Celtic Quick News will be 10 years old next year and to mark the occasion, through Mary’s Meals, we’re going to construct a kitchen and shelter facility at the Kholoni Primary School in Mchinji, Central Malawi, which currently has no food preparation facilities.
A brick-built building, the kitchen will consist of one main cooking area with two small locked storerooms. In one, firewood for the stoves will be kept and, the other will store food and utensils. The kitchen will be fully equipped with stoves, pots, serving equipment, mugs and spoons and the 1221 children will be provided with a daily meal of a vitamin-enriched maize porridge. The kitchen will also have teaching facilities, to allow it to be used as a classroom outside meal times.
17% of people in the world live in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 per day) but there is plenty of good news, the proportion of world living in this condition halved in last 20 years (this was a UN Millennium Development Target). Life expectancy (at birth) of low income people in 1990 was 52, but in 2011 it was 60. Infant mortality dropped by a third during this period and maternal mortality almost halved.
Since humans first walked the earth a significant proportion of them have lived in extreme poverty, but while someone once said, “the poor will always be with us”, for the first time ever the decades ahead could see all of humanity escape from extremely poverty.
Malawi, according to the UN the 17th least developed nation on earth, is one of the world’s extreme poverty front lines, but even here, the trend is encouraging. In 1990 child mortality between 0-5 years was 244 deaths per 1000 live births. By 2000 this had dropped to 174 per 1000. Last year the figure was 71 deaths per 1000 from 0-5 years. The UK passed that figure more than 70 years ago, but the rate of improvement in Malawi is nothing short of incredible. It is fertile ground for the right kind of help.
Mary’s Meals, a Scottish charity established in 2002, feeds 822,142 kids in 16 countries every day. They keep costs low and employ local staff in kitchens, ensuring 93% of money donated reaches those in need, possibly the highest rate of any comparable organisation. It costs £7 for Mary’s Meals to feed a child in Malawi – for a whole year. 20% of Malawi’s children (600k) are fed by the organisation, often their only meal of the day.
In 2012, a sample of 44 schools found that enrolment had increased by 30% two years after the introduction of Mary’s Meals. Academic achievement improves too. The benefit is not just escape from hunger, it is access to education for children who would otherwise have to work for food. It also provides an increase in productivity and economic capacity when the children enter the workforce.
CQteN St Patrick’s Day Party
The kitchen will cost £7000 and I’ve told Mary’s Meals we’ll raise enough money by St Patrick’s Day, which gives us three months. We have a lot of work to do but the focal point will be the CQteN Dinner on Friday, 14 March 2014, which will be the biggest and best St Patrick’s Day Party in Scotland.
We’ve hired the Kerrydale Suite at Celtic Park. Tickets are available for £50, tables of 10 are also available. To reserve a ticket or table email me, celticquicknews@gmail.com. The event has been discussed in the comments section for some weeks without a formal launch and we quickly sold out the smaller capacity of the Kerrydale Suite. We have now taken the entire suite so additional tickets are available.
Between now and then there will be the odd auction to help us along, and we will continue to support the work of the Celtic Foundation (who have a Children’s Hospice Association Scotland auction on now), the Kano Foundation, and the many needy causes a lot closer to home than Malawi.
The UN are currently considering Development Targets for 2030, with the eradication of extreme poverty likely to feature. Poverty is a complex subject, so even after 2000 years development, we know there will always be comparative poverty, but within our Generation of Domination, extreme poverty, less than $1.25 per day existence, could be eradicated.
There is no more appropriate way to mark the 10th anniversary of the blog. This will be our payback for all the hours, days, weeks and months of pleasure (and toil) we’ve gotten out of the these pages over the years. Put 14th March 2014 in your diary, we’re having THE St Patrick’s Day party!
For more information on Mary’s Meals take a look at the video below:
Get your CQN Annual below. From now on £5 from every Annual sold will go to the CQN Malawi School Kitchen appeal.
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Less than 100 places left for CQTEN – reserve asap to avoid disappointment. Gonna be some night!
The gravy train has stopped. All aboard the gravy boat.
Hamiltontim is praying for Oscar
18:09 on 13 December, 2013
Agree absolutely but being in a backwater league of relatively little importance to the UEFA “culprits”, our powers that be, have, sadly, little influence.
I’ll still read yer posts though :-))))
Gerry
Gerry Bhoy.That is not”How it is”only if you allow it.Bobby Sands had 100,000 people at his funeral.
