Striving towards and actively assisting in the financial stability, educational fulfillment, physical wellbeing and cultural enrichment of the rural communities in Haryana.

April 2009

The Trust is deeply saddened by news of the death of Dr James Partridge on 17 April 2009.

James was one of the founding trustees of the Buwan Kothi International Trust. He had also served as a Warwickshire County Councillor and had been a member of the board of the National Children's Bureau. James was a retired paediatrician who spent 40 years treating sick children, rejecting private practice because he believed passionately in the egalitarian principles of the National Health Service. These views were reaffirmed in an article in the Guardian where James spoke about his illness. It was published the day after he died.

James had also been the Warwickshire representative of the Botanical Society of the British Isles and plants were undoubtedly an obsession. Many of us will remember him striding through the fields surrounding Buwan Kothi in Haryana in 2005, collecting and identifying samples of grass. Several species had never been formally identified before.

Our thoughts are with his wife Mary, his son Ben and his daughters Emily and Sarah.

On 26 April, Trustees agreed to rename our Assisted Places Scheme, which is funded by standing order donations from the our supporters in the UK.

It becomes the Dr James Partridge Fund in James' memory and will subsidise free places for those who would otherwise be unable to attend the Gilly Mundy Memorial Community School.

April 2009

New photographs from the recent trip by trustees to the Gilly Mundy Memorial Community School, for the celebrations of the school's first anniversary, are now available online. These include:

New pictures of the school buildings.

Celebrations by pupils on 17 March of the school's first anniversary.

Photos of the Kabbadi tournament organised to mark the school's first full year.

For more pictures of our work in India and our fundraising activities in the UK, visit the BKIT Photo Blog.

February 2009

“The weather in England is nothing compared to the weather in India. We have rain, rain and rain and sometimes once a year we have snow!” Days after the heaviest snowfall in southern England in more than a decade, over 40 children aged nine and ten years old at Estcots Primary School in East Grinstead, West Sussex, were busy writing letters to their counterparts at the Gilly Mundy Memorial Community School in Haryana – and it was clear that the subject of the weather was close to their minds!

The letters, along with photos of the town, were taken out to India by BKIT Trustees in late February, as part of the Trust’s efforts to build closer links between our major project in Lehrian and schools in the UK. We hope that by April, the children at Estcots will have received replies and that this will be the first step towards further contact between the two schools. The development of similar links is currently underway at Weston Park school in north London.

We would like to thank the pupils of Year 5 at Estcots Primary School and their teachers for all of their hard work.

February 2009

Over 230 people attended a gala dinner at the Town Hall in Royal Leamington Spa on 21 February, held to raise funds for the Buwan Kothi International Trust. Leamington District Councillor Mota Singh, who is one of BKIT’s trustees, welcomed honoured guests including Consul V V Narayanan, representing the Consulate General of India in Birmingham, the local Member of Parliament James Plaskitt and the Mayor of Royal Leamington Spa, Cllr Kailash Chander. The evening raised over £3500 towards the Trust’s work.

The Trust would like to thank everyone who attended, the many individuals and local businesses who donated raffle prizes, Kick It Out for their donation of a signed Liverpool FC shirt for auction and the Lady Mayoress, Vinod Chander, for the generosity of her winning bid.

January 2009

The Buwan Kothi Challenge 2009 sponsored cycle ride to raise funds for BKIT will take place on

Sunday 19 July 2009

This is the third ride we have organised and this year there are two distances - 25 miles for inexperienced cyclists and 50 miles for the more ambitious.

Both routes start and finish in Leamington Spa. The 25=mile circuit passes Warwick Castle, over the M40 to Charlecote, Wellesbourne, Lighthorne, passing Chesterton Windmill and on to Harbury and then to Whitnash. The countryside in Warwickshire is beautiful and the route follows quiet public roads and bridleways.

For the first time, we are asking supporters who are planning to ride, or are able to help out on the day, to register in advance so we have a clearer idea of who will be taking part.

You can download a registration form here [ Word, 155 kB]. Please complete and return the form by e-mail or by post to

Buwan Kothi International Trust
PO Box 51077
London
E7 7AL

January 2009

You can find new photos on the BKIT Photo Blog from the visit in October 2008 by BKIT Trustees Debbie Quargnolo and Stephanie Carney, to Buwan Kothi and the Gilly Mundy Memorial Community School.

These include the children from the school participating in celebrations for the 300th anniversary of the Guru Grant Sahib, any opportunity for some to try out the digital cameras donated by Buwan Kothi International Trust supporters in the UK.

December 2008

The Trust has launched a new YouTube channel with video clips about our work.

For more information and to subscribe, visit:

The Buwan Kothi Channel

December 2008

From 1st December 2008, the new postal address for the Buwan Kothi International Trust changes to:

Buwan Kothi International Trust
PO Box 51077
London
E7 7AL

If you are corresponding with the Trust, please can you make sure that you use this new address. Our registered charity address remains unchanged.

More news from the Buwan Kothi International Trust in 2008