Compassion Direct UK - Registered charity No. 1113505



EARTH IS THE HOME WE SHARE - LEAD THE CHANGE

We change lives with water, wells, workshops, wind power and more
We provide environmentally sustainable solutions & self help projects in the developing world.

LIKE us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome

March 2023 - YOUR SUPPORT HAS HELPED US TO PREVENT MOTHERS IN RWANDA FROM DYING & CHILDREN FROM  BEING ORPHANED. WE HAVE JUST COMPLETED A SEWING COPERATIVE TO COMMEMORATE the Bishop Enock Memorial Fund.  However we were only able to buy 4 sewing machines and need 6 more at least for the workshop to run at full capacity so we still need your help please.

HOW ELSE CAN YOU HELP?

YOU CAN SEND 2 KILO PACKAGES OF UNWANTED DUVET COVERS OR SHEETS TO RWANDA FOR WOMEN TO USE TO PRACTICE SEWING WHILE THEY LEARN?  Check out our page here.

We  urgently need 100 wonderful people to make a standing order of £5 a month so that we are able to start the food programme again at the Church school. Standing order forms can be found on our donations page

  Click on the link and watch a video about our Crowd funder

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bishop-enock-memorial-fund---rwanda 

SHOP TILL YOU DROP! EASY FUNDRAISING  we get between 1-4% of your purchases 


IF YOU SHOP AT Sainsbury's, John Lewis,  Marks & Spencer , buy holidays & insurance  or train tickets on line you can raise money for us at 7500 stores  sign up now & when you shop they give, it costs you no more & your privacy is not compromised CLICK BELOW TO SIGN UP

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cause/compassion-direct-uk/ 

£5 will buy pencils & stationary for the school or sewing patterns
£10 towards bricks & mortar to build the workshop
£25 will buy material, scissors, cottons
£50 will provide two cutting tables
£150 will provide a sewing machine
£500 to buy a herd of goats
£250 to set up & buy chickens for a safe chicken pen
£2000 to sink a village well
£10,000 will set up an orphanage

YOUR DONATION WILL MAKE REAL CHANGES TO THE LIVES OF DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE

WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT CDUK?


  • We consult with local people to advise us on  their particular project.
  • We work directly with people & organisations avoiding unnecessary expenses.
  • We consider the environmental impact of our work & plant trees to reduce CO2 emissions.
  • We provide environmentally friendly solutions such as biogas cookers & windmills where appropriate.
  • We encourage people to help themselves by providing practical, sustainable, self help projects.
  • We are professional volunteers & so have low overheads & your money goes where it is most needed
We can do nothing without your support.

We have provided wells, fruit trees, a woman & child development centre, school buildings, vegetable gardens, wind turbines, educational materials, rainwater harvesting tanks, industrial sewing machines & workshops, latrine doors, goat herds, libraries & we send hand knitted clothing to refugees & dresses & shorts made from recycled materials by our volunteers to poor rural areas.

Photos: rural women in Rwanda with HIV.  Woman in Rwanda sewing to provide for her family. Ladies in Dolgellau, Wales showing dresses made from unwanted pillowcases to send to Rwanda

  

YOUR SUPPORT CAN PREVENT WOMEN WITH HIV FROM DYING AND LEAVING THEIR CHILDREN ORPHANS.

Watch a video

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ixTGbzjWPP6N250ob13AvgP8H5YC3AOj/view?usp=sharing

In the East of Rwanda in a rural area of Gatsibo is a Church supporting many poor villagers of different faiths including 70 women, Ros - our Chairman, met on her research visit in March 2020. The women all had HIV due to the legacy of the Genocide that ended in 1994.

A Pastor at the Church formed an HIV support group, the woman told Ros that there were many more women who could not attend nor could their children go to the school as they were too ill to travel and had no decent clothes & were ashamed.

The women who work on the land tried to help the others & said that some of them saved a tiny amount each week for coffins so that they could be decently buried. This is their immediate future without food or work as they are unable to take their medication without eating, so they know that if they go hungry, they will die very soon.

