We held a really excellent meeting here at FootSteps last night, to discuss the formation of a new charitable trust ‘Friends of Nowder’ which will operate in the UK to raise money for The HRA Foundation, a community capacity building project in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. The HRA foundation was set up by Bangladeshi born Cheltenham resident Arosh Ali, a member of Global Footsteps; we have been working closely with him to develop the foundation.
As word has spread about the HRA several individuals have expressed an interest in finding out more. With this in mind Arosh Ali and Global Footsteps invited them all to FootSteps to enjoy some homemade ‘Curry with Love’ The meeting was intentionally informal with the aims of getting everyone acquainted with each other, The HRA and the proposed new charitable trust. Our guests shared experiences of Bangladesh and offered a lot of useful advice on positive ways forward for the HRA and ‘Friends of Nowder’. Cheltenham MP, Martin Horwood, a long time supporter of the project dropped in to confirm his backing of the project, it is hoped that he will agree to become the Patron of ‘Friends of Nowder’. Jerry and Sue Barr of Transition Cleeve who have both visited Bangladesh were very enthused by the project as were Professor Stephen Martin and his wife Maureen. Stephen and Maureen offered a lot of excellent advice and suggestions both in terms of what the project could achieve in Bangladesh and what needs to be done here in the UK to raise funding and profile. The meeting was also attended by Leo Guttridge, Mary Paterson, Dennis Mitchell, Nicola Oliver and Morgan Phillips from Global Footsteps who are all keen to be involved in the project.
The nucleus of a strong and experienced team seems to be evolving, arrangements are being made for a second meeting, this time in Broadway with James Powell when we hope to make further progress on the establishment of Friends of Nowder.
You can read more about The HRA FOUNDATION on our website
Friday 28th August, 2009. 12.00pm - 11.59pm: Fundraising Event: Tour de Inner Ring Road @ 'Footsteps' and Cheltenham Inner Ring Road
Thursday 10th September 2009. 6.30pm - 8.00pm: Global Footsteps Gardening Community: Inaugural Meeting @ 'Footsteps', 16 Portland St, GL52 2PB
Thursday 17th September, 2009. 6.30pm - 8.00pm: Global Footsteps book club: Inaugural Meeting @ 'Footsteps', 16 Portland St, GL52 2PB
Friday 18th September, 2009. 4pm onwards: The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy Launch event (Invite only) @'Footsteps', 16 Portland St, GL52 2PB
Sunday 20th September, 2009. 7.30pm : Hiroshima!!! - Remembered; Revisited; Regretted? @ Friends Meeting House, Warwick Place, Cheltenham
Saturday 26th September, 2009. 4pm onwards: Positively 16 Portland Street: Totally unplugged music @ 'Footsteps', 16 Portland St, GL52 2PB
Thursday 15th October, 2009. 6.30pm onwards: Stitch and Bitch Club @ 'Footsteps', 16 Portland St, GL52 2PB
Thursday 22nd October, 2009. 6.30pm - 8.00pm: Global Footsteps book club @ 'Footsteps', 16 Portland St, GL52 2PB
