The Memory Chain was started at St Mary’s RotaKids in Batley during 2019 as a way to raise funds for their charity. Upper Batley High School Interactors also got involved. It was suggested that people could write the name of a loved one on a band and then when the links were put together by the RotaKids, it would form a long chain. The students discussed how much they could charge per link and decided 50p was a nice sum.
St Mary’s pupils with their memory chains
The aims were twofold, firstly remembering loved ones and secondly to raise funds for their chosen charity, School in a Bag. This charity supplies a school bag complete with packs of pencils, notebooks, a cup, dish and eating utensils to children in countries where, if they don’t have the items, they can’t attend school, and when our RotaKids heard that the children in poor countries only have one pencil to last twelve months they were amazed to think of the number of pencils they have for that time.
Upper Batley High School pupils with their memory chains
The RotaKids then raced around school selling the bands to the staff, and no teacher could escape without purchasing at least one band. The members then took a number of the bands home with them to sell to parents and relatives. In total they raised over £80.00, which paid for four, School in a Bag, bags to be sent overseas to poor countries. Each bag is numbered so that, when we were sent the photo of the children with their bags, the RotaKids could pick them out.
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Juluis and Martha in receipt of their bags in Uganda
Would you like to set up RotaKids in a primary school near you?
Please contact Pat Taylor, our Rotakids Lead via the District Support Team contact form in the Club Support section of this website