Yours Submission Guidelines

I have sent a story in for this page,and I am wondering if in fact you have received it????Please could you le tme know if you have. Thanking you Margaret Lavender   margaretsur@aol.com

Hi, we are Douglas & Bernadette Leggett and we would like to tell you a little about our self. We currently live in Peterborough in the UK. We are two ordinary people working to pay the bills and enjoying a holiday when we can. We have been visiting Bulgaria holiday resorts now for a number of years. We just love the country, the people and their traditions. and most of all, we feel very passionate about the children in the Orphanages.

We started off bring a few extra clothing and giving them to various people, to give to the needy and the orphanages. Then in 2005 we bought a small place in Silistra. We had the place renovated and spent our holidays there. We got to know our neighbours and the villagers and their families too. We also got to know about the Dimcho Debelianov Orphanage.

We decided that we would bring what we could to the children our self. Dougie built a huge trailer with the intention of filling it with goods for the children and driving over. We had lots of help and collected goods from friends, family, work colleagues and Freecycle. The results were wonderful. Before we knew it, we had boxes and boxes to transport to Bulgaria. The trailer was almost finished when due to sudden illness, all our plans had to be changed, hence the trip was delayed for 7 months.

We collected more than we could carry in a trailer, so we had to find another way of transporting the goods to Bulgaria therefore, I contacted a Bulgarian transport company and they agreed to transport for just under £2k we had no option but to pay for the transport of the goods our self, we had come this far and we simply could not let the children down now.

So finally, the boxes were delivered to the children on 20 October 2008. That was the most wonderful experience we ever had. We were so happy, even through all the problems we encountered, the setbacks, Dougie’s ill health, extra costs etc, we achieved our goal. It was just wonderful. The children were delighted and our donations made them so happy. We decided there and than, this is what we want to do, to help those who are less fortunate that our self.

God Willing, our next venture is to send another lorry load out every September- we hope to get help with the products and the transport costs etc. We can so much to help the children, but naturally, we cannot do it alone this time, we need your help please. We are also aware of baby orphanages in the same town and we have collected boxes of goods for them to, as well as some products for the Hospital and the Home for the Elderly. All we need to do now is get the good out there.

Thank you for your help, without you, we cannot do this.

Berni & Dougie
Bulgarian Orphanges
bulgarianorphanage@hotmail.co.uk
website: http://bulgariaorphanagesilistra.webs.com/

Are you still looking for nostalgic stories from the fifties and sixties - also childhood memories - mine go back to the thirties - is that too far back?

I've been reading your guidelines. Is around 1000 words still your preference for a non-fiction article?

Best wishes,

Christina Gibbs