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GIFTING WARMTH: CHARITY CONCERT TO BOOST FUNDRAISING FOR GYUMRI SCHOOL'S HEATING SYSTEM
EDUCATION | 17.05.13 | 11:51
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Hopes at Lord Byron School in Gyumri to have warm classrooms
next winter are becoming more realistic as a charity concert in
Yerevan featuring a talented British violinist is set to boost the
ongoing fundraising campaign for installing a heating system at the
establishment.
The school, which was a gift of the British people to earthquake-hit
Gyumri, and is considered to be one of the best in the city, has not
had a centralized heating system in the past 17 years, which affects
the education process in winters that are particularly harsh in the
northwestern part of Armenia.
Now a fundraising for the school is drawing to an end and even though
there is still not sufficient money available, the head of the Tekeyan
Center Fund, which has initiated the campaign, is full of hope that
the necessary sum will be secured.
On Monday, May 20, a charity concert is planned at the Aram
Khachaturian concert hall in Yerevan, featuring British violinist,
Rafal Zambrzycki-Payne, a former winner of the British Young Musician
of the Year Competition, and the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia
conducted by Sergei Smbatyan. They will play a program including
Tchaikovsky, Mozart's violin concerto No. 5 and Mendelssohn. All
proceeds from the concert will be spent for the heating system in Lord
Byron School. Tickets are priced from 1,000 to 15,000 (about $2.5 -
$36). VIP tickets of 30,000 drams (about $72) from the Embassy.
Lilit Kalantaryan, Communications Manager at the British Embassy in
Armenia, says this kind of price range will allow those who wish to
be helpful to the school to make donations within their financial
ability. She says they welcome every donation.
The school in Gyumri was built through the efforts of the British
government and British organizations as a gift to Gyumri (then
Leninakan) following a devastating earthquake of 1988. Grigor
Harutyunyan, the principal of this school, which has an English bias,
is impatiently waiting for Monday's concert. The man, who has headed
the school since 1991, says he has great expectations and is now
certain the school currently attended by 438 pupils will have good
conditions in the coming winter.
"We are all very excited... In the meantime, we have also organized
a fundraising among schoolchildren's parents who can afford to make
donations, even such symbolic amounts as 1,000 drams (about $2.5).
Teachers and alumni have joined in the fundraising," says Harutyunyan.
In the dark and cold 1990s, such a school with modern facilities,
well-furnished and with English-bias in Gyumri mostly ruined by the
earthquake was indeed a splendid innovation. The fact that the school
had a central heating system was a very rare thing in those years not
only for Gyumri, but entire Armenia, because of the heavy energy crisis
the country was challenged with. Then British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher personally did the opening ceremony of the school in June of
1990. For the city in ruins Thatcher's visit was a large-scale event,
she was received with great enthusiasm and joy.
The excellent heating system built by the British, however, very soon
got destroyed, because the technology was not really suited for as
cold a place as Gyumri, where the air temperature in winter drops as
low as -25C.
The school's heating issue last year was raised by David Dowell, a
retired British businessman who owned the construction company which
did the school roofing. He has been paying regular visits to Armenia,
Gyumri in particular, and got a heavy impression after his visit to
the school last winter. Upon his return to England Dowell addressed a
letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron describing the situation
and warning that if no measures were taken the school might be facing
losing its students and closing down, since their number is now three
times less than in the beginning. Fortunately, Cameron's office heeded
the warning and instructed the British Ambassadors (spouses, taking
4-month shifts of ambassador duties) in Armenia to take up the issue.
Ambassadors Jonathan James Aves and Kathy Jane Leach visited the
school, talked to the principal, discussed the possible options for
solving the issue and decided to turn to the Tekeyan Center Fund,
which had the experience of installing heating systems in a number
of other schools.
Tekeyan Center Fund Director Armen Tsulikyan told ArmeniaNow that at
this moment a large part of the necessary sum has been collected -
about 11.8 million drams (nearly $28,500). The cost of the entire
heating system installation project is estimated at some 14.5 million
drams (about $36,000). The sums have been donated both in Armenia
and the United Kingdom.
Earlier, British Co-Ambassador to Armenia Jonathan Aves met with
representatives of the Armenian community in the UK, different
structures that deal with Armenia and Armenians, as a result of
which, according to Tsulikyan, donations have been made by about
40 organizations and numerous individuals. The family of the joint
ambassadors has also made its contribution to the project.
"The Gyumri municipality and the Shirak Governor's office have pledged
to help with the work on installing natural gas supply facilities,
so the project can be launched already in several weeks' time,"
says Tsulikyan.
