Another day spent sorting and preparing for the trip. Notice the extra stylish logos on the vehicle, both Weydon and the end charity to which we will donate the land rover and, hopefully, work with to form an international link between the school and a junior high school in Ghana.

We now have a fixed board on the roofrack which will serve to carry equipment but also as a bed for the night with a roof tent..it's ok folks, note the safety rails to stop me from rolling out during the night!

Starting to sort clothing and individual kit now so we must be nearly ready.

A quick thank you to my own extended family for their help with equiping the vehicle, sponsoring the trip and their support of the youngsters that I leave at home for a month to fend for themselves and look after our dog and ghecko. I will miss you all!

Christmas completed and very pleasantly spent with the family
Spent yesterday sorting all the generous donations that fill my bedroom and garage, straightening the roofrack and rewelding some struts then attaching a board to it to allow us to set up the rooftent and also carry some of the lighter boxes up there after waterproofing them! We have collected our team clothing from the sponsor of the Village by village charity ready for next weeks launch.
The landy now shows its link to Weydon proudly on each side panel and also the Sabretrust logo on the doors. I will attach a photo when I get the chance to load the appropriate software onto this sweet little notebook laptop that the school have lent me. Those of you who know me well will know that I will rise to this challenge, nervously!
Next phase, celebrate my mother's 83rd birthday tomorrow and continue final preparations with a trial pack and writing our manifest (list of vehicle contents) for border controls in french and english. Time ticking by......

Mending complete, the landy now steers with ease and we have fixed the gear box on the way back from Landrover Experience in Yorkshire. Beginning to understand how the engine really works, perhaps I should teach motor mechanics next year!
Started to catalogue the contents of the landy, ready to translate into french, the first language of most of the countries we pass through until Ghana where english is spoken, phew.
Need to prepare home for both christmas and leaving my children to fend for themselves for a month, I shall miss them like crazy I know but will keep in contact as best I can.

Stage One Fundraising, donations and preparing to go

Well, term has ended and the real work can now start.
The landy is having it's steering box replaced as I write to make it easier to drive and I'm busy writing my year 11 reports to leave behind for the new term!
Christmas with the family is fast approaching but tomorrow I must take the team's passports to Hillingdon to the Ghana Embassy to get visas sorted.
I alternate between excitement and pure fear of the unknown. I am so touched by the words of encouragement from my colleagues and the students from school. Thanks to them I have a house full of blankets children's bikes, toys and books, old spectacles, pens, pencils and a range of other useful equipment. The mufti day and collection from the christmas concert alongside generous individual donations mean that the Weydon logo will shine on the side of the landrover with pride! I hope that the links that we will make en route and in Ghana will get our international link well and truely launched.
Miss Frost and I were enthused and excited by a meeting this last week with a representative of the Sabretrust charity to whom the landrover is headed. I will be off to visit a community in the north of the Elmina district in Ghana called Dwabor, where we hope to start our long term project linking to an existing junior high school, for students up to the age of 15.
I will keep you posted!
First I have to pack the landy and make the 4500 mile journey...