Royal Foresters Assists Hall Grove School Raise in Excess of £15k for Tanzania Primary School

Bagshot’s Hall Grove School has long been known for instilling in its pupils a sense of community and citizenship driven by a school motto that roughly translates as “do your duty, come what may.” 

On Friday 22nd June, that message came to life as the parents supported a fund-raising evening of drinking, feasting and dancing at a traditional Jabulani to raise money for Miwaleni Primary School in rural Tanzania. The project was founded by Hall Grove old boy, Paul Jameson who visited the area and was inspired to raise vital funds for the school after he was diagnosed with MND. Following this diagnosis he began a huge fund raising project to help change the lives the others.

Held in a purpose-built tented village, guests experienced the wonderful sights, sounds and tastes of Africa, dining on a delicious freshly prepared buffet then dancing to African music. The cash bar, which raised almost £2,500, was generously provided and run by Oakman Inns who are opening their latest pub, The Royal Foresters on Ascot’s London Road, on Friday July 27th.

The Hall Grove School Jabulani (a Zulu word meaning ‘rejoice’) raised over £15,000 in total and all the funds will go towards Miwaleni Primary School’s project to raise funds for a new dining hall, kitchen, classroom and other facilities. 

Hall Grove School Headmaster, Mr Alastair Graham, said: “The African Jabulani, held at Hall Grove, was a fantastic evening and the culmination of our Africa Week at school. With the help of our new neighbours at the soon-to-be-opened Royal Foresters at Ascot, together with parents, friends and staff of the school, we raised over £15,000 for the Miwaleni Primary School in Tanzania. The funds will be used to build a much-needed dining hall and kitchen as well as upgrading existing facilities in this very poor part of Africa. We are very grateful to all those to attended and gave so generously, and we were delighted with the generous support of Oakman Inns.”  

Adrian Laws, Oakman Inns’ Area Manager for the Royal Foresters, added: “It was the first Jabulani I’d personally been to and the school organised an impressive event which we were thrilled to be able to support.”