The charity number will open opportunities to grow the project and help more kids get creative in Mali. It’s also a great milestone for the AW, something we have been building towards for a while.

Now the next phase kicks in! it’s time to really push on with fundraising events and plans for a new, larger, better equipped centre in Bamako. Get in touch if you’d like to help – email ben@africanworkshop.org

And in other news… the story of the school shipment making its way to Bamako from Northumberland has been picked up by London’s Metro newspaper plus regional press and radio.

• Wigan Today
• Lynn News
• Journal Live

The response has been really positive and there is a lot of interest in more articles once the donation arrives.

The shipment is due to arrive mid-September so I’ll be there to document it and distribute it. Fingers crossed for some good media attention when I’m back in the UK.

Thanks for all your support and amazing help – next stop the Towersey Village Festival!

When another email arrived from the Charity Commission I thought they wanted more explanations, to sift deeper into the bank accounts, or that I’d missed a line on a form. Maybe I should have paid a lawyer, I thought. But the only person I knew who’d done that had been ripped off, losing a massive chunk of the money they’d raised (no offense lawyers). So I’d just printed off pages of notes and spread them round the flat, filling in the forms and asking amazing friends to help with accounts (thanks Leonie!) and drafts of charitable aims.

And it worked! The Charity Commission’s email confirmed we’ve been granted full charitable status. This is brilliant news for the African Workshop and a massive tribute to every one of you who has helped us grow and support all the kids in Mali who have benefited from your generosity and time. The number’s in the post – and it will open a lot of funding opportunities and potential partnerships .

Thank you all so much!

A class of middle school children have donated their entire school to our charity.

Chairs, desks, musical instruments and classroom supplies for up to 500 pupils are on their way to the African Workshop’s community centre in Mali thanks to the efforts of pupils at Bebside Middle School, in Blyth, Northumberland.

The youngsters and their teachers decided to help after swapping letters with the West African children the charity helps educate. And when the Bebside pupils heard they were moving to a new school after the summer holidays they jumped at the chance to pack up the old one and send it over to Africa in a shipping container.

“This is the most amazing donation,” said Ben Holt, founder of the African Workshop. “It will fully equip our community centre – where we run a pre-school, plus art and music classes – and it will allow us to help the local schools where we send promising children to get an education.”

The African Workshop’s community centre is in a shanty town on the edge of Bamako, the capital of Mali. The area has no electricity or running water but there are a lot of children hoping to get an education. Schools are poorly equipped – often with makeshift furniture and no pens or paper – and many families cannot afford to fees.

The charity, which began life in 2007, now pays for the education of dozens of local children as well as offering space to learn new skills and play at the community centre.

Last February, Ben took over letters written in French classes at Bebside Middle School and came back with replies from Mali.

Charity co-founder Amadou Somaré said: “The kids were so excited to hear from children their own age in the UK. They swapped stories about everyday life and what they enjoyed at school. I think the new donation will really inspire them to try hard at school, and make them feel that people want them to succeed.”

The London gig was brilliant. The Demons mix traditional folk music with beatboxing and high-energy clogging. The crow at the Borderline absolutely loved it and tore up the dance floor (egged on by Damien dishing out prizes for all sorts of crowd-pleasing silliness like best pirate dancing!)

Massive thanks from me and Mali to the whole band. And if you get a chance, go see the Demon Barbers – they are brilliant!

Ben

Footballs are expensive in Mali, but we have four teams over there playing at any opportunity they can get. They use bundles of bags and plastic if they have to, plastic bottles if they can kick it… and real footballs if you help out!

£7 will let us buy a ball so Mali can be in the World Cup too!

Buy now – http://www.africanworkshop.org/products-page/donations/football-gooooaaaaallllllll/

First up is The Boardwalk in Sheffield on 3 June, hotly followed by the London leg at the Borderline on 4 June.  Come and celebrate the launch of the new album – The Adventures of Captain Ward – and help raise funds for the African Workshop.

These will be incredible shows. This band takes traditional tunes, leads them astray, gets them drunk, takes them dancing and listens to their stories all night! And don’t just take my word for it! fRoots magazine, the bible of traditional music, said:‘

“driven punchy tunes and songs, drum ‘n’ bass grooves, the odd touch of ska and an ever present feel that this lot know how to party’ result in ‘one of the most exciting acts around… check them out…”

Or, as legendary BBC DJ Mark Harding put it: ‘

“The Demon Barbers are one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen. If you get a chance to see them, don’t miss it – they are brilliant”

Check out the Demon Barbers on their website, buy your tickets and come down!

See you there,

Ben

I set off in the pause for breath at 8am on a Saturday morning, just before London exploded into the sunshine and went to bbq itself in the parks and snatches of grass. I rode past the staggering still-ups clamping sunglasses to their faces and pulling up hoods as they fell out the off-licences and late clubs in Shoreditch… over London Bridge as the river shrugged off the mist and past Borough Market’s smells…

Brixton was skittering take-away boxes and old folk heading to the market then I was up the hill and rolling into pebble-dashed suburbia, out under the M25 and up for breath in the country. It took two hours to get that far!

The rolling hills and country lanes were beautiful – especially with nice reggae on the headphones and a Snickers bar coursing through my veins. And I was just loving the bike, loving the hypnotism of pedaling, the space to think… and the lure of a cold, crips cider sitting waiting on the beach in Brighton!

The weather couldn’t have been better, the bike behaved thanks to a last minute wheel re-build, and my thighs were ready for action… tho I might be nice to them next time and invest in a bike with some gears!

Big love to everyone who sponored me. See you at the FAF Village Fete on May 2nd I hope.

Ben

This will be an amazing day “featuring a free afternoon of morris dancing, ceilidhs and lots of traditional fun, bringing all the festivity of a village celebration to the banks of the Thames.?? Ceilidhs will feature the Oyster Ceilidh Band and The Old Swan Band.

“Meanwhile, Club Périphérique will take place in The Front Room of the Queen Elizabeth Hall (foyer area) during the late afternoon and includes a selection of traditional performers from the musical edge. In the evening, there will be a ticketed all-star jamboree-style concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall featuring Chumbawamba, Show of Hands and Southbank Centre Artists in Residence, Bellowhead.

“Tickets for the evening concert are £20 and are available from the www.southbankcentre.co.uk”

Big up FAF – and BTNG!

Love Ben

I was invited to speak about The African Workshop and to help out with creative sessions – one of a group of organisations working around the world. I was blown away by the passion, intelligence and ambition of the young delegates. There were so many astute ideas and a genuine desire to get stuck in and to make an impact.

Unfortunately many of the international artists who had been scheduled to attend were turned away at the border, victims of the tightening immigration rules which are locking out artists and academics. The Creative Junction team did an incredible job in the face of these very-last-minute problems – and I was extremely happy to be part of the solution!

Check out Create Compete Collaborate, another great project that these  guys are involved with…

Ben

Let me know if you need sponsor forms or anything else…

Lots of love,

Ben