The number of VIPs at his funeral?!!!!!What like the vast amount of VIPs that condemned the man at the time.Like Mugabwe.Like every corrupt politician on the globe.Like all the two faced countries that traded with the Botha government while Mandela lay in jail.Ours especially.Get a grip man.
Well the Sevco fans will be heartened.
That chap Easdale came across as a fine upstanding member of the Business community
“can you make rangers great again ?”
WOW……..oh, that’s why I lurve Shortbread
LOL
Turkeybhoy
No argument from me on that one but…..
gerrybhoy
Not trying to start an arguement mate , just pointing out the hypocrisy .
I reckon there is many grounds around Europe that display political banners.
Why aren’t they being addressed?
Someone is pointing the finger, think we all know who.
Celtic board, grow some and defend your fans, even if it is by slight of hand, like the rest do.
Wise up.
The Celtic fans que up to try and convince the ex_rangers player that Celtic have problems…
livibhoy – god bless wee oscar
16:15 on 13 December, 2013
lennon’s passion
I was there too. Not the semi. We played Hearts in the semi in the centenary year.
LB
Checked this out online your 100% correct. The hibs game was in April all but sealed the league. Found a old newspaper headline read “Peter The great”.
Just watched Mr Easedale on news looks very honest.
Easdale – “Most big clubs have some sort of finance against the assets.”
Ha..theres foes the neighbourhood
4 0 Rate This
from FF
___________________
Minutes from VB / Stockbridge meeting
http://www.*************.co.uk/minut…ockbridge.html
************* Admin have decided to publish the minutes from our delegates’ meeting with Rangers Financial Director Brian Stockbridge.
Unfortunately we have been unable to have a face-to-face meeting with Paul Murray. We had hoped to publish both sets of minutes simultaneously, giving Rangers shareholders and fans a chance to scrutinise both, but with less than a week to to AGM we felt we could not wait any longer.
As with all meetings, ************* can only take the answers we are given in good faith. Without evidence to the contrary, it is hard for anyone to contradict what is given to us. However rest assured that if any answers are proved to be incorrect then we will not hesitate to take action in addressing these issues.
It should also be noted that the minutes below are not verbatim, but are given as bullet points of the overall discussion.
Furthermore, with the impending AGM looming large on the horizon we would also like to reiterate that all members of VB and the wider Rangers support are encouraged to vote to the dictates of their own hearts and minds. Their vote is their own prerogative.
Hopefully after the result of this vote then ALL Rangers fans will accept the democratic outcome and work together for the good of the club we all support.
Finance
Mr. Stockbridge explained why the costs of IPO flotation were high, he came across as confident in his explanation of it, as an example; Lawyer’s fees were doubled as they were paid in both England & Scotland.
He confirmed that the doomsday quote by auditors of having “only £1M in the bank by April” was based on the current cash burn rate and assuming the worst case scenario where there would be no further incomings from now until April.
With regards to Ally taking a wage cut, he said that it was not as straight forward as was being portrayed in the press.
He inherited excessive wages for players not of the standard expected and he still has players on the books who are earning more than £7000 a week.
He realises that having a manager and two coaches taking a huge wage is not prudent for the league we are in.
Squad/Squad Management
Mr. Stockbridge wasn’t happy with the way things were progressing with developing youth for sale to assist with future financing of the club. Agreed that the wage bill on the playing/playing management side of things was far too high for where we were in the league set up. He wanted Mather to address that for some time but Mather was too nice and didn’t want to rock the boat.
Mr. Stockbridge also thinks there has to be a realistic view on what can be spent now in order to prepare the squad for our return to the SPFL. Like all managers and Financial Directors there will be differences of opinion on what can be spent achieving this.
Craig Mather
Mr. Mather left of his own accord in part because he didn’t want to face the storm of an AGM, and partly because he was pressed into walking away by major investors who were unimpressed with how he was dealing with things. The time of departure was co-incidental to the court decision regards the AGM.
New Board Members
Mr. Stockbridge hopeful of appointing two Non-Executive Directors shortly. Both from a financial, corporate governance and non-football background. Both Directors will be involved in the decision-making process for the new CEO which is expected to be announced the week after the two Non–Executive Directors. New CEO will be of a level that has never been seen at the club before and has experience of working at a top English club.
