Pupils and staff at Winterfold School, Chaddesley Corbett are delighted to have taken delivery of 225 pairs of Shoes That Grow to give to children at Ncemaneni School in South Africa.  The School aims to take the shoes out with them when they go to the RSA in April.  Everyone will be asked to take three pairs of shoes each so that they can be given to the children directly. 

The pupils currently have to make a 20k round-journey to and from school across rugged, African scrub land in bare feet. This is the daily reality for millions of children across Africa. The consequential cuts and grazes can quickly go sceptic, causing lameness and long-term injury.

In May 2018, to raise money to provide shoes for the children, twenty intrepid adventurers, including teachers and parents from Winterfold and Bromsgrove Schools, signed up to complete the Hadrian’s Wall Challenge – coast-to-coast in three days; eighty-four miles in total and an average of twenty-eight miles per day.

The Hitting-The-Wall Challenge was launched, with the ambition of raising £3,500 to buy the shoes and when all the donations were collected, an astounding £6,945 meant that the blisters and aching limbs had been worth it.

Winterfold School has supported Ncemaneni School for over 10 years, providing funding for infrastructure projects, including the building of classroom and science blocks. Further funds raised facilitated the installation of piped water at the school for the first time. A truly life-changing event, this meant that the school was able to plant a vegetable garden to supplement their one rice meal a day.

Teacher Simon Dieppe said “we would like to thank DHL who kindly shipped the shoes from the US at no cost, saving money that can be ploughed back into projects at Ncemaneni”.