The
Little Stars Luxor Trust Fund was formed in late May 2007
by friends who knew of the appalling conditions
in which many of Luxor’s orphans, disabled and
disadvantaged children exist rather than live. At
the forefront of their concern was a young orphaned
girl who was about to have an arm amputated, not because
the arm was beyond saving but because there was no
money available to pay for the costly surgical procedures
that would allow her to keep it.
From
her plight, it was evident that there was a vital
need for a Trust Fund that could help this little
girl and other children who were in similar circumstances.
In many cases lack of funds for medical care and physiotherapy
equipment was leading to lack of hope. A visit to
several care homes in Luxor showed that the problem
was very widespread but with effort and fund raising
could be partially rectified.
The
Trust Fund was started with a small bequest from Raymond
Hall and Connie Tindale in memory of their brother
Derek Hall who was severely disabled after losing
a leg in a road accident and died in 2006. Raymond Hall died in 2010. In the first year, June 2007 - 20008, more than £35,000 GBP was donated to Little Stars by worldwide supporters. Donations increased annually from 2007 until 2010 and then declined as the world recession bit into donations. Our full accounts are shown below. Your donations over the years have enabled Little Stars to complete a clinic with three surgeries, to create a new Training Centre for women and girls, to open a free nursery school for local children and to provide for the poorest families in the Luxor area. UK and Luxor administration costs have been consistently kept below a self-imposed combined total limit of 15% of donations and Little Stars has been commended by the Charity Commission for its complete transparency. The scope of our work has widened over the years and there is never sufficient funding to meet all the demands. Your help is vital for the work to continue.
Please have a look at our Projects page to see what developments are taking place.
Little Stars' accounts are submitted to the Charity Commission annually after they have been inspected and approved. The accounts are then uploaded onto the Charity Commission site. As Little Stars has a policy of complete transparency of its actions, a decision was made to upload the Report and Accounts here as well as on the Charity Commission site.
Just click on the link to inspect the accounts for:-
Lord
& Lady Carnarvon, 8th Earl & Countess of Carnarvon
The
Trustees
Connie Tindale
Connie
Tindale (Chairman)
Connie is a long-term resident of Luxor and spent four years living
with an Egyptian family in a small village on the west bank of the
River Nile. Following a career in horticulture at the ancestral home of Lord Walsingham she spent twenty
years as a Senior Lecturer in Business Studies teaching accountancy and statistics to degree students
in the UK. She is registered disabled and is a published author who now devotes her time to
designing websites, writing and raising funds for Egypt’s disadvantaged children. Connie visits Egypt each month to check on Little Stars' projects and developments.
Jane
Nash (Honorary Secretary)
Jane was once a teacher-trainer who worked with both gifted children and those with learning difficulties. She spent her childhood in Southern African countries and later spent five years training teachers on the more remote islands of the South Pacific. Jane now has a base in Australia where she runs a successful practice as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Neuro Linguistics Master Practitioner. She is also a published poet and course writer for Colleges in UK and USA. Her love of Egypt matches her love of children. She is at present working towards a PhD.
Flt.
Lt. Mick Tindale (Rtd) (Honorary Treasurer)
After travelling the world during a career flying with RAF Bomber
Command and Victor Tankers, Mick became a teacher of Technology
in a large comprehensive School in the UK. At present he is a Set Designer for an amateur Theatre Group and works closely with two Schools' Drama Groups. He understands the needs of children
and has extensive experience of the Middle East. He is a frequent
visitor to Luxor and keeps close eye on all of the Little Stars' projects with a particular interest in the family sponsorship scheme..
Janet Hall
Janet joined the Board of Trustees of Little Stars in June 2009. Now retired, she had a varied career spanning both education and business. She was a Deputy-Headmistress and Welfare Officer of a Comprehensive School in South-East England and ran a successful Garden Centre specialising in the growing of orchids which were supplied for gardeners showing at Chelsea. She now spends time developing her own garden. Her expertise in welfare and education will bring an added dimension to Little Stars which she has supported since its inception.
Little
Stars is a fully registered Charity - UK Charity Commission Number 1120536
and is bound by UK law. Little
Stars is also registered with the independent UK organisation Charity
Check.
Governing
Documents
The
Trustees have adopted the UK
Charities Commission’s own standard Governing
Document (GD2) as the charter by which this Trust
Fund will operate. The (PDF)
Document can be viewed here: Charity-Commission.gov.uk/library/publications/pdfs/gd2text.pdf. The Governing Document calls for three Trustees to administer the charity but four have to been appointed to ensure the widest range of expertise: the Trustees are shown above.
Little Stars Egypt
Little Stars is also a fully registered Egyptian Society. (Luxor Charity No.8)
The two charities are separate entities with slightly different names, separate banks and separate accounting systems. Basically. the UK charity financially supports the Egyptian charity which has little opportunity for fund raising. Grants are made in the same way that they are given to the Good Samaritans Home. It makes little difference to how the charity is run but is tax effective and enables Little Stars to work completely within Egypt's licensing laws.
For the first two years of operation Little Stars worked with charities on the East Bank and for the last two years has worked almost entirely with Muslim communities on the west bank. When the west bank projects are complete, Little Stars UK will eventually hand over operation of the completed projects to the Egyptian charity and support them with grants. Little Stars is entirely without religious bias and we will then concentrate on the poor families of the East Bank as well as those on the West Bank. This we feel will redress any imbalance of support..
