The Cambridge Supporters’ Group raises £6,000 for families in Bulgaria

The Cambridge Supporters’ Group has raised an amazing £6,000 this year for Family Strengthening Programmes in Bulgaria.

This year the Cambridge Supporters’ Group chose the Family Strengthening Programmes (FSP) in Bulgaria to be the beneficiary of their fundraising. Their events, which are always well attended and very successful, included a Spring Walk, a Tennis Tournament, an outdoor Jazz evening and a Golf Day. The money they have raised is being used by the FSPs in Veliko Tarnovo. It will enable the FSPs to provide support for the many vulnerable families who they are working with. During the summer holidays they ran a Summer School for children who would be starting school in September for the first time, and who have had no pre-school experience.

Many of the parents of these children are illiterate, and many are from the Roma community. The social workers at the FSPs are working with them to help them to understand the importance of education for their children and what being at school involves. In addition, they are helping the parents to gain confidence and to find their own solutions to some of the difficult situations they encounter in their lives. On the first day of the summer school, the FSP organised a visit for children with special educational needs, and their parents, to a pony farm in a nearby village. At the end of the Summer School the children were presented with certificates as well as backpacks, notebooks and pencils, ready for the new term. During the school year the social workers will continue to work with the parents, encouraging dialogue and helping them to be more responsible parents. One of the parents said, “Although we are illiterate and we are unemployed, we want our children to learn.”

The National Director, Mr Plamen Stoyanov wrote to thank the Supporter’s Group and said, “I would like to thank the Cambridge Supporters’ Group, not only for the donations that make it possible to support families, but for the empathy, which you all show towards their problems, the human concern for the future of the children and the shared joy for their success.”

The SOS Cambridge Supporters’ Group’s next event will be a talk by Professor Christopher Andrew about The Cambridge Spies. It will take place on Wednesday 17th February, 2010, at 7.30pm, in The Music School of The Leys School, Trumpington Road, Cambridge. Tickets are £12.50 (including light refreshments) and will be available from Peter Magill, tel.01223 841866, email e.p.magill@googlemail.com

Christopher Andrew, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at The University of Cambridge, is the Official Historian of the British Security Services. His most recent book, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, was published in October 2009.