Dear HLMT supporter
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
NEW STUDENTS, LIVE MUSIC AND SUPPORTERS’ FUNDRAISERS
- Four new HLMT-sponsored students commence their studies in September
- HLMT supporting 11 midwifery students in Zorzor, Liberia, this academic year
- 3 more HLMT-sponsored students complete their degrees and are due to graduate in November
- Upcoming events, including music fundraisers on 28th November and 7th February
- Nottingham Boots Orchestra concert 29th November for HLMT
- Supporters run half-marathon and organise cake sales to support HLMT
- Seasonal gifts – new lines added to HLMT-Etsy site
- Any leftover currency to donate to HLMT?
- Very successful recent events
- Standing orders, donations and bequests in wills
1. Liberian Developments
All 11 HLMT-sponsored students are on track. Three of them (Benetta, Dorcus and Victoria) have successfully finished their degree studies and are ready to graduate. The Graduation has been delayed until November, because the Liberian Board for Nursing and Midwifery first went through a lengthy process of reaccrediting all Liberian training colleges. The Phoebe-Esther Bacon College of Health Sciences has now been reaccredited.
Following student selections on 31 July, with Abdul Bah representing HLMT, 4 new HLMT-sponsored students have begun their studies in September. We wish Chewbula Browne, Joanna Wonlea, Kebbeh Zubah and Pauline Wonyehn all the very best with their studies and their careers.
Despite substantial cuts to the UK government’s development budget, the British Embassy in Liberia has generously found the funds for the current semester to continue to support HLMT by funding the two students they supported last year. We are very grateful for the Embassy’s efforts and support
HLMT is currently sponsoring eleven midwifery students at the Phoebe-Esther Bacon College of Health Sciences (PEBCHS). Reports from PEBCHS for each student show that the students are doing well, a couple of them achieving outstanding results.
2. Upcoming events
Live music fundraiser with 3 acts on Friday 28th November, at Sherwood URC, 1 Edwards Lane, Sherwood, Nottingham NG5 3AA
Enjoy another brilliant evening of music, featuring:
- Connexion Man: A band of tunesmiths featuring lots of harmony, instrument swapping and catchy original pop songs
- Matt Blick: A singer/songwriter peddling tall tales, love letters, riddles & one-sided arguments both spiritual & political
- Klezmer Tanz: Playing East European Jewish songs and tunes – soulful, joyous and danceable!
Tickets are £12 in advance, from https://www.trybooking.com/uk/EOHC (£15 on the door if not sold out). Tickets are selling fast, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
HLMT’s Liberian Arts & Crafts Stall: Greetings cards, Traditional Liberian Lapa fabric Arts & Crafts
If you have any leftover foreign currency, please consider bringing it with you to donate to HLMT.
Boots Orchestra fundraising concert for HLMT Saturday 29th November, Sherwood URC, 1 Edwards Lane, Sherwood, Nottingham NG5 3AA
The Nottingham Boots Orchestra is raising funds for HLMT to enable the continued support of initial midwifery training for students in Liberia!
In addition to the wonderful Beethoven piano concerto No. 3, there will be performances of music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor a composer of British and Sierra Leonean heritage, and excerpts from African Sanctus, a choral mass written by British composer David Fanshawe.
- Seasonal refreshments will be served during the interval, for a small donation
- HLMT’s wonderful Liberian Arts and Crafts stall will be selling cards and gifts for every occasion!
Tickets are just £8 for adults and £5 children under 16, available at:
https://www.trybooking.com/uk/FKXE or (on the door if not sold out)
If you have any leftover foreign currency, please consider bringing it with you to donate to HLMT.
Live Music Fundraiser with 3 acts: Saturday 7th February 2026 at 7.30 p.m.
Another brilliant evening of music, featuring:
- Cellotapes: Americana, bluegrass, country, blues & jazz quartet with four part harmonies. On a roll!
- Tim and Esme Garland: Traditional & self-penned songs and tunes on cittern, guitar, percussion & fiddle.
- King of Rome: An eclectic mix of Americana, folk, English & Irish country and original material
Tickets are £12 in advance, from https://www.trybooking.com/uk/FNPT (£15 on the door if not sold out).
If you have any leftover foreign currency, please consider bringing it with you to donate to HLMT.
3. Supporters have raised funds for HLMT
Many wonderful HLMT supporters have raised funds over the past few months for the trust and, as ever, dozens of supporters have continued to donate via monthly Standing Orders. Large numbers of supporters responded magnificently to our Big Give appeal in October (see item in Section 6 below.) Huge thanks go to each and every one of our supporters just mentioned.
A couple of fundraising initiatives are worth highlighting:
Sunday 28th September 2025 – Anita’s fundraising run for HLMT
Anita Box, who works in the maternity suite at Nottingham’s City Hospital, ran the Robin Hood Half Marathon on Sunday 28th September (Helen’s 42nd birthday!) to raise as much money as possible for HLMT. Anita not only ran her personal best for a half-marathon but, through her fundraising page, raised over £300 for HLMT. Wonderful! Thank you, Anita, and congratulations!
Anita said, “I knew Helen as a work colleague in the maternity unit at Nottingham City Hospital, a very kind and beautiful young woman who was passionate about her profession as a midwife in the UK and making a difference in Liberia.”