It’s not Derek Lambiass, although he did say he knew him. The CEO will be instructed to sort out the playing side of things both financially & structurally. Likely to be paying similar for his services to what Criag Mather got (approx. £300k a year). One applicant already interviewed wanted £1.5m and was rightly rejected.
Annual General Meeting
He is very confident that the support is there from current shareholders to nullify any potential threat from the requisitioners. He expects Laxey Partners to side once again with the Board.
It cost almost £40,000 to reprint documents for rescheduled AGM.
Mr. Stockbridge said he was disappointed in the lawyers advising the club that they’d win the court case and said he’ll be addressing that.
Investment
Mr. Stockbridge claims to have made good headway with regards to attracting interest from potential new investors, however a lot of these potential investors understandably require stability in the boardroom before they will invest, a fact that the people causing unrest for the club fail to grasp.
Sports Direct
Mr. Stockbridge claims he has renegotiated better terms on the merchandising contract with Mike Ashley.
He said he told Mr. Ashley that any stadium renaming has to be put on the back burner for now, regardless of a signed contract being in place for the renaming rights.
Media/PR
WiFi at Ibrox and the Rangers ‘App’ are poor and he is refusing to release it in its current form. The whole media side of things needs a complete overhaul.
The issue was raised about the company’s PR strategy. Stockbridge said that Craig Mather was directly responsible for the hire of Jack. Irvine and Media House, that being said, while Mr. Stockbridge is acutely aware of the discontent amongst the support of aspects of the clubs PR, he says that it is a ‘work in progress’ and the club will be addressing it specifically, after the AGM has taken place.
Dave King
It is not cut and dried yet that Dave King will be allowed by the SFA to hold a position at Rangers. Mr. Stockbridge wants Mr. King on board, saying that Mr. King doesn’t give much away to anyone from all sides and plays his cards very close to his chest.
Craig Whyte
As far as he is aware Craig Whyte is not involved with either Blue Pitch or Margarita Holdings.
Paul Murray
Mr. Stockbridge thinks Paul Murray will continue his campaign of getting control even after failure at the AGM. Mr. Murray was offered a place on the Board but declined it and was asked to talk with the Board regarding the postponed AGM to come to an amicable agreement, but again declined.
Supporters and Supporters Groups
It is Mr. Stockbridge’s opinion that there are disruptive influences in the support. He is keen to go down the road of introducing a Fans Membership Club. He is keen on establishing an Official Rangers Membership Scheme which would mean significant change in the way things operate currently. All of these ideas may of course change when the new CEO is appointed.
Malcolm Murray
We brought up the issue of the Malcolm Murray video, there had been four or five times that Malcolm Murray had been intoxicated and Mr. Stockbridge thought it wasn’t the standard expected of a Rangers Chairman. Stockbridge recorded Murray and showed it to a convened internal Board meeting comprising of Charles Green, Imran Ahmad and Malcolm. Murray. They all had copies of it. Mr. Green & Mr. Stockbridge deleted their copies. Mr. Stockbridge believes that Imran leaked the video to YouTube to get back at him.
Mr. Stockbridge said that he paid a £50k electricity bill out of his own pocket which is contrary to Malcolm Murray’s claims that he himself paid it. Without official documentation or proof this is one person’s word against another.
Malcolm Murray, whilst Chairman, signed off on the bonus contracts which Mr. Stockbridge, Mr. Green and Mr. Ahmad held.
Walter Smith
Email on Charlottes Fakes was doctored to suit. Mr. Stockbridge and Walter Smith corresponded on the phone where Mr. Smith agreed that he’d be taking on the Chairman role full time. Mr. Stockbridge has tried to get Charlotte Fakes shut down by contacting Twitter, however a new account appears just as soon as the previous one is deleted. Mr. Stockbridge says he doesn’t know who it is.
Blue Pitch & Margarita Holdings
Mr. Stockbridge can’t disclose the names invloved but said that there is a major insurance player who is involved with Blue Pitch.
He says he knows Rafat Rizvi but he’s not involved, and if he was on Interpol’s wanted list then why isn’t he arrested when he’s in London, which is often?
Mr. Stockbridge denied being the man behind Margarita Holdings.
When asked if the names of those behind both investment groups are known can we expect it to be a major problem for the fans and indeed the club, he said “no”.
Imran Ahmad
He is confident that Mr Ahmad won’t win his £500k claim. The alleged contract is worthless according to Mr. Stockbridge.
