23rd December 2008 - MERRY CHRISTMAS GHANA!
Related Links ... Ghans Glens, the project - Ghana Academy Team Captain on Oval Trial
Click here to see our child sponsors - Ghana Glens Update (01/04/08)
The Board of the Glentoran Community Trust are delighted, in association with Translink, SPAR, Michelin, & Sign Services, to be able to provide the Glentoran Academy Ghana with a 25-seater Mercedes Bus!
Despite the continued generous assitance of the GCT and Glentoran fans, the Academy continue to struggle to make ends meet, and transport proves yet another burden on their mediocre budget. Fulfilling football fixtures across the vast distances of the Ghanaian countryside is a major obstacle, not to mention it also takes the children an hour and a half every single day just to walk to their schooling!
To that end Glentoran Community Trust have acquired from Translink - free of charge - a used Mercedes 25-seater Bus! With a little hands-on work this week from ourselves (painting it green for a start - well we're not about to send a blue Glentoran bus to Ghana are we!), and with the support of companies like Michelin, SPAR, and Sign Services, we have completely transformed the bus to incorporate the Academy colours, crest, and images of the kids in their Glentoran kit on the windows. The material supplied by Sign-Services for the window graphics ideally suited to the harsh climate of the Equator-based country, in that it allows those inside to see out while preventing the baking sun from roasting the kids inside the cab!
Just for the record, the project would not have been possible without the help of ...
Translink, who provided the bus, fully serviced, FREE of charge.
Michelin, who provided the tyres - worth some £800.
SPAR, who are footing the total cost of transporting the bus from Belfast to Tilbury docks London.
SIgn Services, who have completely transformed the bus into what we see today!
The sincere thanks from all of us here at the Glentoran Community Trust and the Glentoran Academy Ghana.
The bus was introduced it to Glentoran fans at the Oval before the Glens v Ballymena United game on Saturday 20th December.
It will be shipped to Tilbury docks London in early January, before heading the 5,000 miles south to the Equator and the capital of Ghana Accra.
Merry Christmas Ghana, & a Happy New Year from everyone at the Oval :-)
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If you feel you can help the Ghana Glens Academy in any way please do not hesitate to contact us at . You can see the work of Christopher and learn more of the story of the Glentoran Football Academy Ghana HERE, or by by visiting www.glentoran.org
Well Done and Thank You All.
Le Jeu Avant Tout
GCT | 
