Maindee Primary School raises hundreds for Community House

Maindee Primary School raised the money for Community House in Eton Road, which needed to pay for a new ceiling.

@maindeeprimary students raised a huge £900 for Community House. Here's the moment of them handing over the check to youth workers at the community centre. pic.twitter.com/4GNqseKRhg

— Ben McAdams (@BenMcA96) June 7, 2021

The school started fundraising when year six teacher Ravi Baksh - who himself attended the centre when he was young - heard about the appeal.

“As soon as I heard about it, I knew I had to do something to help," he said.

“It (Community House) is essential to the community and it’s something we need for the pupils from school to access outside of school.

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“I was really surprised by how much the kids raised, I was blown away by it.

“It was a collective effort from everyone in the school, it was incredible."

The cash was raised through a raffle - with prizes including Premier League football shirts, remote control cars, a mini pool table and board games - and the funds were handed over by head girl Rishaada Roshan, head boy Lucas Smith, and deputy head boy Abu-Turab Saree in front of the school this today, Monday.

All pupils were given tickets for the raffle, so nobody was left out regardless of if they paid in or not.

L-R Youth and community project worker Zenia Hamid with Maindee Primary School head girl Rishaada Roshan, head boy Lucas Smith, and deputy head boy Abu-Turab Saree – all aged 11 - year 6 teacher Ravi Baksh, and Youth and community project worker Sarah Miller

Community House is the only community centre in Maindee and has been standing for around 70 years.

The centre needed around £13,000 to buy the new ceiling in their hall and entered a community competition from Newport City Council to raise funds.

The group made videos explaining why they needed the money and ended up finishing third.

This meant that they secured enough funding to put a deposit down on the ceiling, but still needed to raise more money to fully pay for it.

Ingrid Wilson, chairwoman of the centre's trustees, described the amount raised as "absolutely brilliant".

L-R Maindee Primary School head girl Rishaada Roshan, head boy Lucas Smith, and deputy head boy Abu-Turab Saree – all aged 11 - and year 6 teacher Ravi Baksh

“When I first heard about what the school were doing, I though ‘how is a raffle going to help in this deprived community?’," she said.

“But every child got a raffle ticket, which meant it was totally inclusive.

“It was a huge community initiative.

“It’s such a wonderful warm feeling to know that there are people out there rooting for us."