This Sunday is indeed a day of rest for me back home in Devon after a whirlwind visit to Nepal last week for Pipal Tree. It’s amazing how much you can cram into a few days….

This included placing one of my hand-made mosaics at Bhatighadi school in south Nepal in memory of my cousin, Lily Taylor, who passed away last year, and her late husband, George. It was particularly appropriate to do this as George Taylor was a history teacher by profession. Their children, May and Jonathan, requested that donations in memory of Lily be made to Pipal Tree in lieu of flowers; I was very touched by their gesture and felt honoured to commemorate Lily and George by getting to work in my domestic mosaic studio (aka the conservatory) on their behalf.

We have been supporting Bhatighadi school since 2020, funding new classrooms, material support to the children (rucksacks, warm clothes, shoes etc) and covering the cost of an additional (female) support teacher. Through our investment, the school has been transformed from being an under-resourced community school to one that is on a par with local private schools, one that teachers and pupils can be proud of.

You can see the mosaic on one of the six pillars at the front of the new classroom block that we built last year following a major gift from supporters Nigel and Pepie in Ireland. That means there are five pillars with vacant spaces. Which got me thinking…..

I would love to make a mosaic for each of the other five pillars inviting a charitable donation to Pipal Tree of £1,500 each from an individual, an organisation or as an ‘in memoriam’. The gift can be acknowledged on a brass plaque beside each mosaic. If that donation is paid to us through a future Big Give appeal, it can double in value. Which would allow us to cover the salary cost for one year of our additional support teacher, Jina Tamang Sherpa.

Can you help us create a funding line that will cover one important element of our work until 2030 while providing some artistic inspiration at morning assembly?