Watlington PTA takes to the skies with virtual fundraiser

Watlington Primary School PTA are hosting a virtual Christmas fundraiser for students.

After the success of their earlier Watlington Virtual Marathon which was held in May and raised £266 which was split between the PTA, Watlington Pre-School and King's Lynn Food Bank. Now the PTA are taking part in a virtual balloon race.

The Christmas Shopping balloon race runs from December 1-8 and balloons cost £3, they can be customised by those who take part. Then on December 1, the balloons are virtually launched from Harrods in London, and the balloon that travels the furthest wins with prizes including £500 for the winners, an iPad and £10 book tokens available.

Sarah Oakley, chair of Watlington Community Primary School PTA, said: "Due to COVID-19 our PTA fundraising in the last Spring and Summer term was cancelled, and with no school discos, Christmas and Spring Fayres, or other fundraising events being planned for this year, we are looking at how we can raise funds virtually to ensure that we can continue to provide the children with the school experience that they deserve."

She added: "We will be using the money raised from the balloon race to purchase some much-needed books for the school for use with Guided Reading. Guided Reading is done in every class - pre-COVID this was done in groups of six, so some classes only have six copies of the texts. Now our classes are struggling with the number of copies they have and are photocopying pages for each session. We would love it if our Virtual Balloon Race meant we could buy the school enough of each set of books so that each child can have one book each."

Watlington PTA will also be awarding 10 local prizes which have been donated by local businesses including Downham Tandoori, The Christmas Shop, Maddie's Sweet Treats and many others.

Balloons must be purchased by November 30. The 7-day simulation race goes live at noon on December 1.

Visit https://ecoracing.co/user/page/921 to buy a balloon.