EDUCATION | 17.05.13 | 11:51
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Hopes at Lord Byron School in Gyumri to have warm classrooms
next winter are becoming more realistic as a charity concert in
Yerevan featuring a talented British violinist is set to boost the
ongoing fundraising campaign for installing a heating system at the
establishment.
The school, which was a gift of the British people to earthquake-hit
Gyumri, and is considered to be one of the best in the city, has not
had a centralized heating system in the past 17 years, which affects
the education process in winters that are particularly harsh in the
northwestern part of Armenia.
Now a fundraising for the school is drawing to an end and even though
there is still not sufficient money available, the head of the Tekeyan
Center Fund, which has initiated the campaign, is full of hope that
the necessary sum will be secured.
On Monday, May 20, a charity concert is planned at the Aram
Khachaturian concert hall in Yerevan, featuring British violinist,
Rafal Zambrzycki-Payne, a former winner of the British Young Musician
of the Year Competition, and the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia
conducted by Sergei Smbatyan. They will play a program including
Tchaikovsky, Mozart's violin concerto No. 5 and Mendelssohn. All
proceeds from the concert will be spent for the heating system in Lord
Byron School. Tickets are priced from 1,000 to 15,000 (about $2.5 -
$36). VIP tickets of 30,000 drams (about $72) from the Embassy.
Lilit Kalantaryan, Communications Manager at the British Embassy in
Armenia, says this kind of price range will allow those who wish to
be helpful to the school to make donations within their financial
ability. She says they welcome every donation.
The school in Gyumri was built through the efforts of the British
government and British organizations as a gift to Gyumri (then
Leninakan) following a devastating earthquake of 1988. Grigor
Harutyunyan, the principal of this school, which has an English bias,
is impatiently waiting for Monday's concert. The man, who has headed
the school since 1991, says he has great expectations and is now
certain the school currently attended by 438 pupils will have good
conditions in the coming winter.
"We are all very excited... In the meantime, we have also organized
a fundraising among schoolchildren's parents who can afford to make
donations, even such symbolic amounts as 1,000 drams (about $2.5).
Teachers and alumni have joined in the fundraising," says Harutyunyan.
In the dark and cold 1990s, such a school with modern facilities,
well-furnished and with English-bias in Gyumri mostly ruined by the
earthquake was indeed a splendid innovation. The fact that the school
had a central heating system was a very rare thing in those years not
only for Gyumri, but entire Armenia, because of the heavy energy crisis
the country was challenged with. Then British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher personally did the opening ceremony of the school in June of
1990. For the city in ruins Thatcher's visit was a large-scale event,
she was received with great enthusiasm and joy.
The excellent heating system built by the British, however, very soon
got destroyed, because the technology was not really suited for as
cold a place as Gyumri, where the air temperature in winter drops as
low as -25C.
The school's heating issue last year was raised by David Dowell, a
retired British businessman who owned the construction company which
did the school roofing. He has been paying regular visits to Armenia,
Gyumri in particular, and got a heavy impression after his visit to
the school last winter. Upon his return to England Dowell addressed a
letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron describing the situation
and warning that if no measures were taken the school might be facing
losing its students and closing down, since their number is now three
times less than in the beginning. Fortunately, Cameron's office heeded
the warning and instructed the British Ambassadors (spouses, taking
4-month shifts of ambassador duties) in Armenia to take up the issue.
Ambassadors Jonathan James Aves and Kathy Jane Leach visited the
school, talked to the principal, discussed the possible options for
solving the issue and decided to turn to the Tekeyan Center Fund,
which had the experience of installing heating systems in a number
of other schools.
Tekeyan Center Fund Director Armen Tsulikyan told ArmeniaNow that at
this moment a large part of the necessary sum has been collected -
about 11.8 million drams (nearly $28,500). The cost of the entire
heating system installation project is estimated at some 14.5 million
drams (about $36,000). The sums have been donated both in Armenia
and the United Kingdom.
Earlier, British Co-Ambassador to Armenia Jonathan Aves met with
representatives of the Armenian community in the UK, different
structures that deal with Armenia and Armenians, as a result of
which, according to Tsulikyan, donations have been made by about
40 organizations and numerous individuals. The family of the joint
ambassadors has also made its contribution to the project.
"The Gyumri municipality and the Shirak Governor's office have pledged
to help with the work on installing natural gas supply facilities,
so the project can be launched already in several weeks' time,"
says Tsulikyan.