In Memory of Jake

Lana and James are very sad to announce that Jake, their beloved Border Collie dog, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, 14th October. Jake had been diagnosed with cancer back in 2007 so he did very well to fight it for as long as he did.

Jake was very much a part of our Bright World office team as well, coming to the office every day and helping to guard us. He also welcomed visitors, always with a wagging tail and lots of kisses.

We will miss him terribly but we are sure he is up there watching down on us all and still guarding us and looking after us.

Congratulations to Sarah & Adam Forsyth on the birth of Molly Isla

Our guardianship students, families and clients in West Surrey area will all know and love Sarah. Sarah has been our Local Coordinator and Bright World Buddy to students at Priors Field School, King Edwards School, Witley and Royal School, Haslemere for two years now.

Sarah is currently at home with her new born baby, Molly Isla pictured here with Sarah, her husband, Adam and two sisters Ava and Isobelle. We love the picture so much we just had to share it.

Congratulations to you all.

Local Coordinator's Summer Meeting

The Bright World Guardianships Head Office and Local Coordinator Team June 2009

At the end of June each year once all our students are safely on their way home or just about to leave, the Bright World Guardianships team, in its entirety, get together for a review of the year past.


This helps us to review how we are doing things together and makes us all feel much more part of a team.

This year was the busiest year yet with over 20 of us at the meeting. We were welcoming several new members of the team for the first time:

• Ellie Wood, Local Coordintator for Yorkshire


• Astrid Martin, Local Coordinator for Hertfordshire


• Sandra Clarke, Local Coordinator for Essex
  

We all agreed that the year has been very successful with very few problems. We all enjoyed a buffet lunch afterwards before heading home for a long summer ahead.

Lana Foster completes the Race for Life

Fran (left) and Lana (right) on the home stretch.

Back in June Lana put on her trainers and ran the Race for Life with colleague Fran Clarke. The day was boiling hot and over 2,000 ladies from the Mid-Sussex area took part. Fran, being a fully qualified instructor, was given the task of taking the warm up session - the biggest class she will ever teach! She did a grand job and then Fran, Lana and a team of other girls from the local gym we all attend set off on the run.

Fran and Lana came in pretty much in the top 100 runners and did a time of 25 minutes.

We were very proud of our achievement and the money we had raised for Cancer Research.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored us. In case you think we look a bit strange, we were dressed in 80's aerobics style but Lana ditched the leg warmers - too hot!!!!

Summer days at Bright World

We hope all our students are having a good summer back in their home country with their parents. Life certainly changes here at Bright World in the summer. The windows are open all day (when it is not pouring with rain) and we are busy getting readying for the next academic year, enrolling new host families to take care of our newly arriving students, answering nervous emails from new parents and students in an attempt to reassure them that all be in place by the time the summer term starts.

It is really a different time of year and we do enjoy it. That is not to say we are not looking forward to seeing all our students back in September.

We are still chasing nearly all our students for flight details - please hurry and give them to us as soon as possible. Our drivers get really booked up at the beginning of term and it does help for us to be able to book your airport transfers as soon as possible.

Have a lovely August, and looking forward to seeing you all again in September.

The Bright World Guardianships Team

Brittany Wong Graduation

Here's a photo of Jimmy Wong's (our top Hong Kong agent and a dear friend of Bright World) daughter Brittany Wong, six, seen here in her graduation gown from Kentville Kindergarten, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Jimmy said 'I am just so proud of her. She will begin her New Primary School in September this year.'

Well done Brittany and keep it up.

Lana Fosterxx

X Factor excitement interupts Bright World Local Coordinator Meeting

There was much excitement last Thursday, 25th June during the Summer Term Local Coordinator review meeting for Bright World Guardianships. Lana Foster was in the middle of chairing the meeting with our now team of 20 when her text message announcements started to distract her! Basically her twin nieces Charlotte and Natalie were in London due to audition for the X factor in front of a studio audience of 2,000 people.

She and James dashed off after the meeting up to London and they were lucky and managed to catch the audition in time! The good news is that the girl band they have formed with three other friends (called Aspire) has got through and they are heading for Boot Camp!

We will keep you informed of their progress.