The Church borrowed two sewing machines so that some could learn a trade & work from the back of the building, but the women needed space, more machines & a building to work from to form a cooperative. CDUK were committed to provide a sewing workshop for these women so that they are able to make and sell clothes at the market, provide food for themselves and their families and survive.
In March 2023 the building was completed but we could only afford 4 machines and need 6 more

We wanted to help the women to make a secure building where they could meet, with room for at least 10 sewing machines, tables & storage so that they can learn a trade, support themselves, each other & their families. We run the workshop using solar power to reduce the impact on their environment and the overhead costs to maintaining the project.

We hope maybe they will not need the coffins so soon as they will be able to eat, take their medication, earn a living & look after their children safely. Please help us to achieve this goal.

In 2020 the Church also hosted a school with a food programme where more than 150 children received a daily meal & often, that was all the children had to eat in a week. At least 60 of the children attended school free because they were orphans or had mothers with HIV, who were unable to get work as no one would work with them & so they & their children go hungry due to lack of income and the mothers soon die leaving orphans.

There are no orphanages in this area and orphans have to depend upon the food programme at the Church or the good will of a poor rural community.

DURING COVID THE FOOD PROGRAMME CLOSED AND MANY CHILDREN DIED OF HUNGER WE NEED TO FIND A WAY TO RAISE THE MONEY FOR A CONTINOUS GIFT TO THIS SCHOOL AS NOW CHILDREN DO NOT ATTEND, - FOOD WAS THE INCENTIVE TO GO AND LEARN.  CAN YOU HELP, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS?

In the summer of 2020 CDUK provided the Church with two water harvesting tanks to support the Church Food Programme and supply clean water for food preparation and better hygiene. Many thousands of young children a year die as a result of polluted water. Previously the Church collected fresh water in tanks by bike from many miles away for cooking & used rain water from muddy puddles for washing.

CDUK also wants to sink a well near the Church for village use by people of all faiths. Currently the only clean water has to be collected & paid for at a government water source several miles away at approximately the equivalent of one penny per litre

Volunteers have been making dresses for the girls from unwanted pillow cases and Bermuda shorts for the boys from recycled materials, they have held fundraising events to raise the money for postage to the project.  For more information and dress and shorts patterns and how you can get involved go to our page on Pillowcase Dresses. People are also being asked to donate good quality unwanted duvets and sheets to send out to the sewing workshop so that the women who are learning to sew can practice on less expensive materials.  Send them in maximum 2 kilo packs, if you are able to help contact Ros at compassiondirectuk@gmail.com Thank you.

WHO

EDUCATED CHILDREN ARE THE WORLDS FUTURE

Rwanda has made great leaps forward since the Genocide in 1994 but there are pockets that need assistance. The rural village children of Nyagacyamo , eastern Rwanda are trapped in a cycle of poverty. The villagers are too poor to send their children to school. You can help CDUK change the lives of these children by making a standing order of £5 a month so that we can reintroduce a food programme at the Church school to incentivise the children's attendance. Pre-Covid 19 there were 160 children attending school until the food programme - funded by a USA organisation, ran out

What

EDUCATION IS VITAL TO END POVERTY

Before Covid 19 in 2020, our Chairman visited the Church school with Bishop Enock, where 160 children were receiving a main meal each day from a USA food programme. In 2021, Bishop Enock died at the age of 51 from Throat cancer & the food programme ended. Gradually students drifted away & the school died. When our chairman visited in 2023 to equip a sewing cooperative, built behind the Church, Pastor Phillipe told her that as soon as regular food could be provided the students would return as would the lessons so important to their future. Your standing order of £5 a month will help us to make this dream a reality. Please go to our donations page to download a Standing Order form

HOW

INABILITY TO FEED THEIR CHILDREN CAN END IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Imagine the frustration of seeing your children hungry every day and knowing that you are unable to find work to earn and feed your family! Imagine seeing your children getting thinner, weaker and unhealthy and not being in a position to be able to make a difference. The frustration can build up into angry violence and destroy lives. If CDUK are able to fund a food programme at this Church School we can help to get more than 200 children out of this poverty cycle. BY finding 100 people who care enough to make a standing order of £5 a month we will be able to support this village by educating their children. What a legacy! You can be part of the legacy and know that you helped a child to learn.

