Gecko Newsletter Autumn 2009

GECKO Sri Lanka Registered Charity No. 1116949

Gecko Sixes 2009

Special Points of Interest:

• Past events – see what we’ve gotten up to. • Projects that we’ve supported – see where the money went! • Future events – what to look forward to…

Individual Highlights:

Gecko Sixes

2

Sky Dive

3

Lady Rideway Hospital

4

Limb fitting

5

Committee elections

6

Future events7 Contact us

Newsletter Date th 9 Sep 2009 Volume 1 Issue 2

8

On Saturday 27th June, the second edition of The Gecko Sixes took place, in the thankfully sunny surroundings of Stoke Recreation Ground in Surrey. The tournament, which was 6 a-side, 6 overs per team, was keenly contested by a refreshingly varied crowd which hailed from all parts of the country; boys and girls, young and old, the talented and... the frankly hopeless. In all, 8 teams took part, with the first round consisting of two groups of four. The group stages were interesting to say the least, and the top two teams from each group emerged to compete in the semi-finals. In the first group, “Judd's Packers” won all their games, and were followed into the knock-out stage by Team Greene. In Group Two, the returning “Leelanandas” topped the table, with some sensational last-over heroics propelling the “OGs” into the semi-finals as well. The two local teams fought it out in the first semi-final, and the formbook was overturned as the “OGs” cantered to comfortable victory over “Judd's Packers”. In the other semi-final, Team Greene looked set for the final before choking in the very last over and handing victory to the “Leelanandas”. Buoyed by this triumph, the “Leelanandas” stormed to an easy win in the final against the “OGs”. Jehan Leelananda was awarded the

Above: Jehan goes for a big shot

metaphorical “Man of the Tournament” award for his brilliance in the big games. The event also saw the auction of a number of valuable signed cricket items, which were seized upon by the eager crowd. Throughout the day, refreshments were available for competitors and spectators alike, and this added to the carnival atmosphere of the event. The day was a major success, raising over £570. We hope everyone enjoyed their day at the Gecko Sixes and would like to thank everybody, both those who came as guests, and those who helped out, for making the day a particularly memorable one. Ham

Above: Team photograph

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Skydive

Above: Suvi ‘s skydive Below: The Grand Union Bar

In February 2009, Nilmini Herath and I jumped out of the sky 13,000 feet! Yes that's right, we did a sky dive in aid of Gecko Sri Lanka. We raised £855, and every penny was worth the sleepless nights, the trembling hands and lack of food we could stomach the day before the jump. It was an amazing experence and if you are up for an adrenaline challenge, this is definitely a way to challenge yourself. Please contact us if you are interested jumping for Gecko Sri Lanka. It's free as long as you raise money for this

We are happy to announce that elections for a new committee are scheduled to take place in December.

President Vice President Treasurer Secretary Communication/ Membership Sec Publicity Officer PR Officer Events Coordinator x2 General Committee Member x4

&

securing

Suvi

And last but by no means least, the General Committee Members will be there to support the rest of the committee. So if you think you could help out in any way, get involved! Just send us a short paragraph explaining why you would be

Upcoming Events

Committee Elections

Committee Positions:

venues, caterers worthy acts). charity!!

As well as the normal committee positions; President, VP, and Treasurer we have several new positions available. The Secretary’s role will change slightly – being responsible for organising meetings, setting agendas and keeping minutes while the new Communications/Membership Sec will administer the Gecko email account and keep a database of members. The Publicity Officer will run our advertising campaigns (creating posters and newsletters) whereas the PR Officer will supervise any texts written by us or about us in the press. The 2 Events Coordinators will oversee the organisation of our fund-raising events (booking

Meet ‘n’ Greet Date: Venue:

Fri 16th October Grand Union Bar Camden, London

Heard about Gecko? Interested in finding our what we actually do? Or do you just enjoy meeting new people over a friendly drink? Then this event is perfect for you! Held in the lovely Grand Union Bar-Grill in Camden, just a five minute walk from the tube station, it’s an ideal venue for a relaxed night out. We look forward to seeing you soon! AGM Date: Sat 12th/19th December Venue: Imperial College, London Join us for our AGM, where we review our progress in the year and decide on the next year’s goals. At this meeting we will also be electing our new committee. Come along and have your say!

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Gecko’s Got Talent Date: March/April Venue: TBC Singer? Dancer? Comedian? We need you! Come along to our friendly informal variety show.

Projects

Lady Ridgeway Hospital In 2008 Gecko made a donation of approx. £3000 (raised by Suvi’s marathon) to ward 9 of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital. This summer, I had a chance to visit the hospital and see how our money was spent. Lady Ridgeway is a children's hospital situated in Colombo but serving many patients from more remote areas of the country, which lack medical services. It is now considered to be one of the largest children's hospitals in the world treating over 1000 patients a day despite insufficient resources for the task, with children often sharing beds for months at a time and a severe lack of basic medical equipment and facilities. At the time of my visit, the hospital was having to deal with a dengue fever epidemic and an influx of transfers from the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the North who were victims of the war, but the staff of ward 9, who are used to dealing with crises, seemed to take this all in their stride. Ward 9 stands separately to the main construct of the hospital, and is

certainly one of wards most in need of support. The funds we raised were to begin to equip a room as an Intensive Care Unit. Our donation funded a centralised oxygen system which each of the 8 ICU beds can be plugged into (see pic 1). We also funded some of the furniture for the unit, and an infant probe which is used to monitor how very young patients are responding to their treatment (see pic 2). Until that point the ward only had probes to fit older children, which often gave incorrect readings for infants, so this was an important investment for them. their progress. Niki I feel very fortunate to have seen the results of our donation in use, and to have met many of the patients and their parents, as well as the medical staff who make it all possible. In spite of all the difficulties I definitely found a degree of optimism on the ward, with many inspiring tales of resilience and compassion. There is a long way to go, but things are definitely improving for ward 9, and it is a wonderful thing for Gecko to have been part of that - definitely worth all 26 miles of

Mobile clinic

artificial

limb

One of the many tragedies of the civil war in Sri Lanka is the number of civilians who have lost limbs during the conflict. Gecko Sri Lanka has recently donated a sum of £1000 to a mobile artificial limb clinic that helps these people get back on their feet. On their most recent visit in July, Dr Bandara Panagamuwa, a Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, and his team of volunteers traveled to the Vanni region in the north of Sri Lanka and provided prosthetic limbs to 134 amputees of all ages in just 2 weeks. Another visit is already underway and more planned for the future. We will keep you informed of

Gecko Sri Lanka

Address: 34 Redlake Drive, Pedmore Stourbridge, West Midlands DY9 0RX UK Phone: Niki 07921 760 932 Nileeka 07920 405 471 E-Mail: geckosrilanka@gm ail.com Website: www.geckosrilanka .co.uk

Contact us… For more information please visit out website. Don’t forget out group pages on the social networking sites Facebook and Myspace. Just search for Gecko Sri Lanka, and please go ahead and add yourselves to the group!

If you ever require more information or wish to get more involved, particularly in the organisation of events, please do not hesitate to contact us by email. We’re always looking for new ideas!