Jesters Fair at Regents was Huge

Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive 2014 - Diamond Sponsors: Glencore International and Canadian Jackalope Open

Young performers from the Mercy Center sing and dance to entertain the crowd during the early stages of this year’s Jester’s Care for Kids Children’s Fair, which was heralded as the biggest ever. Fun, games, prizes, entertainment - you name it, it was being enjoyed on Sunday, Sept. 7 at the Regents School Pattaya.

Bernie Tuppin
Sunday, 7th September, at 10 a.m., the Jesters Fair, the largest and most popular event in our community for children, teens, and even adults, swung into action at Regents International School Pattaya. And after 17 years, we feel it was our biggest ever!

This event traces its history back to 1998 when the Pattaya International Ladies Club (PILC), namely Alice Poulsen, approached Jesters MC Thailand to aid the Fountain of Life Center in caring for slum children. At a subsequent meeting Neil Sandilands and Delaney’s landlord Kim Fletcher suggested a fund raiser and the result was the first Pub Night with raffles an auction and live music.

Just some of the wacky goings on at the fair.
(Photo by Rodney Charman)

The following year the Children’s Fair was introduced and the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel was its first venue. The Amari and Siam Bayshore Hotels hosted in the following years and in 2002 the Diana Group offered the grounds of their Diana Garden Resort and Driving Range, which became the fair’s home for the next 11 years.

IB students from Garden International School ran their own stall at Jesters.

Over that period many dignitaries and popular entertainers appeared at this event and a host of individuals and businesses donated cash and kind to ensure its continued success, all committed that the least privileged children in our community would have a better chance in life. When new proprietors took over the Diana Driving Range and declined to make the facility available to us, the Regents International School Pattaya became our new venue last year. And here ends the history lesson.

An IB student counts the cash - GIS raised 12,000 baht for charity.

The staging of this year’s Fair was not without some obstacles as the Regents had recently encircled the playing field [our Fair site] with a new synthetic running track and was concerned about the damage wheeled traffic would do to the surface. With so much heavy equipment to be delivered to the site, head-scratching ensued. Thanks to the ingenuity of Bill and Mitch, our site managers, a novel bridge was constructed at short notice and traffic to the area was allowed in. A huge vote of thanks goes to Regents management for their cooperation in resolving this problem.

Nail-painting was a popular activity.

This year’s Fair began with the King’s anthem delivered by two students from Regents followed by an opening address by Lewis [Woody] Underwood, JCFK president, and then it was on with show. Traditionally, the children take the stage first so that they are free for the remainder of the day to enjoy all the games, rides, food, etc., that is on offer; after all it is a Children’s Fair.
We were entertained by the singing and dancing by children from Fountain of Life Center, Hand to Hand Foundation, Mercy Center, Ban Jing Jai Foundation and Camillian Center, mostly in traditional costume and all extremely energetic in their presentations. A new group of children attended this year and although they did not perform they were noticeable as they paraded bearing large signs declaring their love for “Happy Home”, a new shelter in the Nongprue area.

ISE students show their support for the Jesters Care for Kids Children’s Fair.

Then it was the turn of the teenaged students from the local international schools to display their talents. Regents’ students presented a variety of acts including girl groups and boys groups, acoustic guitars and rock groups displaying an abundance of talent among them.
Garden Internationals’ rock band got very busy and really enjoyed the chance to perform. ISE’s rock band “Only Fools” were not fooling with their performance, and St. Andrews’ band, given their enthusiasm, was not to be outdone.

One of the many highlights at the Fair is the children’s train.

As the other school groups organized their routines, we had the pleasure of some terrific entertainment from violinist Pookpick, a truly talented artist; a spot of magic from Doctor Penguin and then there was a one-man band, Lee Shamrock. He performed many covers of old favorites and engaged members of the audience to assist and keep things moving throughout the day.
Of course the stage isn’t the only attraction at the Fair. Organized games were also held, like the tug-of-war by Linden and Gap students for our project children who vie for prizes donated by PILC. The children also take the time to be fed at the Fountain of Life Chow Hall and after nourishment can attempt an assault on the Climbing Wall sponsored by Geckotech, as well as the bouncy castle, to discharge more calories.

Children wait in line to participate in the tug-o-war competition.

This year TFI (Thai Farang Initiative), a group of community-minded locals, participated for the first time and they certainly made an impact. Their focus was 100% to entertain the children in their designated area. There were many other activities, including train rides, face painting and ball games. There were goodies like fairy floss and candies from the US. I failed to mention the ‘biggie’ for our project kids, which is that everything was free via a coupon system subsidized by the Jesters.

Time for a bite - Jerry is hungry after playing various games.

Of course, if you want parents to bring their kids to the fair, there has to be something for them to do. Well, we had that that covered too. The white elephant stall was run by the Rayong Ladies Circle selling used goods, clothing, kitchenware, CDs, DVDs and all sorts of knickknacks. There was also the ever popular used bookstall run by Judi Mac with hundreds of titles and a large collection of CDs and DVDs.
There were also food stalls galore with many different cuisines available, such as fish & chips, curries, pizza, Thai style, coffee & pastries, BBQ sausages, hot drinks, cold drinks, confectionery and many more. Several food vendors lamented the fact that they underestimated the event’s popularity and were sold out early.

The flag dance from these talented performers during the opening ceremonies wowed the crowd.

