Monte Carlo or Bust

Kings In The Community and Anne Wafula Strike

Kings In The Community

Anne Wafula-Strike Honoured Once Again! Left: Anne - Appointed Goodwill Ambassador for ADD - is a true olympian.- The new face of ADD UK. Right: Anne with son Timothy W. Strike.

Kings in the Community show their charitable side once again Kings - standing up to be counted through deeds. Anne Wafula-Strike parading her trade-mark smile with Karl of Kings Group showing a strong and true partnership! "Oh..when the Saints come matching in...." Kings Group - The monitor presents the top noise-makers, ready to face the music. Accident & Emergency unit was fully operational all night and casualities were attended to by the Duty Nurse in full throttle. Kings Group - As a rule, "thou shalt pass the locker-rooms before thou departs..." Anne - In full flight showing the determination that has propelled her to her present heights.

Kings Fun Run

MONTE CARLO OR BUST

11th July 2007 saw Kings in the Community’s latest fundraising event at Theobolds Park in Cheshunt. The themed night saw over 250 people attend in fancy dress ranging from showgirls to racing drivers, with a few “playboy” characters, turning up.

Guests were treated to an outdoor barbeque, even the weather held out, and were also entertained by a Disco, and several casino gamming tables, where everyone “played for fun” where the holder of the most “chips” was presented with a prize.

In addition, the evening saw a Poker Tournament taking place, where all the players competed to win the trophy of Poker Player of the Year.

Finally, the pre disco entertainment was rounded off by a Charity Auction, where guests bid for various items including Sports Memorabilia and “spa” days for the ladies.

Together with a raffle and entrance fee, the night raised over £5000.00 for the Joseph Clark School for the Visually Impaired Children.

Speaking on the night, Danny Payton from the Charity Committee said “I am delighted that we managed to raise such a significant amount for the school, and that everyone had a great time. There are many fantastic costumes, and it just proves that people will go to great lengths to support our charity fund raising. The more we can do for people less fortunate the ourselves, the better. That is what the charity is all about.”

Kings would like to extend a great big thank you to our sponsors for the night, Royal Bank of Scotland, BM Solutions, Kings Conveyancing (MHM), and GMAC and also the companies that kindly donated prices to us for the raffle and auction.

Once again, proof that people can do a great good for charity, and still enjoy themselves!

Finally, many thanks to all the staff, family and friends and staff at Theobalds, for making the night a success, and for putting that extra effort into helping others.

Kings have also held other events recently, including the Lord Mayor’s Fun Run in September, where several members of staff competed. And finally, October saw the whole company participate in Jeans for Genes day, where they raised sponsorship to wear denim for the day. Updates will appear on how much was raised shortly!

KINGS IN THE COMMUNITY AND ANNE WAFULA STRIKE

As part of Kings ongoing support of Anne Wafula Strike, we are delighted to outline below her recent performances and results from competitions in Great Britain.

Anne has recently returned from training in Portugal with the British Team, and competed in several events, racing against some of the best in the world!

In April she competed in the Wheelchair Racing Championships at Stoke Mandeville. She knocked a second off her personal best times for the 200m and 400m, and in the 800m, she knocked an astonishing 9 seconds of her personal best! Her name is now on everyone’s lips, especially since the announcement that Tanni Grey Thompson would retire form international competition. 

Following on from this, Anne competed in the Paralympics World Cup in Manchester only last week, where she was selected in the 400m and 800m finals on behalf of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Below is an extract of her results:-

Event 22 T54 - 800 Metres Women

Event 10 T54 - 400 Metres Women

She came 4th in the 800m, and achieved Bronze in the 400m, and was the highest placed Briton!

Next stop is Swiss Championships on May 28, and Atlanta in June to compete in a World Class field got Great Britain.

