Thursday 26 Apr. An important day for the Stags and one which a lot of hard work had gone into. We were off to the Home for Children with Learning Disabilites in Mihaltsi village to give them the clothes, toys, and other items which charity work over the past 9 months had raised money for. A considerable proportion of this money had been raised by the Sportathon and Charity Auction organised by 840 Sqn Charities Committee but also included help from as far away as the USA from Balls Out Rugby. Our visit had gained a lot of publicity within Sophia and the Orphan Care group who sponsor the orphanage. As a result of this we had a few extra people travelling with us including Lisa Collins from Orphan Care USA who had flown in for our visit, Ekatrina from Orphan Care Bulgaria, members of the British Embassy to Bulgaria including Carl Smith and Miraslava Simeonova of Press and Public Relations and Elle Wilson from the Sophia Echo.

We were all on the road for 0800 for the three hour drive ahead. The orphanage is home to over 50 children between the age of 3 and 10 who all have special needs. There are therefore 28 staff who provide the necessary care to the children 24 hours a day. On our arrival we were met by the youngest children who were slightly over awed by the number of us, but this soon passed as most of us were pounced on at some point. The older group provided a song and dance display which everyone enjoyed especially Kev Cooney who could not resist the chance to join in with the Twist. When 2 boys found out they could see a picture of themselves on the digital camera, it dissapeared for 5minutes whilst everyone else was shown by the boys. After a speech by the President of the orphanage, Chairman Taff Thomas presented her with a plague from the Stags and told her how proud we all felt at being able to make such a valuable contribution to a very worthwhile cause.

A substantial buffet had been laid on for us after which it was time to unpack the things we had bought. It was a proud feeling to see exactly how much we had managed to get for them. As well as those items in the pictures there was 6 boxes of clothes we had brought out with us, a Pentium PC with printer, desk, chair, fax machine, two washing machines, TV and video with a collection of videos, wet and dry vacuum cleaner.

When all was done and dusted it was time to say our good-byes and head back to Sophia. A quick half hour change in the hotel and we were out again for a buffet and quiz night at the residence of the British ambassador in Bulgaria, Richard Stagg and his wife Arabella. After the buffet we were just pipped to the post in the quiz by an embassy staff team. Mike Edwards presented the Ambassador with a plaque from the Stags commemorating there tour. The staff then joined in with a bit of a sing song and another good day drew to a close.