WHEN

STABILITY, , SECURITY, SOCIAL MOBILITY AND SELF DEPENDENCY

Education provides stability in life, and can never take away from you. By being well-educated you increase your chances of a better future. Education provides financial security, as well as providing essential skills and can get village children and their families out of the circle of poverty.. Education promotes equality, social mobility. and allows For self-dependency. By joining our Special 100 wonderful people, and making a Standing Order of £5 a month you will realise the dreams of many and get many children out of the cycle of poverty. Go to our Donations page to download a Standing Order form. Thank you for caring enough to wish to help.

Pillowcase Dresses & Bermuda shorts for  African children

Pillowcase Dresses & Bermuda shorts for African children

CDUK encourages recycling to conserve the earths depleted resources. . Here are guidelines on how to make dresses out of unwanted cotton pillowslips and Bermuda shorts for boys from recycled curtain material. We have taken dresses and shorts to orphans in Ghana and Rwanda made by ladies in Stratford upon Avon & Ratley in Warwickshire and from Dolgellau Woman's Fellowship in Wales but we need many more for our new project in Eastern Rwanda - see Rwanda project page. Please can you get together with friends and for a sewing group? Our grateful thanks more recently to Sarah, Jayne and Diana who have generously sent beautiful items for me to take to Rwanda in March 2023 when I visited to finalise the Sewing Workshop for HIV mothers. UNWANTED SHEETS & DUVETS? Now we have the workshop the new trainees need unwanted sheets and duvets to use for their first attempts, can you collect a 2 kilo pack to send, if so contact Ros at compassiondirectuk@gmail.com. You will need to raise the money for the postage too please. Ros will supply the address and specific instructions to make sure the donations arrive safely.

Learn More

Earth is the home we share

£10

Donation Amount

Knit for kids

Amazing donation of jumpers all from one special lady in Stratford upon Avon

EARTH IS THE HOME WE SHARE - KNITTING GROUPS

Knitting groups enable you to meet new people & have fun sharing a favorite craft. A CDUK knitting group makes your experience even more worthwhile as you get that good feeling that comes with helping other people, knowing that you are doing something useful. Even if you don’t know the person who is receiving your home made garment, knowing that it is out there in the world is a great feeling. Joining a knitting group is sociable activity & if you are new to knitting it is a great way to pick up new ideas, share patterns & have someone to help you through any difficult projects or explain a new technique. For knitters of all skill levels, joining a group is a wonderful way to make time for your hobby.
All your knitting will be sent by container to a refugee camp in Syria. In the past we have sent to Ukraine, Palestine, France & Greece. Go to our projects page for information about how to send your knitting. Thankyou.

Below are a few tips on getting a knitting group started in your area:-

FINDING MEMBERS

  • Send an email or phone friends telling them you want to start a new group & suggesting a time and place to meet up.  Tell them a bit about the work of CDUK and where some of their knitting can be sent if they wish.
  • Not all your knitting has to go to CDUK projects, family and friends are important too.
  • Ask them to ask their friends
  • Post a notice at your local knitting store, the library, church, or community notice board.
  • Write to the community page of your local newspaper
  • Post on your social network site – Face book, My Space or Tweet about it on Twitter
ORGANIZING YOUR GROUP

Knitting for charityKitted out for winter in Ukraine wearing hats & scarf from Warwickshire

  • Pick a date, time and location for a getting to know you meeting
  • Get everyone to introduce themselves & talk a bit about their knitting experience & maybe explain what they would like to get out of the group
  • Maybe have an informal discussion about how you would all like the group to develop
  • How often do you want to meet
  • Where do you want to meet
  • Do you want to rotate at different persons homes
  • Do you want to develop a more formal meeting with talks and demonstrations
  • Have a look on line for free knitting patterns, tips & ideas there is lots out there
  • Ask friends for spare wool, many of us have the odd ball tucked away that we might never need.
WHAT CAN CDUK DO TO HELP

  • We can provide leaflets on our latest knitting campaign. Knit for Kids. Get updates on our Face book page at www.facebook.com/thisearthisourhome 
  • We can provide leaflets on our work in Europe, South America & Africa.
  • We may be able to come & talk to your group about our work or you can find out more from our website. www.compassiondirectuk.org
  • CDUK can provide a charity tin so that you can collect small donations from your members at each meeting.  Although we are all volunteers at CDUK we still have to find money for printing, insurance, transportation etc.
To make Bermuda shorts for boys go to 10 Free Shorts Patterns for Kids (premeditatedleftovers.com)

