"After the cyclone - Operation Burma"; "China Quake: our work is not over yet"; "Get the facts -Vietnam"; "Banda Aceh"; "Sierra Leone"; "Ethiopia" - and a London double-decker bus advertising Save the Children’s "Keep the Promise" event in London on October 4th, which will remind us that one in three children in the U.K. live in poverty and that the Government has promised to end child poverty by 2020. All these headlines are in the latest edition of Save the Children's magazine, "World's Children". They tell us of the truly international work of this charity.

          Within two weeks of the devastating cyclone in Burma in early May, Save the Children staff living there had reached 160,000 people with life-saving help - the biggest operation of any of the relief agencies. Since the earthquake in China on May 12th Save the Children has been working closely with the Chinese government, focusing on keeping children safe, with people they know, and also providing temporary schools, equipment and baby health centres.

          In order for this work, and ongoing schemes in dozens of other countries, to continue, fund-raising is obviously vital. In this area, Pickering and Thornton-le-Dale branch of Save the Children, set up more than thirty years ago, continues to raise money, in many and varied ways. The annual house-to-house collection  usually brings in the largest amount - this year £1,844 was received. This special week, and our many other fund-raising events through the year, would be impossible without the help of other local friends - and of course we always depend on the generosity of many people who support us so regularly. Thank you!

          At the time of writing we have just been running our two-day Charity Shop at Middleton - very hard work, but well worth the effort - this year it raised £368. Our popular Ceilidh at the Memorial Hall is on Saturday November 1st this year - if you haven't tried it yet, why not come - have fun and keep fit at the same time! Watch out for publicity soon. We shall be at the Co-op with cards and other catalogue goods on Saturday October 4th, and there are several coffee mornings to follow to help with your Christmas shopping!

Please continue to support us. Visit the website - www.savethechildren.org.uk  In the words of the new logo - "We Save the Children. Will you?"

Gill Freeman.