Vigilance Properties has turned around the educational prospects of 300 children by building a new school in Nepal.
The security company, whose founders and workforce are former members of the armed forces – many of them Gurkhas – built an earthquake-resistant building in the village of Chiuribot at the foothills of the Himalayas.
The new Siddhartha School was built by the local population under the expertise of the Gurkha Welfare Trust. It was the culmination of a 24-month fundraising campaign.
The school now gives more children in the village access to primary education, as well as opening up access to secondary education for the first time. Previously, students in the area faced a six-hour trek to further their education.
Vigilance Properties started as a social enterprise, with a goal to help ex-servicemen and women reintegrate into society by employing them as live-in caretakers of empty properties. The focus then shifted to the employment of Gurkhas who, until the successful public campaign fronted by Joanna Lumley to give them residential rights in the UK, relied on charity to survive.
Vigilance Properties chief executive Seb MacKenzie-Wilson, said: “The company is committed to the long-term sustainability of the project, and now the building phase is finished, there are plans to create an outside play space, as well as resource the school with everything from power to communications equipment and learning materials.
“We hope the project never ends, just renews and strengthens over time.”
Lawyer sails into the record books
Real estate lawyer George Biggar of Taylor Wessing was part of the four-man crew that broke the transatlantic rowing world record earlier this month, becoming the first team to row across the Atlantic in less than 30 days.
The London-based Four Oarsmen were among 25 teams taking part in The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, rowing from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean.
Sponsored by McLaren Property, Biggar and his teammates embarked on the 3,000-mile race as a charity fundraiser and hoped for a respectable finish time of around 40 days. Instead, the amateur team took an early lead that it maintained throughout the race.
The team has raised more than £250,000 for charities Mind and Spinal Research UK, including a £20,000 contribution from Taylor Wessing and a £20,000 contribution from McLaren Property.
Biggar said: “We did this for two causes that are hugely close to our hearts and very important to us. It was astounding to see the amount of support for these charities we have helped raise from friends, family, loved ones and people we’ve never met.
“When we were really hitting the wall, that’s what kept us going: the encouragement of our supporters, and the knowledge that we were making such a difference.”