Anne has also been appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for Action for Disabled, and below is a recent letter she sent to Kings Group:-

“Dear Kings:
As part of my grueling training schedule leading up to the 2008 Paralympic Games, I decided to take part in the BUPA Great Manchester Run. I wanted to do this to raise awareness, and funds, for my favourite charity ADD who appointed me as their first Goodwill Ambassador last year!

ADD supports some of the poorest people in the world - 10,000 disabled people die every day from extreme poverty. They don't want hand-outs and pity: they want respect, access to school and jobs and a fair chance to compete in the world. ADD helps them to realise these dreams.
 
Visit their website to read more about our work and the newly adopted UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People.  The 1st Human Rights treaty of the 21st century which acknowledges the rights of 650 million disabled people.

Please help by donating through the site, it is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Action on Disability and Development will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now and help us reach my target.

Many thanks for your support.”

Anne is a committed, highly motivated individual, who does not let her disability stand in her way, and despite all the punishing training, and competing, she still remains passionate about helping others.

Kings are delighted to continue supporting Anne, and will watch her progress, knowing she will always do her best!

In addition, please contact us, if you know of any other suitable cause, where we may be able to get involved!

KINGS IN THE COMMUNITY SHOW THEIR CHARITABLE SIDE ONCE AGAIN

An extra-ordinary funds-drive was held on Saturday in Enfield, geared towards supporting Anne Wafula-Strike’s Africa mission, raising over £5000 on the night from our well attended School Disco!

Anne who in 2004 represented Kenya in the Paralympics in Athens, and now represents her adopted country Great Britain has expressed her gratitude to the Kings Group for the timely donation of a brand new Racing chair and Rollers that Anne can use to train indoors.

Anne said "...it’s like one big family at Kings Group and everyone supports one another for a common goal - Success! The secret of success is believing in yourself, determination, hard work, discipline, and patience."

The Kings Group’s charitable efforts are well documented including; 2004 when they raised £10,000 for the Neuroblastoma children's cancer charity and 2005 when they collected a total of £5675 which, went towards helping make a difference to ANNE WAFULA-Strike’s life goals. That together with funds that are raised in 2006 will all go into Anne’s kitty to support her training as well as her mission to help others in Africa realise their dreams.

Anne Wafula Strike grew up in Kenya (Africa). Her mother died when she was very young and her father was in the military, so wasn’t around for most of her young life. She has many brothers and sisters who relied on money sent home by their father just to survive. Then Anne contracted Polio - as if life wasn’t bad enough.
Polio wasn’t going to rule her life - she decided to make her mark in the world.
She met her husband in Kenya and they came to Britain. Here, she began her quest to be able to compete in the Paralympics.

With limited funds, limited training facilities, and no backing Anne has been competing now for three years - currently second only, in the UK, to the leading athlete in the field, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, no less.

Anne also finds the time, using her limited resources, to visit schools local to her home in Harlow, to inspire and motivate both able bodied and disabled children, teaching them that whatever life throws at you, it can be overcome.
As if this wasn't enough, she collects broken or damaged wheelchairs to send back to Africa to help disabled people in her home country of Kenya.

Main sponsors Kings Group were ably supported in the charity funds-drive by among others, Mac, BMS, RBS, Scottish Windows, Priory Property Maintenance, Kings
Conveyancing, My Home Move and Northern Rock who donated auction raffle prizes. Anne Strike donated a GB Kit, Signed sports.com, donated by Auction items, and also Calipso nails and beauty. Kings Group's Karl Knipe conducted the auction, with Anne Strike picking the raffle winners.

Finally, on Wednesday 18 October, Anne, was voted Essex Sports Personality of the Year at an Awards Dinner in Essex, and will now go through to the National Finals!

SO,
NOT ONLY HAS SHE OVERCOME HER DISABILITY
NOT ONLY IS SHE AN INSPIRATION TO CHILDREN AND ADULTS ALIKE
NOT ONLY IS SHE HELPING DISABLED PEOPLE IN KENYA.

SHE IS A PARALYMPIAN.