Plumtree School - Old Prunitians

Appeal for Kathy Olds and her Family

Saturday 20th August 2000

We expect you will have read or heard of Kathy Olds who has taken refuge here in England following the murder of her husband Martin in Zimbabwe. Martin was an O.P. who in his time was not only a highly respected pupil in the school but was also head of Lloyd House in his final year.

Kathy and her two children, Martine and Angus, arrived here 12 weeks ago with nothing but what they could carry in their suitcases and since then they have been put up by Tim and Sue Gibbs in Gloucestershire who had been neighbours in Zimbabwe. They have within the last 2 days been granted asylum here in the UK, so the first hurdle has been crossed.

Temporary school arrangements for the children have been made in Gloucestershire and the hope is that the family will be able to remain in the area in the medium term so that they at least have some stability at this very sad time. Tim and Sue cannot however support the family indefinitely in their home and there will come a time soon when they have to move on. As things are at the moment they have nowhere to go and no money to rent and certainly not to buy.

We (James who knew Martin at Plumtree and Charles who is a solicitor in Suffolk) would like to help and have joined Bill Earle, a friend of the Gibbs family now retired and living in Cirencester, to see what we can do. Could you help too ?

We reckon that we can support the family in Gloucestershire for at least a year until they get themselves back on their feet with between £20,000 and £25,000. This should be enough to pay for accommodation, food etc. and possibly to help run a small car for getting to school and eventually, we hope, to help Kathy to find and keep a job (she has many years of experience as a legal secretary). Kathy has a double challenge in that she is also paraplegic, so we would like to give her to give her the best possible start.

We would like to suggest to anyone interested in helping that £52.00 would be a suitable amount to contribute - equivalent to £1.00 per week for a year - although any greater or lesser contribution would of course be much appreciated. We have opened a bank account with Bill Earle, Tim Gibbs and ourselves as joint signatories from which we would pay a monthly allowance to Kathy and one-off payments as and when necessary.

Please give us a hand - it is not a great deal to ask. We've already had a wonderful response to the appeal, but we are still well short of our mark. Any queries, please contact James - see below.

If we succeed in getting this off the ground then we promise not to come back to you to ask for any further contribution.

Please do help if you can. Thank you.

James Maberly and Charles Boscawen

NB: We suggest two ways to make a contribution; either directly into the bank account (details below) in which case we ask that you send a short note telling us of how much and who you are to the address below, or alternatively to send a cheque or money order made out to Olds Family Fund and post it directly to James at the address below.

Bank : The Bank of Scotland
Sort code : 12 16 39
Account no : 00629083
Address : 35 Princes Street, Ipswich, Suffolk. IP1 1AE, United Kingdom.

Contact Address for posted letters and cheques :

James Maberly
Red House Farm,
Dennington,
Woodbridge,
Suffolk IP13 8AQ
United Kingdom

Tel : 01728 638627 Fax : 01728 638628
Email : James Maberly <jmab@themutual.net>