sparrow schools foundation

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Young people from Sparrow Schools arrive in the UK on October 1st for a two week tour. They will be performing a specially commissioned musical drama in London, Leatherhead, Oxford, Liverpool and Wexford in Ireland. See the 'What's on?' page of this website for more details and ticketing information.

Over 1,200 people went to a sundrenched Dulwich College on Sunday 15th june to see a charity cricket spectacular when a Lashings World XI played a Sparrow XI. £50,000 was raised for the schools and everyone had a great time.

The Lashings World XI included John Emburey, Alan Mullalley, Phil Defreitas and Ed Giddings of England, Phil Simmons, Tino Best and Alvin Kallicharran of West Indies, Rashid Latif and Mohammed Akram of Pakistan, Dinesh Mongia of India and Henry Olonga and Brendon Taylor of Zimbabwe.

Having won the toss Sparrow decided to put Lashings in to bat first overseen by umpires Allan Lamb and Bill Athey, themselves both members of the last successful English team to bring the Ashes back from Australia in 1986/7.

Although he was dropped in the slips early on, batting honours went to Brendon Taylor who filled his boots (and looked in danger of needing his spare pair) by scoring 165 and helping Lashings to a daunting target of 264 from 30 overs.

The Sparrow bowling had its highlights nevertheless, particularly Tom Savill (3 for 44), Ollie Howick and Paddy Sumner. The fielders came under some heavy fire but never flinched. Dhyan Ranatunga (son of ex-Sri-Lanka captain, Arjuna Ranatunga) kept wicket very ably and the later catches were held, including a steepler solidly gripped by Paddy Sumner.

Appropriately enough there were lashings of cream teas and Pimms to add to the summery atmosphere and the Kingsdale Steel Band and Dulwich Preps Big Band provided musical entertainment.

After tea the Sparrow innings got off to a spirited start with teenagers Max Page and Tom Deasy playing with style and ease against Mohammed Akram and Alan Mullalley. One moment of hesitation however allowed Henry Olonga to show some top class fielding as he threw down the stumps at the bowler’s end from cover point in a flash. In fact Henry was not just on song with the ball, he is well known for his fine operatic voice and had already entertained the 250 formal lunch guests to a very stirring rendition of Nessun Dorma! Tom Deasy carried on to deal with a couple of Tino Best bouncers and chalked up a very creditable 43. After that, although the wickets fell fairly regularly runs were added with gusto, with Kevin Molloy, Hugo Hill, Richard Stowell and Tom Savill all contributing. Dennis Spammer delighted the crowd by hitting one ball onto the roof of the pavilion and a wonderful day’s cricket was brought to a fitting crescendo when Paddy Sumner hit a glorious six sailing over the ropes and into the appreciative crowd from the last ball of the match. Sparrow reached 167 for 8, some way short of the target but a thoroughly creditable performance.

The day ended with the stars being mobbed by youngsters wanting autographs on bats, hats and even shirts and with Tom Deasy being a popular choice for man of the match.

The whole day had been a great success for Richard Bernhard, a trustee of The Sparrow School Foundation, whose idea it had all been and who had been the driving force in making the event happen in such a grand style.


Jonathan Pearce – Captain – Sparrow XI

Cards, cakes and original Christmas presents created by the Sparrow Art Circle in South London and South Australia made £2,300 profit for Sparrow. Look out for their next sale this November.

18- year-old volunteer Jamie Cameron raised over £3,000 by cycling from Land?s End to John O?Groats!

Our 2007 carol concert, held in the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, was a great success and raised over £15,000 for Sparrow Schools which will be spent on Craft and Design Centre for the Foundation School.
The evening was introduced by Sue MacGregor (pictured with actress, Janet Suzmann and concert organiser, Heather Holden-Brown) and consisted of a mixture of readings, music from the wonderful Chapel Choir, some more secular festive pieces and of course some carols in which the congregation, of over 400 people, could join the choir. Readers included Niall Wilkins, who was representing Her Excellency Dr. Lindiwe Mabuza, the South African High Commissioner.

WE WILL BE HAVING ANOTHER CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS IN DECEMBER 2008. AS SOON AS WE HAVE A DATE WE WILL PUT IT ON OUR WEBSITE!

For the 5th year in a row, the sun shone on Dulwich & Sydenham Hill Golf Club as 92 adults and 34 DCPS boys played their way round the course for Sparrow. 12 Dulwich lady members played in the morning, and in the adult-only afternoon competition three teams of 'father and two sons' joined the field including one consisting of Sparrow Schools Foundation patrons, Budge Rogers and his sons, Jamie (who has taught as a volunteer at Sparrow in Johannesburg) and Guy.
The 12 hole competition in the evening was won by Eric and Sam Watson and the 18 hole competition for the Sparrow Cup was won by Chris Chandler (for a long time an enthusiastic supporter of this event) and his son Alex.

Thanks, as always, to our sponsors Liverpool Victoria, who generously supported us and offered for auction a day in their hospitality box at Lord's; the auction raised £600 and the whole day £6,500.
Next Sparrow Golf Day: Thursday 22nd May 2008.

The Foundation School has introduced a new programme designed to teach the disabled learners a variety of skills such as woodworking, cooking, sewing and mosaic. As well as providing great therapy, this also prepares the children for when they move up to Sparrow Combined.