Archived News - Kagando
Churches raise cash to help Uganda hospital
Kind-hearted Eaton Bray folk have raised more than £2,000 to help a hospital in Uganda.
Local physiotherapist Rebecca Baldock returned to St Mary's Church as part of her annual holiday to pick up a cheque for the Kagando Hospital.
During 2006 the congregations of St Mary's and All Saints Dagnall collected £5,291 between them.
Rebecca said that because of the support offered by the churches the hospital - close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo - has now been equipped with basic equipment, including a blood pressure monitor.
A path has also been built thanks to donations, which means wheelchairs and patients with crutches can now move between surgical wards and the physiotherapy department.
During her talk Rebecca also highlighted the hope that the hospital brought to local people, and stressed how grateful the community was for the churches' fundraising efforts.
Source: Dunstable Gazette, 14 March 2007
Kagando Hospital and the Christmas Puzzle
It may only be the end of February today, but I've got some news about Christmas for you.
Yes, yes, I know we haven't had Easter yet.
But festive puzzle master Gordon Gray, of Northall, has already set his Christmas charity challenge for this year.
How's that for being organised?
Hold your horses, though - the puzzle won't be available to tackle until December 8.
Just giving you a little advance notice.
Last year's puzzle has raised £3,000, split equally between the Friends of Kagando Hospital, Uganda, and the roof fund for St Mary's Church, Eaton Bray.
Since the annual puzzle was launched, back in 1991, it has raised an amazing £24,065.
Why the Kagando Hospital, you ask.
Well, that was the St Mary's 2006 parish project.
Physiotherapist Rebecca Baldock has been working at the hospital, and has been sending back regular updates to the United Kingdom.
Rebecca's father Martin is a former Dunstable Grammar School head boy, who went on to become a vicar, and her grandfather Eric Baldock ran a chemist's at the top of George Street, in Dunstable, until his retirement.
Her friends and family are sure to be glad that she's flown home for a brief holiday.
And she'll be giving an illustrated talk at 8pm on Monday, March 5, at St Mary's, Eaton Bray.
PS. Don't forget to circle the date of December 8 in your diary. That's the day to dust off your thinking caps for Gordon's latest perplexing puzzle.
Source: Anne O'Donoghue, Dunstable Gazette, 28 February 2007
Special welcome for African bishop
Villagers in Eaton Bray played host to Ugandan clergyman Bishop Benezeri Kisembo for a special service in the village church.
The visit was arranged by Anglican missionary group, SOMA (Sharing of Ministries Abroad), whose national director, the Rev Don Brewin, lives in Great Billington.
He arranged for the visit to enable people in churches in Bedfordshire to hear first-hand about what is happening in the Church in Uganda and to allow the bishop to meet with church leaders here on the current situation of the Church in England.
Bishop Kisembo's diocese, Ruwenzori, is in SW Uganda and borders on the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is close to the Kagando Hospital which is being financially supported by parishioners from Eaton Bray and Edlesborough.
Since the start of the year fund-raisers at St Mary's Church have raised more than £2,000 for the hospital.
The money was collected at a series of events held throughout the year around Eaton Bray and Edlesborough, including beetle drives, barn dances and open gardens.
The Kagando Hospital was adopted as the annual parish project thanks to the work of Rebecca Baldock, a local physiotherapist, who is working there as part of the African Inland Mission.
For more information about the hospital in Uganda go to www.stmaryseatonbray.org.uk/Parish-Project/2006/.
To donate money for the project cheques payable to St Mary's PCC can be sent to Canon Malcolm Grant at The Vicarage, High Street, Eaton Bray, Dunstable, LU6 2DN. Please enclose a note explaining what the money is for.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 24 October 2006
Ugandan hospital backed by cash boost
A hospital in Uganda is set for a much-needed cash boost thanks to the generosity of parishioners in Eaton Bray and Edlesborough.
Since the start of the year fundraisers at St Mary's Church have been raising money for the Kagando Hospital in the Kasese district in the south-west of the country . To date they have raised more than £2,000.
The money was collected at a series of events held throughout the year around Eaton Bray and Edlesborough, including beetle drives, barn dances and open gardens.
The Kagando Hospital was adopted as the annual parish project thanks to the work of Rebecca Baldock, who used to be a lay-reader at the Priory Church in Dunstable.
Rebecca, a physiotherapist, is working at the hospital as part of the African Inland Mission.
Canon Malcolm Grant, vicar of Eaton Bray, said: "We believe that the church has a responsibility to do what it can to help others, at home and overseas, and we in the developed nations have a particular responsibility to share our prosperity with those who have so little of the world's resources."
The hospital provides a vital service in an area at the heart of the Aids pandemic and torn apart by internal conflict.
Fundraisers at St Mary's are hoping to arrange a visit to the hospital, which is close to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but no definite plans have been agreed yet.
The fundraising effort is set to continue next month, and half the proceeds from the church's Christmas Fayre on Saturday, November 18 will go toward the Kagando Hospital.
For more information about the hospital in Uganda go to www.stmaryseatonbray.org.uk/Parish-Project/2006/
To donate money for the project cheques payable to St Mary's PCC can be sent to Canon Malcolm Grant at The Vicarage, High Street, Eaton Bray, Dunstable, Beds LU6 2DN. Please enclose a note explaining what the money is for.
Source: Dunstable Today, 13 October 2006
Open gardens raise funds for hospital
Eaton Bray's first open gardens day was a blooming success.
The sunny weather helped attract nearly 350 visitors to the six busiest gardens, all in walking distance of St Mary's Church.
May's rain and June's warmth had left the gardens in top condition with even the roses opening up just a few days before the event. Eleven owners of gardens and allotments worked hard to make their plots look so attractive and the event a success. Their hard work also paid off financially, as more than £2,000 was raised to support the St Mary's Parish project - the Friends of Kagando Hospital in Uganda.
The garden owners spent their Sunday afternoon fielding questions about their gardens and, in some cases, talking about and learning from visitors about the history of their properties.
Already people are offering to open their gardens for 2007.
Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 20 June 2006