sports tours to Britain, and Lifebeat, a charity that organises summer camps for teenagers from all parts of Britain in order to help them to express themselves through creative arts.

Cranleigh School is a large public school and St Joseph’s is a specialist school for children and young people with complex learning and behavioural difficulties. The links between the schools go back many years.

The Cranleigh and St Joseph’s Interact Club was chartered on 10 June 2010. Attending the Charter ceremony were District Governor David Hodge and DGN Simon Crowther. Also in attendance were a number of VIPs, including the Mayor of Waverley, Mrs Carole Cockburn.

Updates on the Interact Club can be found by searching the Charity News section on the Cranleigh School website: https://www.cranleigh.org/talk_about_radio_lollipops/category/charity/ .

Interact is the youth arm of Rotary, for students between 14 and 18 years old, and aims to bring young people together as a social group and to raise money for projects at home and overseas.