Puma/Blackthorn
Mr. Stockbridge didn’t agree with the one-year deal, and said he will try to negotiate longer term deals as it’s more beneficial. He denied that Mr.Green and Mr. Ahmad pocketed the Blackthorn cash
________________
Mr. Stockbridge explained why the costs of IPO flotation were high, he came across as confident in his explanation of it, as an example; Lawyer’s fees were doubled as they were paid in both England & Scotland.
Been off the bevy for quite a while now; well a month. Consequently don’t sleep too good and therefore spend an inordinate amount of time on here at ungodly hours. Nonetheless, off too kip in a minute but not before I recollect that in a past life I was fortunate enough to meet and get to know very well some Celtic legends; grand days!
Mind you, I was also even more fortunate to spend an evening/next day morning in the company of CQN legend Martin Kane, and his immediate family in Dubai.
Thanks for the memories Kano.
God Bless you Ramie.
In our thoughts, always.
Regards & Hail Hail
TBM
GerryBhoy
18:25 on
13 December, 2013
Hamiltontim is praying for Oscar
18:09 on 13 December, 2013
Agree absolutely but being in a backwater league of relatively little importance to the UEFA “culprits”, our powers that be, have, sadly, little influence.
I’ll still read yer posts though :-))))
Gerry
This team from a “Backwater league”made UEFA re_draw the European Cup draw,after they refused to participate in a tournament that allowed “Warsaw Pact”countries to enter that year.The year the Soviets invaded the Czechs.Our statement read
“We will not participate in a competition that lets Warsaw Pact countries invade a country that we as a club have made many friends in,namely,Czecheslovakia,be involved in.
That was my club.That was Celtic.
CURRENT SIGNED CELTIC TOP ON eBAY PROCEEDS TO CHARITY.
All proceeds to The Little Sisters of the Poor, Wellburn Care Home, Lochee, Dundee.
The perfect Christmas Gift for the Celtic FC supporter in your life.
Signed by the current Celtic first team squad, this top was purchased at a charity auction in November 2103 by The Executive Shaving Co Ltd to raise funds for Wellburn Care Home.
The top has not been worn, it comes complete with labels.
The top is kept safe in a beautiful, Celtic FC branded presentation box.
The Little Sisters of the Poor is a Roman Catholic religious organisation run by nuns who care for the welfare of old people in 31 countries.
This interdenominational care home in Dundee is under resourced and badly needs money to provide for the old people residing there.
The auction ends on 17th December. The top will be sent recorded, next day guaranteed delivery so the winner will have it for giving at Christmas.
TO SEE PHOTGRAPHS OF THE TOP CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW.
http://tinyurl.com/otm563r
Mr.Green and Mr.Ahmad pocketed the Blackthorn cash?
Hahahahaha
darwinsbeautifulidea 17:45 on 13 December, 2013
Indeed, we are descendants of monkeys !
Sipsini
Hiya,pal.. Nice tae greet ye.
Of course, ye are Correct… in aloata whit ye wrote..
But.. (There, is THAT little Woid.. Again!)
Ye Must remember.. that..
In SCOTLAND..
The CATHOLICS, are THIRD CLASS Citizens , Of.. that Country..
and ,fur some reason.. which Ah wullnae go Intae..
Catholics……. and….The Celtic Fitba’ And Athletic Club.. are.. considered tae be…
SYNONAMOUS!
Right?
So. Ah believe Ah hiv Jist Answered yer Question, which wiz Contained in Yer
last Submission tae Me..
Yep..
Celtic , are Jist NOT… “Quoted”… In Scotland…
And we Wull Never Be!
Until, the Catholic Population ,of that Country..
Becomes ..
‘
The MAJORITY..
That is Jist How it Is..
And Everybuddy.. oan Here and Elsewhere
Needs tae Fully Understaun.. the Predicament in which the Catholics of Scotland
and.. The Celtic Fitba’ n Athlesic Club..
Find Themsels..
They are jist no ..well “QUOTED”
And THAT… Is Awe She Wrote..
Kojo
Kojo 18:19 on 13 December, 2013………..
Really! Tell that to Boss Tweed…………
TBM
bournesouprecipe
I would second that.