Maternity Unit Cake Sales for HLMT – September 2025
Towards the end of September (to coincide with Helen Loewenstein’s birthday), HLMT supporters in the maternity units of both Nottingham’s City Hospital and Queens Medical Centre baked and organised the sale of cakes to raise funds for HLMT. Esther Draycott with her daughter Bella, Helen Janiszewski and Jennifer Ross ran three cake sales. They must have baked and sold a huge quantity of cakes, because the sales raised a massive £685.
All of the funds raised will go towards training Liberian midwifery students. Huge congratulations to those who organised the sales and thanks to everyone who bought cakes.
4. Seasonal merchandise in the HLMT Etsy-shop
In addition to the wide range of HLMT merchandise, seasonal merchandise, including Christmas cards, has been added to existing items, which include greetings cards, cushion covers, tote and shopping bags, table runners and matching place mats, in addition to aprons (S, M, L), lavender bags, festival bunting, hair scrunchies, all made using genuine Liberian Lapa fabric.
Thanks to so many volunteers:
- Angel who manages the Etsy shop – updating with new stock and sold items
- Pam, Lorna & Maggie who do so much sewing – bunting, aprons, lavender bags, purses and more
- Celia making chutney, Pippa making marmalade and Sam making honey
- Carol M and Celia growing plants
- Mary – making gift bags and bracelets
- Chris – filling lavender bags
Visit our shop at https://HLMTMerchandise.etsy.com to see the full range of our stock and to browse and buy! Free P&P!
5. Leftover currency to donate to HLMT? Ask your family and friends if they have any too!
Do you have any coins or notes in a jam jar or lurking in the back of a drawer, from holidays which are a distant memory, (or maybe some old British currency you’ve been hoarding)???
HLMT can convert this into funds to pay for the training of midwives in Liberia!
Bring them along to any of our events
or pass on to one of the trustees
or donate online at:https://www.leftovercurrency.com/charity/the-helen-loewenstein-memorial-trust/
6. Recent Events
HLMT stall at Nottingham Green Fair, Sunday 14 September from 12 noon
On a blustery, rainy day, HLMT brought our crafts and plants stall to the Nottingham Green Fair at the Arboretum, Nottingham. HLMT trustees and supporters Carol, Celia, Liz, Lorna and Nick were brilliant, as were the many people who braved the weather and visited the stall. At the end of the day a wonderful £760 had been raised for HLMT funds to train Liberian midwifery students!
Big Give Women and Girls Match Fund, 8th to 15th October 2025
Once again, HLMT’s bid for this match-funded programme in 2025 was accepted. Supporters donated up to a collective total of £2,500 to HLMT via the Big Give website between midday on 8th and midday on 15th October. This was match-funded by Big Give. As a result of the generosity of HLMT supporters, the trust managed to reach its target of raising £5,000. Huge thanks to everyone who donated and to HLMT trustee Celia Knight who coordinated the campaign. Huge thanks also to everyone who donated to HLMT.
Live music fundraiser with 3 bands Friday 10th October
HLMT presented another great evening of music featuring 3 great acts:
- Jennifer Bell and Wilson Walker with Daniel Kittmer: Original songs in the folk tradition – guitar, lute, fiddle and bodhran
- Cobalt Tales: Music from the heart that stirs the soul – acoustic & bass guitars, soulful vocals, engaging harmonies
- Jelly: Feel-good, foot-tapping sounds from across the decades
A packed Main Hall of Sherwood’s United Reformed Church was treated to a night of wonderful musicianship.
Jennifer Bell and Wilson Walker with Daniel Kittmer got the evening off to the best possible start with some wonderful lyrics, humour and harmonies.
Cobalt Tales then brought the house down with their beautiful and powerful songs celebrating the lives of women fighting oppression and people struggling for a better life.
And to end the night, Jelly lit up the hall with singing and musicianship that had many in the audience up and dancing to covers from the 1970s to 2000s.
Abdul Bah – supporting HLMT and Nottingham Forest
HLMT’s volunteer representative in Liberia, Abdul Bah, paid a visit to Nottingham earlier this year. While here he visited Nottingham Forest football club together with HLMT trustee, Celia Knight. A Forest supporter ever since studying for his Masters in Public Health at Nottingham Trent University, Abdul was interviewed by Forest this year. As a result, you can read the following article at https://nottinghamforestcommunitytrust.co.uk/from-liberia-to-the-city-ground-abduls-story-of-hope-humanity-and-forest-pride/. Abdul also featured in the Forest matchday programme on 18th October – this is reproduced below. Huge thanks to Abdul for his ongoing support of and work for HLMT.
7. Standing orders, donations and bequeaths in wills
HLMT aims to recruit at least 2 new midwifery students each academic year.
The mainstay of our fundraising is the regular Standing Orders and one-off donations from supporters, which are crucial to our work and for which we are so grateful. We continue to fundraise, however we still have a long way to go before we are financially sustainable into the future.
Our overheads are minimal – there are no paid staff; so almost all the funds we raise are used to fund the training costs of student midwives in Liberia. If you have not already done so, it would be tremendouss if you could please set up a Standing Order, no matter how small or large.
https://hlmt.org.uk/hlmt-Standing-Order-Mandate.pdf
Please return the form to HLMT at the address on the form and NOT to your bank.
Whilst we hope that all of our supporters have long and happy lives, we would also be very grateful if you feel able to include HLMT in your will!
As always, a massive “thank you” to everyone who has supported the work of The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust www.hlmt.org.uk – also to our trustees, volunteers, supporters, and Sherwood URC for providing space for us to meet and hold events at minimal cost.
Helen would be astonished but very proud at what is being achieved in her memory!
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