Savannah/Newlands back to school bash

By Christopher Tobutt

Busypacking nearly 300 lovely new school backpacks with school things MP Heather Bodden and all the volunteers were working until nearly midnight at the Savannah and Newlands MPs community office. But they forgot how tired they were when they saw the smiling faces of all the children who came to collect them. There was going to be a great big back to school party, with all the children coming to have some fun with bouncy castles and all those good things at Pedro Castle, but the weather spoiled all the fun. But it is still fun to come into the office and meet all the friendly people there and pick up your lovely new school back pack. It’s always a bit like a great big family in the Savannah Newlands office because everyone is so friendly. MPs Heather Bodden and Hon. Wayne Panton, the Premier and Chris Saunders Deputy Premier and MP from Bodden Town West had bought the bags and all the school things which included lots of exercise books, erasers, rulers, lovely sets of coloured markers, crayons, scissors, pencils and very special charcoal pencils too, as well as binders and, well, everything really that a young school student needs these days to start the school year feeling all crisp and confident and shiny. Oh and there were lots of pairs of shoes, too, all brand new, for the children to wear.

Nicola McLaughlin is just 17 but she has been helping Heather Bodden from early this year. She stepped up to the plate when she heard that the kids needed the bags filled up and was one of the ones working late to make sure nobody got missed out. “I started off in January helping out with the elections, and after that I just continued working here. It feels like a family,” she said.