Tag: Joanne Byrne

Joanne & Alison’s Fantastic Firewalk

https://gofund.me/c127c5e9 to show your support for Joanne & Alison, two of our fantastic firewalkers http://www.changinglivesmalawi.com

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Sarah’s blog 25/03/24

What an amazing evening it was last night for our four firewalkers taking part in the charity firewalk event in Milngavie, organised by Allander Rotary Club.

We are going to share Joanne and Alison’s photos and videos first of all. David Braid and Alistair Blair, who are teachers at Balfron High School, want to do a presentation to students at school on Wednesday. We have said we will share their photos and videos after Wednesday. So here goes for Joanne & Alison – thankfully their feet have survived ok…Joanne got a blister and they both had very dirty feet that needed a good wash before bedtime!

Joanne Byrne is my younger (and much braver than me) sister. She owns Killearn Driving School. Joanne has had a rough few years as she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy, several other operations due to infections and is now waiting for reconstructive surgery. She is such an amazingly strong person and I am so proud that she challenged herself to do this firewalk. She was amazing! It’s not the first time she has raised money for Changing Lives Malawi so we are very grateful.

Alison Rennie is Joanne’s best friend and such a lovely person. She is a friend to everyone and always has a big smile. She has issues with her joints and can be very tired due to having lupus. Despite this, Alison was up for a challenge and did brilliantly last night. She had a minor mishap prior to the firewalk….she nearly got stuck in the toilet! She assured us she wasn’t trying to get out of the firewalk but was genuinely worried she would miss it! Thankfully, she made it out on time!

Thank you to everyone who has donated already. If you haven’t then we would be very grateful if you could give a few £££. Their link is https://gofund.me/c127c5e9 Enjoy the photos and videos!

All money will be going towards building a staffroom at Bright Futures Secondary School and buying textbooks. Currently, the teachers are using classroom 4 as their staffroom. However, in September, there will be another intake of students and all four classrooms will be in use for teaching. Also more teachers will need to be employed by September so a staffroom is a necessity for them. As there is no S4 yet, we have no textbooks for next year’s S4 students yet, so this is another essential resource we are fundraising for.

Many thanks to Allander Rotary for organising the event and to Milngavie Guides for hosting. Thank you again to all our supporters and to Joanne & Alison and David & Alistair for being such good sports and taking part to help give vulnerable students a brighter future in rural northern Malawi. Thanks, Sarah x

NB Apologies for the poor quality of some of the photos – smoke from the fire was to blame rather than my bad photography lol.

Alison, Alistair, David and Joanne…. our four fantastic firewalkers!
https://videopress.com/v/0XY2EF68?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
Brilliant! Well done Alison!
Great job Joanne…well done!
Brilliant Joanne! The smile says it all!

Our Firewalkers are in the news again!

Our charity and our brave firewalkers have made the local and national news!!

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Sarah’s blog 4/3/24

Well, last week the story of our four amazing firewalkers appeared in our local paper, The Stirling Observer. This week it is in the national paper – The Daily Record. Thank you to both of these newspapers for running this story and raising awareness of our charity and the firewalking event organised by Allander Rotary. The firewalk is taking place in Milngavie on 24th March.

Scots friends take on daring fire walk to raise vital funds towards African charity – Daily Record

We are raising funds for a staffroom at Bright Futures Secondary School and to buy more textbooks. All of the money that my sister Joanne and her best friend Alison raise will go to our charity. Their link to donate is https://gofund.me/c127c5e9

Also, we have Mr Braid and Mr Blair, teachers from our local school – Balfron High School. Their fundraising is half for our charity and half for next year’s school trip volunteering in Zanzibar. Their fundraising link is https://gofund.me/9430b2af

Please show your support for these four brave volunteers as they raise much needed funds. Thank you for your support, Sarah x

David Braid and Alistair Blair

Alison Rennie and Joanne Byrne

Allander Rotary Club are organising this firewalk on 24th March in Milngavie

Joanne’s July Journey

Please show your support for Joanne who is fundraising for a new classroom for Bright Futures Secondary School. Read today’s blog to find out how brave and strong she is.

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Sarah’s blog 31/07/23

My sister is amazing. My sister is strong, brave and determined. She has been through so much in the last few years; finding out she had breast cancer, having her breast removed, several operations, lots of infections, not to mention the mental trauma of all of that.

Whilst she was waiting for her original surgery, she raised money towards the shower block by doing a walking challenge. Now, whilst she is waiting for reconstruction surgery and needing to reduce her BMI slightly, she has taken on another challenge for us. Thank you Joanne.

Bright Futures Secondary School opened last year with two classrooms. Secondary education needs to be paid for in Malawi and none of the teenagers we help to support could afford this. There will be another intake of vulnerable teenagers wanting to start at Bright Futures Secondary School in September, but we need to build another classroom. As there will be more students, we also need to build another toilet block. Will you help us?

She set herself the challenge of walking 200km in July….she’s almost finished…5km left to go and this is her last day. It’s pouring with rain here today, so she would welcome some support. Can you help?

Joanne’s fundraising link is here: https://gofund.me/91721cad If you could spare a few £££ it would be much appreciated. Joanne has taken photos from her walks round the village of Killearn where she lives. If you are a business in Killearn who would like to support Joanne we will give you lots of mentions on social media. We welcome businesses partnering with us to help support the hundreds of orphans we help in rural northern Malawi.

Hope you enjoy Joanne’s photos and please support her if you can. Thank you, Sarah x

Joanne’s walk for a classroom for Bright Futures Secondary School

Joanne is taking on another challenge on behalf of the vulnerable young people we help to support http://www.changinglivesmalawi.com

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Sarah’s blog 30/06/23

In November 2020 my sister, Joanne, was waiting for surgery for breast cancer. She used that time to do a walking challenge to raise money towards the shower block that was being built.

Now, as she’s waiting for reconstructive surgery and needs to lower her BMI slightly, she has said she’s going to challenge herself again. I have no doubt that she will reach her target of 200km in July. As well as being one of the bravest people I know, she is also one of the strongest.

So she has set up a fundraising page to raise money towards a new classroom for Bright Futures Secondary School. Please support her in her challenge as it will mean a great deal to her, to us and, of course, the children who need a new classroom for term starting in September. Joanne’s fundraiser is https://gofund.me/91721cad .

If anyone else wants to set themselves a challenge to fundraise for our charity we would be so grateful and would promote it on social media for you. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Good luck, Joanne and thank you…we know you can do it! Thank you all for reading and your support, Sarah x

Bright Futures Secondary School – phase 2

Joanne one one of her walks in November 2020

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