Many thanks for caring enough to participate. Ros Grant – Chairman of Trustees. T: 07773470384
SEND UNWANTED SHEETS TO RWANDA image
YOUR UNWANTED SHEETS & DUVET COVERS WILL HELP A WOMEN WITH HIV LEARN TO SEW & MAKE A LIVING.  SHE WILL THEN BE ABLE TO AFFORD TO BUY FOOD TO TAKE WITH HER MEDICATION SO THAT SHE LIVES TO TAKE CARE OF HER CHILDREN. THERE ARE NO ORPHANAGES IN THIS RURAL AREA, BUT MANY ORPHANS OF HIV MOTHERS.!

Presently we have more than 100 women with HIV in the village who want to learn to sew but they need to practice & sewing material is too expensive to use. As they have never sewn before they will need plenty of practice before their items are ready for sale.

WHAT YOU CAN DO!

Get together with friends & collect unwanted sheets & duvet covers to send to our Rwandan Sewing Project!

Cut off the hemmed edges of the sheets & the seems & fastening edges of the duvets - they can't be used & are unnecessary weight to post.  Do not send artificial fibres they are not easy to use for practice.

Cut the sheets into long sewing strips about a meter wide.

Make up a parcel of just under 1 kilo & post to the Church in Kigali - capital of Rwanda.
Parcels over 1 kilo are considered to be commercial & taxes will be charged or they will not be delivered. When you go to the post office with the parcel you will have to declare the contents.

 DECLARE THAT THE CONTENTS ARE SEWING STRIPS.  If necessary add FOR EDUCATION.

Send the parcel to
THE CHURCH OF GOD'S PEOPLE IN RWANDA
BP6595
KIGALI
RWANDA


A kilo will cost just over £20 to post, so, you may wish to hold a coffee morning or other fundraising event to raise the money for the postage.  If you need leaflets, write to Ros at rosinargentina@yahoo.co.uk and she will send what you need.

We strongly advise that you do not post more than 2 boxes at the same time as they may be considered a commercial enterprise.  Leave at least a couple of weeks between parcels.
EASY FUNDRAISING - SHOPPING IS A WAY OF LIFE

You could be helping the feed a child in Africa on a food programme

YOU CAN DONATE TO CDUK WITHOUT PAYING A THING

YOU SHOP ONLINE, BIG BRANDS DONATE TO COMPASSION DIRECT UK.
Sign up to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cause/compassion-direct-uk/ 

It wont cost you any extra, takes only a minute to sign up, a popup reminds you when you go to one of the 7000 sites. you click yes and do no more but shop in peace. CDUK get the donation

SHOP ONLINE FROM 7000 BRANDS - Every time you shop, online brands donate to CDUK CDUK receive between 1-5% paid directly into our bank account! EASY!

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cause/compassion-direct-uk/ 


"Why should I care about supporting children and families abroad, do we not have enough problems of our own in the UK to deal with?"

CDUK's strapline is 'Earth is the Home we Share' this phrase underpins all our work.  

Watch video "why people cross the channel in small boats to get to UK"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1saeEbno7gzUfrqVrdd89KzQX9sX09iu7/view?usp=sharing 

We believe that everyone on this planet is interdependent & that we are all in some way interrelated. We live in a global economy, we eat foods from all over the world, we export & import goods & services; sea & air pollution is blown by winds, spread by tides, climate change & environmental degradation is a global challenge for us all, so in a nut shell.

Global challenges require global solutions, they require educated minds from all over the world to come together to make the vital decisions that are needed to sustainably maintain our planet for future generations.

Imagine that maybe one of the children from one of CDUK's international projects, e.g. the Kyebi Primary School in Ghana which our supporters funded, maybe will become someone who is part of this enormous & vital global decision making process when they are adult? Imagine the goodwill if that child remembers the assistance that was given at an early age by people in the UK who cared, to their school? What goes around comes around!

