On 18th October the students of SJBC put on an evening of music, dance and song to raise funds for the children of Don Bosco Ashalayam. It was an evening of warmth and much goodwill as parents, visitors and staff from our schools in Chertsey and Farnborough came together to support the work of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Kolkata.

The first student who came out to Kolkata 9 years ago managed to secure two return flights to New York on Virgin Atlantic for our raffle, and Emirates kindly donated four tickets to see Arsenal play at the Emirates Stadium in London. These very generous donations helped us to raise over £1,000.00 on the evening.

Nova Redz, a parent of a past pupil of Chertsey, brought her group of dancers along to add something extra to the evening's entertainment which ranged in music from Jazz to Classical to Gospel and more.

It was an evening of hope and one which a number of guests have asked us to repeat in the future.

It was good to see a hall full of those connected with the work of the Salesians in one way or another; indeed, there was a real feeling of unity and friendship during the evening. However, most uplifting of all was to see young people giving of their time and talents for the needs of other young people in need, half-way around the world, but within the one family of Don Bosco.

Fr Andrew Ebrahim SDB