Pageant came into existence after a holiday in The Gambia in 2001 by Ian and Pippa Howard. They met a hotel guide who took them to the village of Bakalarr, on the north bank of the Gambia River, to visit a school. (More about the first visit)

After their return to the UK, Ian and Pippa began to send materials and equipment to Bakalarr school, and Pageant was established as a UK Charity in 2002, specifically to support education and related projects in The Gambia.

Bakalarr has been the main focus of Pageant's activities, but we have been slowly expanding activities to schools in other villages 'up river' and also in and around the capital Banjul. Our projects are listed in a series of linked pages listed below, which also includes the topic of fundraising. Without your kind donations and innovative fundraising efforts, Pageant could achieve very little. There are also links to these pages in the floating menu on the right.

We have produced a Schools Index listing Gambian (and UK) schools which Pageant is associated with. This includes those with major projects as detailed in the Projects pages, and those which just have sponsored pupils. We have also produced some Google Maps of The Gambia which show the exact location of many of the schools which Pageant is associated with:

• 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.

The spelling of Gambian place names varies, and many have entirely different alternative names. We have used what we believe to be the most commonly used versions. Other versions are listed as aka: Just for the record, Banjul was once called Bathurst!
 

Pageant Projects and Associated Pages

• Fund Raising - Some of the ways Pageant raises money - sponsored challenges, ethical gifts, fêtes, carnivals, raffles, donations - including how schools in the UK have raised money in innovative ways

• General Projects - Sending things to The Gambia, visits to Gambian schools, sponsoring children, Pageant Loans, The Artemisia Project, Tina's art project.

• Pageant projects in Bakalarr - Pageant has been helping Bakalarr Basic Cycle School since 2001. We have helped them with classroom floors, a new kitchen, new toilets, a boundary wall, vegetable gardens, a home economics classroom, a multipurpose sports court and starting a nursery class.

• Pageant projects in/around Banjul - Pageant is helping many schools in the greater Banjul area, ranging from nursery schools to Senior Secondary Schools. We are also involved with GEPADG in protecting the environment.

• Pageant projects in other villages - This page covers Pageant projects in villages and schools other than Bakalarr and around Banjul.

• Schools Index - An index to Gambian (and UK) schools which Pageant is associated with - both those with major projects, and those which just have sponsored pupils.

• The Blog - We are enlisting the help of students and teachers in The Gambia to keep us up to date with their latest news. We have many regular readers of this website and the Pageant News Blog in The Gambia. We hope that our new team members will be making regular posts on our blog.