There is excitement on this side of the valley; The Cavern has been awarded Best Community Impact Award by the Business Excellence Forum. There is much to smile about and much to be proud of!
Sadly we weren’t able to attend the dinner in the City of Gold but our dear cousin from Montusi Lodge, Lindsay, accepted it on our behalf. And, Linds stood up and gave an acceptance speech! And, this is actually quite apt. This award is for a community effort and if I’d had the chance, and been brave enough to say it, this would have been my speech…
Thank you for choosing The Cavern. We have always been involved in growing our community and it is just something that our parents and grandparents before them have instilled in us as individuals. Help where you can.
Our help in the community became more focused in 2006 when we lost our little nephew, Fergus. In our sadness we channelled our energies into helping other children. We had a mission and we worked together and very slowly we grew and our impact deepened into something quite substantial. We now work with 14 pre-schools in the greater Amazizi community through the Khanyisela Project and we have established Royal Drakensberg Primary School and our reach extends to about 500 children. It’s all about education and it’s all about hope for a brighter tomorrow.
But, it is very important to know that collective energy makes great swirls. It creates waves of positive change.
Every 3 months Dave & Daph Thurlwell hit the Drakensberg running. They arrange jumble sales, get porridge delivered, organise teacher training, check our progress, get building work done and much, much more. Sue and our teachers at the school are dedicated and committed to growing the children. And our parents (both sets!) just do and do some more.
Our Cavern guests arrive with loads of jumble, the Ramblers come with pockets of pens and pencils, the Retford Rotary provide valuable funding, friends and corporates support our Big5Hike and Royal Drak Challenge generously. There is deep support and commitment for all that we do.
And, so this award really goes to a great team who have made a great impact in an incredibly special place in the berg.
To hope, to the children, and to doing more together. Thank you and well done.
As always, a beautiful piece of writing! It was an honour to be associated with the Cavern at the awards evening. I wish I could’ve been more eloquent in the acceptance speech!
We’re certain you did a sterling job! Thank you for being there Linds! xxx