NL “after qualifiers we have a 2 week window to sign players for the Group stages” and this results in panic buys like Pukki IMO.This strategy is clearly not working.Get guys in for pre-season and bedded in for the season ahead.
a great blog by phil
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/chairman-of-the-board/
a poster on his blog mentioned phils book downfall and the outrageous stuff written in the reviews on the amazon site
i checked it out and the stuff is utterly libellous poison
pure racist hatred
keep up the good work, phil
you provide an invaluable service in keeping us all up to date with whats happening at racism fc
Bada bing.
Might be tough this year with the World Cup.
So Ah see that we hiv a Coupla
Guys.. who wid wanta Fight..
City Hall..
Hmmmmmmmm
Besta Luck, Pals.
Kojo
Turkeybhoy
18:25 on 13 December, 2013
Certainly, there were 100,000 there but that is not the point IMO. We are talking about a world-wide sphere of interest in Nelson Mandela’s case and that was not really the case with Bobby Sands, although Mandela certainly sympathised with his situation. Am just stating the obvious and not offering an opinion on the comparison but a comparison it is.
Based on today’s decision, we would be well advised to address these issues at the appropriate venues and that does not include at our matches, home or away.
CFC
Good Evening Timland.
It’s been a horrible week for our club,broken seat’s,the GB
banned,a humping from Barca,and now a fine…..the msm
are loving it,feeding their readerships hatred off all thing’s
Celtic…..time to close ranks,and get right behind the club.
Kojo
You can’t fight City Hall.
It might as well be for all the world a brick wall.
You said a moothfu there buddy…
Doesn’t mean we have to meekly accept it or dampen our ire…
Every good boxer knows where the ropes on the ring are…
U
Turkeybhoy
18:32 on 13 December, 2013
Agree with what you say but it is “our” club and unfortunately times have changed football-wise since then and our pull is much reduced. I do not like that but that is what we face.
Serious question Bhoys and Girls
This Johnny come lately,to CQN,has googled the Kano foundation and now gets what it does.
Who is or was Kano as he or she must be or have been someone outstanding to have a Foundation?
honest mistake loves being first-of course mate,which won’t help either.HH
ryecatcher
I’ll let others detail Kano – still alive, though debilitated.
One of the most joyfully argumentative, spade’s a spade, shovel’s a shovel guys on CQN.
I would call his style, as was, positively confrontational…
U
Turkeybhoy – Read your post at 17:45 and saw the agreements offered by others. In the interest of balance, I have to say I disagree 100%. There are a lot of posters here who agree with your thoughts, but I hope and pray there are many who don’t. You use a political argument to validate what was in your mind NOT a political statement. The GB are solely responsible for the (political) banner. If UEFA didn’t understand the banner – is that not the GB’s fault as well?
As for you latter post that you would gladly pay 42k every year rather than be a second class citizen? Really? If you ran a company (maybe you do) you would surely weed out anyone who is taking money out of your pocket? money that could be used for the benefit of those other employees who care about your organization?
This is not our first skirmish with UEFA over fan behavior, hence the hefty punishment. Celtic are not in a position to argue with UEFA. When our so called fans behave the way they have done this season in the CL, it only weakens our position as a club. We don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but I would expect this is another slap on the wrist that we take without reaction.
Not trying to pick a fight with you, there’s way too much of that around here these days, but I want to make it clear that not everyone agrees with you regards the way our club is run.
GerryBhoy
Again you miss the point.The Bobby Sands banner was not meant to glorify,or show support for the man.The same can be said of the William Wallace banner.A banner that seems to have somehow been forgotten.Both were not political banners.Both were highlighting a purely Scottish issue,affecting football fans,at football games.How that contravenes UEFAs laws is beyond me.
Bada Bing
Get them in how? If they don’t want to come to us for pre-season then what happens?
I would also suggest we’ll be unable to sign anyone of significance in January. Not because we’ll not try but I doubt players will be prepared to uproot themselves and most importantly their families from wherever they currently ply their trade to come to this country mid season for them and mid winter for us.
Austerity or insolvency.
Phil’s take on Sevco’s future.
I like it.
MN CELT,
I dont want to sound pompous or ignorant.I have read your reply to my post,and really,I dont give a monkeys about what you think.I took time and thought to write my post.Its what I believe.You started your post by saying you disagreed with mine 100%.No common ground then,so we move on.
ElDiegoBhoy
I agree with you about January.We will find it hard with the money we will be offering to clubs to let their best players go.Teams fighting for Europe,against relegation.Not easy.Easier in the summer,but of no use to us.