October was a very busy month for OCK. They celebrated Paul, one of their volunteers’ birthdays, as well as 8 months sobriety, which is an amazing achievement. He gives so much to the community through OCK, and they are forever grateful for his kindness. Another cake was enjoyed for Supervisor Sylvia’s birthday, as well as Moira, Elaine and Marjory! OCK also welcomed Jeff, a new volunteer. Welcome Jeff!
Bus trips are still running, with this month’s trip to the Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. St. Mary’s Primary School children also came along to pick some vegetables from the garden to take over to the Chef Pete for use in the delicious meals.
A local couple, Zoe and David, popped in with a cheque for an amazing £170. David is a local retired firefighter who completed 26 years at Haddington station and who now owns his own fire engine. Throughout the summer, David and his wife Zoe attended various fetes, galas and other events in the Fire Engine and have very kindly collected this huge amount for Our Community kitchen. They allow children onto the fire engine and leave a collection box for donations.
They aren’t the only ones who have been generously donating and fundraising for OCK. Lots of people have been knitting and selling the finished products to raise funds towards OCK’s work. OCK also held their Club Tropicana Fundraising Disco, which was a huge success. A total of £1000 was raised.
As always, it is great to see younger individuals getting involved and this October, Elaine met with the Head Boy, Oscar and Head Girl, Lauren from Knox Academy School. They will be working closely with them going forward to support the community, which is great to see.
A visit was enjoyed by their Funding Officer at National Lottery Community Fund, who invited MSP Paul McLennan and Councillor Liz Allan along. The day was filled with delicious food, chat and great laughs, ending with a visit to the garden and children from Haddington Infants Nursery School visited to sing beautiful nursery rhymes for everyone.