Mark braves a soaking for a good cause
Agriculture Course Manager and Advanced Practitioner Mark Walton braved a soaking in freezing temperatures to raise money for an African charity.
Preparing for another soaking mark Walton with students Sam Gibbons, Alex Hutson and Matt Dudley
Students and staff queued up to hurl wet sponges and, in some cases, full buckets of water at Mark while he was secured in stocks, with donations reaching £154 in just one hour.
Mark leaves for Uganda in early February as a volunteer with Ugandaid UK, an Altrincham based group which sponsors vocational training and life skills for young people, supports less fortunate families and works with local schools to promote understanding of Ugandan cultures and values .
Mark, accompanied by sons Sam, 26, and Josh, 24, will travel to Jinja, in east Uganda, with a team of volunteers and will spend two weeks building pit latrines and helping to renovate a maternity ward at a hospital.
Mark Walton gets a soaking in the stocks
The money raised by the soaking and by a weekend bag pack at a local supermarket will go towards building materials for the projects.
This will be the third time that Mark has travelled to Uganda to help local communities. He was last in Jinja in 2003. As well as carrying out building work, the volunteers collect and take out useful items such as reading glasses, baby clothes and football kits.
Mark said: “Volunteering with Ugandaid is very rewarding. The communities are so appreciative of everything you do for them. I’m very much looking forward to going out to Uganda again.”
If you’d like to contribute to Ugandaid with either donations or clothes, please email Mark at markw@reaseheath.ac.uk
