17 June 2008 - Progress in building work - Building work has progressed well in four schools, taking full advantage of the period before the rainy season begins.

• Brikamedina is a village on the southern edges of Brikama town. The village started a nursery school as a local initiative, on land donated by the village mosque. Pageant is funding completion of the building work here. (see details)
• At Bakalarr, work is progressing on the construction of an accommodation block for school staff.  (see details)
• Kings Kid Academy are constructing a new classroom block. (see details)
• At Siffoe, they have finally completed work on a new block of five classrooms. (see details)

16 June 2008 - Toilets and Textbooks - Nigel Walsh has completed Comrades Ultra-Marathon (56 miles) in South Africa. He finished the gruelling race in 11 hours, 16 minutes and 15 seconds. (see details)

6 June 2008 - Schools Index We have produced an index to Gambian (and UK) schools which Pageant is associated with - both those with major projects, and those which just have sponsored pupils. We have used Google Maps to plot the location of each school. Sometimes this is just the general area, but in many cases in 'satellite' mode you can zoom in to see the actual buildings. Our Schools page contains an enormous amount of information, so there are probably lots of errors. If you spot anything you think we have got wrong, then please let us know.

26 May 2008 - Toilets & Textbooks - Change of Plan - The team will not be able to visit Kings Kid Academy in July to construct the new toilets. Instead local tradesmen will build the toilets.

20 May 2008 - Maps showing Gambian schools - We have created a number of Google Maps which show the exact location of many of the schools which Pageant is associated with in The Gambia:

• Map 1 Banjul City
• Map 2 around Brikama (the South)
• Map 3 around Bakau & Serrekunda
• Map 4 around Abuko
• Map 5 North Bank
• Map 6 Up River

Make sure you select the 'Satellite' view, and in many cases you can zoom in to see the actual buildings. Please let us know if we have got anything wrong.

1 May 2008 - Ridgemede Junior School now has its own page on the Pageant website. In their most recent fundraising event, they have raised £421 to sponsor children and provide educational equipment at Abuko Lower Basic School.

15 April 2008 - Nigel Walsh will be running in the 56 mile Comrades UltraMarathon in South Africa on 15 June to raise money for the Toilets and Textbooks project. See further details and a link to sponsor him.

10 April 2008 - Mahmoud Achten Nursery School - This is the latest school to be brought under Pageant's umbrella. John Emery and Jane Bull have been helping this school for over a year, and have achieved some great improvements. A lot still needs to be done and the school will need continuing support.

9 April 2008 - Foundation for Disabled People update - hand over of 15 wheelchairs built with the money from the Mayor of Haslemere’s fund.

8 April 2008 - Quotes from sponsored children - Read what our sponsored children have written in letters to Pageant.

5 April 2008 - Furniture shipment from Harwell - UKAEA and NDA joined forces with Pageant to ship surplus furniture to schools in The Gambia.

5 April 2008 - Toilets and Textbooks - Students from Oakham School and Copenhagen International School will be travelling to The Gambia in July to build new toilets for Kings Kid Academy. See our new web page for further information. You can also donate online to help their efforts.

Recent News

20 March 2008 - Chris Robertson's Gambia Diary - Chris has compiled a diary (with pictures) relating his exploits during his visit to The Gambia in February. This complements the blog postings included in Live from The Gambia.

18 March 2008 - Revised Sponsorship Costs - For the first time in seven years, Pageant has had to increase the cost of sponsoring children and young people's education in The Gambia. (See note about revised costs)

16 March 2008 - Five new members for the Blog Team - We are pleased to announce that we now have five new contributors to the Pageant News Blog in The Gambia. Meet the new team members.

13 March 2008 - Breaking news from The Gambia - We are in the process of signing up team members in The Gambia who will be able to report directly on local news relevant to Pageant's activities. Our first new team member, Lamin Jammeh, has made his first post. Check the Pageant News Blog for the latest news from The Gambia.

5 March 2008 - Live from The Gambia Pageant members Frances, Lauren, Rosie and Sarah have spent a large part of their recent trip to the Gambia teaching at KMJ Nursery School and Campama Lower Basic School in Banjul. Following this Frances, Lauren and Rosie, together with Ian, Pippa and Chris, made a trip up-country to visit schools at Bakalarr, Jarreng and Jurunku. Later they visited more schools in Banjul. During this time, Frances has kept us up-to-date with their exploits on the Pageant News Blog. These reports have been copied onto our Live from The Gambia page as a permanent record.

30 January 2008 - Transplant Titans have reached Banjul They left Manchester on Friday morning, 11 January, heading for Portsmouth and the overnight ferry to St Malo. They then drove south via Bordeaux, crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, spending the night at Burgos. From there they drove across Spain to Tarifa, and spent a whole day there. On Tuesday 15 January they took the ferry to Tangier, and drove to Rabat for an overnight stop. Their journey through Morocco has featured overnight stops at Marrakech, and Ouarzazate, and Sidi Ifni. On Saturday 19 January they drove to Laayoune in Western Sahara, and on Sunday headed south to Dakhla. After a day's rest, they headed into Mauritania and the desert, where mobile phones don't work. After three days, they were in touch again and had a rest day at Zebrabar just inside Senagal. On Sunday 27 January, they set off on the final leg of the journey across Senegal and into he Gambia. They caught the early morning ferry across the Gambia River and arrived at the finishing point at 9.15am on Monday 28 January. On Tuesday and Wednesday they visited Kings Kid Academy and other schools, and were given a tour of rural Gambia by Pageant agent Wandifa. (see daily progress reports)

20 January 2008 - The 4Ts adventure is over The teams left the UK on 26 December, travelled by ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao in Spain and drove through Spain to Tarifa. They  crossed over to Morocco by ferry reaching Fez on 29 December, and then via Er-Rachida, reaching Tata on 2 January 2008. They left the Atlas Mountains and headed south along the coast into Western Sahara, camping near Laayoune. On 5 January, they crossed the border into Mauritania, reaching Nouakchott on 6 January and crossed the desert towards Nema. By 10 January they were into Mali and reached Timbuctu on 11th. On 12 January, they visited the Festival of the Desert. On 13th they returned to Timbuctu, where they sold both cars, and set off to tour Dogon country using a hired car and driver, with overnight stops at Mopti, Djenne and Segou. They spent a day relaxing in Bamako, before flying home via Casablanca. So that's the end of another adventure! We have some new photos, and hope to have a full report on their trip soon. (see daily progress reports)

5 January 2008 - Trouble in Mauritania The Lisbon-Dakar Rally has been cancelled due to the shooting of four French tourists in Mauritania. This may affect teams taking part in the Plymouth-Bamako and Plymouth-Banjul Challenges. (see news item)

3 January 2008 - Transplant Titans ready to go on 11 January Final preparations are in hand for departure in a weeks time. We will bring you news of their progress as we get it.  (more details)
Also, the Transplant Titans Blog was launched today, giving you an alternative way of keeping up with the latest news.