What is more when the UK aids developing countries it also creates a market for our own economy, do while we are helping others we are also helping ourselves.

We are all aware of the importance of education in the UK, please help us to facilitate education & environmental sustainability at our projects

Please go to our projects page to find out more
HOW CDUK BEGAN WORKING WITH CHILDREN  & COMMUNITIES

In 2002 Ros – our chairman, & founder, visited family in Quilmes, Buenos Aires in Argentina. She was horrified at the poverty & destitution she saw in parts of the city & its environs.

An educationalist – Daniel De Scala, visited Ros & asked for her help as he had heard that she had always worked for charities in the UK. He knew that people in the UK were very generous but that they did not know much about the poverty in South America & the awful economic crash that had occurred in Argentina in 200/2001 when the AR Peso was devalued by two thirds. Many thousands of people lost their jobs & their homes in the crash & became destitute consequently more shanty towns grew in many areas including Quilmes. They desperately needed help!

Daniel took Ros on a tour of the shanty towns – Villas, surrounding Quilmes. Ros agreed to try to help a Soup kitchen – Comador, that fed 130 destitute children twice a day – Luz Del Alma (Light of the Soul).

Ros wrote to friends, sending photos & asking for a donation of £5. When she returned to the UK some weeks later, she had to open a bank account for the generous donations that had arrived. One thing led to another, fundraising continued, Trustees were recruited & Compassion Direct UK, became registered in 2004 after a generous donation of £500 from Banbury Rotary Club.

Ros had semi-retired from being self-employed for some years after working for The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for many years as a Regional Manager. Shortly before her visit to Argentina she had intended to continue a part time Training business that had been part of her previous PR business. Somehow the training never got started because CDUK took over Ros’s life.

During this time CDUK raised money to build a security wall and gates at the Comador, built a homework room & sewing workshop for children and parents, a store room for dried food & recruited a group of local volunteers to maintain continued assistance & support to this project. As CDUK grew other projects followed &new directions were pursued.

Photos, man going to a stream for water in a shanty town, Argentina, children of mothers with HIV  in Rwanda, who will soon be orphans, children living in a shanty town in winter, Argentina

COMPLAINTS PROCEEDURE

What we can do to help

At CDUK, we treat a complaint as an opportunity to improve our procedures and practices.

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ENVIRONMENT STATEMENT

We are all responsible for the future of our children

All activities and organisations have some impact upon the environment and CDUK wish to minimise our carbon footprint where possible.

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FINANCIAL RESERVES POLICY

Rainy Day Fund

financial reserve in line with our current income and expenditure are necessary for the effective working of the charity.

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VOLUNTEER POLICY

We are all volunteers at CDUK, why not join us

CDUK believe that our fundraising & campaigning work is a partnership between volunteers & trustees. Volunteers make a real, practical, difference to the lives of some of the poorest & most dispossessed peoples in the world.

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WORKING WITH BUSINESS

CDUK sees a future in which business makes a net positive contribution to the well-being of society and the planet.

RISK ASSESSMENT

“reasonable measures, reasonably applied”.

“reasonable measures, reasonably applied”.

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EQUALITY & DIVERSITY POLICY

cultural diversity positively enriches our lives so that everyone has an equal contribution to make to our society

cultural diversity positively enriches our lives so that everyone has an equal contribution to make to our society

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PRIVACY POLICY

Your privacy is important to CDUK

SAFEGUARDING VULNERABLE ADULTS

Treating people with respect

Becoming a Trustee with CDUK will enable you to help some of the poorest & most disadvantaged people in the world.  The opportunity will enable you to participate in life changing work.

Because we are a small organisation, our trustees don't just make policy decisions round a table, we are a hands on organisation, we get down to grass roots & get involved in our local areas when we can.

Depending upon the time we have available & our personal skills, we do PR, admin, IT, applications for funds, plan strategy, or organise fundraising events, etc. working with other volunteers & local groups in the area. Working to our strengths & discussing what works with the chairman, other trustees & relevant volunteers.

HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT TAKE BEING A TRUSTEE?


