A WINCHESTER theatre is hosting a fundraising concert to help a Sri Lankan nursery.
The concert features two Winchester bands and will be held at the Nutshell Theatre on Friday, November 24.
It has been organised by Mini Mitchell who founded the charity Kindergarten For Akurala (KFA).
The bands are made up of Peter Symonds College students and are called Vinyl and Novocaine.
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Mini said: "I set up KFA via a GoFundMe page when I was 16 (in 2020), after a trip to the village of Akurala in the South of Sri Lanka, where I learnt of the closure of the local kindergarten due to lack of government funding.
"I fundraised to provide them with classroom furniture, equipment, and stationary with the hopes to keep them going whilst they relocated to a local's home to continue classes. This turned out to be a huge success and after announcing that we would be able to provide the children with their school supplies (and alleviate the financial pressure on their parents), the number of children being enrolled in the school doubled.
"With the money we had raised we were also able to pay the teachers' salaries for the year and cover the costs of school supplies for the children leaving the kindergarten.
"The building that the kindergarten was being held in wasn't in a great location, it was far from the village centre, it was small and didn't have any toilets, electricity or running water. So we set out with the plans to build them a new kindergarten. It was then that we registered as a charity and the project really began (June 2021). I was on-site, overseeing the build for six months and the new kindergarten opened its doors in May 2022."
She added: "We hope to be able to do the same this year but on an even larger scale. By providing these school essentials for as many children as we can in Akurala and its surrounding villages and roll out the school supplies program with the hopes to further increase the access to education in the area.
"The money we hope to raise through this fundraiser concert would enable us to do this."
For more details about the concert visit thenutshellwinchester.com/shows-and-events/groove-for-good and for more on the charity visit kindergartenforakurala.co.uk/groove-for-good-1.
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