A very generous donation…

Today we welcomed Mrs Wendy Pedley, her son Michael, and his daughter Mila to our assembly at Bainbridge. Last year Mrs Pedley’s mother, Mrs Joan Buck, who used to live in Bainbridge, sadly passed away. We were delighted to learn that Mrs Buck had left a very generous bequest in her will – £5,000 for school to be spent on an aspect of PE. Mrs Buck left this donation in loving memory of her grandson (Wendy’s son) who very sadly passed away at birth.

We have been thinking about ways in which to spend this wonderful sum of money that would have an impact on the physical development of our children for many years to come and honour the memory of Mrs Buck.

Every year, an annual trophy for effort in PE will be awarded in Mrs Buck’s memory and Michael has agreed to come and present this award each year. Michael is a professional football coach with Newcastle United so we are very privileged to forge this relationship with him. He has also agreed to come to sports day each year too!

We have decided to use the majority of the bequest to launch a project to develop a cycle track round the perimeter of the school grounds. We recognise the real value of cycling in at our federation. helping to improve:

• Core strength
• Balance
• General fitness
• Emotional health

Already we provide high-quality cycling experiences for our children: pre- and early-pedalling coaching; a number of bikes onsite; KS2 ‘bikeability’ training. Our children are skilled cyclists and we would like to further build on this.

On behalf on all the staff, children, and governors of Bainbridge Primary School, I would like to say a huge thank you to Mrs Joan Buck, and her wonderful family, especially Wendy and Michael who were with us today as we celebrated Mrs Buck’s life and thanked her for her very special donation.