Most importantly we agree what time we have available & plan our workload within the time we are able to give. You may only have 1 hour a week available but if you put your mind to it, it is amazing what can be achieved in an hour when working to a plan & within a team. 1 hour or 1 day a week we can find a way to make your time count. But we prefer it if you enjoy what you are doing with CDUK & that you have some fun along the way as well as job satisfaction.

CAN I WORK FROM HOME?

Our team work remotely & meet up on Zoom or Skype etc. & at the AGM once a year. We are too busy doing what needs to be done to call meetings all the time, but we do keep in touch regularly & chat online. Facebook & Twitter keeps us up to date as does the website. This is the new normal.

IS THERE A FINANCIAL LIABILITY IN BEING A TRUSTEE?

The Trustees have a policy of never promising what we can't afford to deliver. That means that if we don't have the cash in the bank we don't do the project. This way Trustees do not have to concern themselves that we might go overdrawn or get into debt for which they might be liable. We just don't do it! Then we can all relax!

We decide what we want to do, raise the money - if we don't already have it, & do the project. Neither do we promise to projects what we can't fulfil.

We prefer that you work with us for a short time as a volunteer before becoming a trustee. Then when you get the feel of the organisation we can talk over where you feel your strengths lie & how we can fit them to a role. All trustees work a minimum 6 months probationary period & while during that time their views will be taken into account they will not be allowed to vote until they have completed their probation. They can still be part of the debate and suggestions for change.

WHAT IS AVAILABLE TO PROMOTE CDUK?

We have leaflets & collecting tins available to be distributed throughout your local area & varous fundraising aids such as display boards & banners.

So, if you are interested, give our chairman a call on 01341 388649 or fill in the contact box on this site & we can take it from there. Don't forget we are all volunteers here at CDUK so you will be one of the team.

Ros Grant

Chair of Trustees

Ros is the founder of CDUK and CEO, she believes that we have the power to change the world we live in for the better and is a keen environmentalist.

Chris Cartwright

Trustee

Chris spent time in Africa which inspired her to do all she could to help people to help themselves. She is the main collection point for our Knit for Kids project.

Leandro Ghezzi

Trustee

Leo is Argentinean and has been with CDUK from the start. He advises us on South American culture and translates Spanish for us and updates our policy's, we can't stop him planting trees!.

Raise funds, have fun, meet new people, do something wonderful today

Raise funds, have fun, meet new people, do something wonderful today

"Be the change you want to see in the world" M Ghandi. Giving is not just about making a donation it is about helping to make a difference.

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Some FUN raising ideas

Some FUN raising ideas

ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE, large or small?

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Equipement, insurance & how we support you.

Equipement, insurance & how we support you.

The boring but useful stuff! How do we support you?

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Setting up a Knitting Group

Setting up a Knitting Group

Knitting groups enable you to meet new people & have fun sharing a favorite craft.

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How do CDUK raise money -can you help?

How do CDUK raise money -can you help?

“No one has ever become poor from giving.” – Anne Frank

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The Giving Machine & The Giving Lottery imageThe Giving Machine & The Giving Lottery image
You can choose from over 2000 shops to raise funds for our work, not just Amazon Smile who support us too

https://www.thegivingmachine.co.uk/causes/compassion-direct-uk-266536

& THE GIVING LOTTERY - your support here could help us to have a regular income & aid our forward planning

A wonderful opportunity to win £25,000 each week for only £1 & charities get 60%. This is a really fun way to suport CDUK, just click on the link and sign up

https://www.givinglottery.org.uk/support/compassion-direct-uk


PLEASE NOTE THAT IN MARCH 2022 OUR FACE BOOK PAGES WERE HACKED AND ILEAGAL CONTENT POSTED.  WE WERE INNOCENT VICTIMS. OUR PAGES WERE TAKEN DOWN AND HAVE DISAPPEARED.  WE HAVE COMPLAINED TO FACE BOOK VIA FRIENDS PAGE BUT HAVE NO OTHER WAY TO RECTIFY THIS SITUATION.  THIS IS INCONVIENT AND UPSETTING FOR ALL INVOLVED.  WE APOLOGISE FOR THIS CIRCUMSTANCE WHICH IS TOTALLY OUT OF OUR CONTROL. 
  • Dolgellau, Gwynedd. UK
  • Registered charity number 1113505