Of course for the older folks, there was wine tasting and the very popular Jesters Beer Stall manned by Jesters MC. Jesters also had their own stall selling shirts, caps, etc. In addition, a day out with the kids can get tiring so what better way to unwind a little than with a relaxing foot massage that was available by the women from Fountain of Life Center 2. They turned over all of their proceeds to our charity, which was over 20,000 baht.
Speaking of charity, the Pattaya Sports Club, who are already a platinum sponsor (100,000 baht donor) for us, raised another 55,000 baht for the kids by selling children’s raffle tickets that featured a great array of prizes for the lucky 16 winners.

3-year-old Baan does her best in the tug-o-war competition - and does it without losing her cute smile.
Back on the main stage, the music was put on hold for the presentation of bicycles to eight young children from the FOL who had made excellent progress during the past year. Our tireless MC for the day Pete and, then later on Tommy Dee from radio fame, then introduced the two groups who would close out the day with a mini-rock concert. They were very popular resident bands, The Core and Slow Ride. These very professional groups put on a most enjoyable show of talent to finish off another very successful event.
As always there are people to thank who work extremely hard before, during and after such an event. Firstly, to all of our sponsors and supporters that have remained loyal to the cause; the Bangkok Hospital Pattaya and their trained staff for supplying an ambulance in case of emergencies; to the Golf Club and Rocket’s buddy for the shuttle buses; to MAS Company for the stage; San Miguel Brewery for the chairs and tables; to the Jesters Care for Kids committee who spend months planning, identifying and solving possible problems; and to the members of Jesters MC Club who help with the set up of the fair and clean up afterwards.

Tommy shows off his food.
Special mentions to Bill Freeman and Kevin Mitch who plan and oversee the set up and trouble shooting of the event and to Richy Rhodes who selects and produces the entertainment programme, as well as Chief, who supplies the sound system; to the management and staff of the Regents International School Pattaya for their cooperation and understanding of our needs; and of course to Lewis [Woody] Underwood and our vice chairperson of Deborah Philbrook for everything.
That wraps up another year at the Children’s Fair and we hope everyone had a great time with our project children. They are special to us and we want to thank you for helping them.
As a special note, since our inception, Jesters Care for Kids through its supporters and sponsors has raised a staggering sum of 74 million baht distributed to over 75 different beneficiaries helping disadvantaged children enjoy safe shelter education and special schooling for the disabled.
Please keep in mind our Gala Party Night at the Amari Ocean Resort is on September 20th, where there will be great entertainment, great food, beer and wine, including grand raffle and auction. Tickets are 2400 baht and they are going, going…
www.care4kids.info

Doc Penguino entertains the children at the TFi Free Kids Zone. (Photo by Rodney Charman)

Lee Shamrock performs one of his many covers of old favorites.

Youngsters from the Fountain of Life perform an early concert.

Woody and Pete announce this year’s winners of the bicycles for eight young children from the FOL who had made excellent progress during the past year.

Children just love swimming in the colorful ball-pool.

Tony Malhotra hold little Magnum Tanner, child of Scott & Wipawan Tanner whilst all are enjoying the fair.

Costumed children from We Love Happy Home Shelter parade their sign around the fairgrounds.

Fun day out at the Jester’s Fair, their parents said that it’s a great atmosphere and they would like their children to join every event because it’s special for their kids.

(L to R) Peter Malhotra, Ian Harrington and David (Chad) Chappell renew their friendship at the fair.

The Regents School once again proved it was a great place to hold the Jesters Care for Kids Children’s Fair.

The climbing wall allows kids to show their climbing skills.

No competitions won, no worries. Children were all given a second chance in the raffle prize drawing.

Jesters Charity Drive 2014 - Children’s Raffle Results & Beer Donors

PSC’S Children’s Raffle Result
32 inch TV	Rungnapha
Samsung Tab 3	Jetsada Honklin
Car Radio MP3	Mamo Kerr
Travel Suitcases	Aum
CD Player	Anthony
Men’s & Ladies Watch	Zha Zha
Tower Fan	Mike
Ladies’ Handbag	Soda
Smartphone	Anthony
Mountain Bike	Tukky
Giant Teddy Bear	Ole
Remote Car	Happy Home
Car game	Happy Home
Mountain Bike	Aum
Remote Helicopter	Sunil
Magic Box	Daniel

 

Beer Donors
1	Mark 4000
2	Paul 4000
3	Simon 1000
4	Nina 1000
5	Homer 1000
6	Dennis 1000
7	Terje 500
8	Fredrik 1000
9	Nevada 5000
10	Steve 1000
11	Mark 1000
12	Par 1000
13	Lena 1000
14	Olli 500
15	Su 3000
16	Crille 1000
17	Kennet 500
18	Rickard 500
19	John G 1000
20	Thomas 500
21	Johan 500
22	Eriksson 1000
23	Garry 1000
24	Ross 1000
25	Gordon 1000
26	Hippo 500
27	Potz 1000
28	Sweet Lou 10,000
29	Dave 5000
30	Greg 5000
31	Anders 1000
32	Ronny 3500
33	Loveboat 3000
34	Silver Fox 2500
35	Oliver M 1600
36	Bernie M 1000
37	Ernst S 850
TOTAL:	68,450 baht

 

This year’s Jesters Fair at Regents was Huge

Lewis ‘ Woody’ Underwood, Chairman of the Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive organizing committee picks the lucky winner at the Children’s raffle drawing.

Deborah ‘Debs’ Philbrook, Vice chairperson of the Jesters Care for Kids Charity Drive organizing committee seen selling grand raffle tickets and gala party night tickets.

Hand 2 Hand Foundation’s Margie Grainger with Jesters Care for Kids’ school coordinator Linden Phanpho.

Bill Freeman – fair site coordinator at the … :-)

Jesters Fair at Regents was Huge