Its that time of year again where love is in the air.

Take a moment to consider the origins of Valentines Day.

Before the day was high-jacked for lovers, it was originally meant for

close and trusted friends and companions.

So why not send a card to all your loved ones on this special day.

Even better, purchase your cards from The Stratton ABC Foundation online shop.

You will find a lovely collection of designs produced by the children at Stratton House Childrens Home, Chiang Mai.

During a visit to Chiang Mai this weekend I came across this interesting stall in the lower floor of Kad Suan Kaow shopping Plaza. Foot therapy in the manner of letting lots of little fish feed on your dead skin.
I decided to try it out, even at 99 baht for just 15 minutes. As it was, [...]

Due to technical difficulties this post is a bit overdue, but see here an example of the effort put in to celebrate the annual Childrens Day.
The official Childrens Day is on the second Saturday of January, but it came a day early at Pasak School with a large event held, to which several local schools [...]

To celebrate New Years Eve we decided to treat the children of Stratton House to a evening out at the Chiang Mai Cold Season Festival held at the grounds of City Hall.

This a huge event, very popular with the locals, with hundreds of stalls where you can find food, clothes, toys, etc.

There are also many ‘fairground rides’ , as well as several stages with live music acts.

Our children had a great time looking around this fantastic spectacle.

They had all received a little pocket money to be able to buy snacks or drinks and then we allowed them to choose a few fairground attractions to enjoy. They all did very well, considering the vast variety of stalls and tempting things, in not asking for too much.

During their time there they enjoyed rides on a merry go round and a ‘Big’ Wheel, and spent time in the Bouncy Castle and House of Horrors.

New Placements
We are happy to announce that we are now caring for another 5 children, bringing the total number of children at Stratton House to 8.
Responding to a call from Nan province, Boon and I traveled to Nan on Boxing Day to assess the childrens circumstances and make a decision on placements.
It was a long trip, having also to pick up a relative of some of the children concerned, from Mae Wang, in order that she could liase and translate for us. As you may know there are many regional languages in use in Thailand, so we could not just rely on Somboons Thai.
It took nearly 9 hours in total and we arrived at our first destination,the town of Phua, in Nan Province at around 5pm.

Wat Pasak Banthi is where Pasak School is also located. This, you may know, is where I work as part time, volunteer, English Teacher. Whilst at school this week, I noticed the construction of large marquees in the school sports field and was informed that there was to be a Tamboon ceremony, to raise money for [...]

Khruu Khemtong Punyoyai,from Huay Sai school has been running an annual English Camp for several years now.
This years event was held at San Kampaeng Hot Springs on Saturday 19th december and Sunday 20th.
In total there were 53 students from Huay Sai school who attended the weekend camp at a very reasonable cost of 100 baht [...]

What a great tool the internet can be. and what a wonderful thing search engines are. Yesterday we received a lovely email from a lady in the USA who had mistakenly followed a contact link to us,(at our Foundation website), after searching for her friend John.

The lady Jennifer, made a generous donation;in honor of her father; to The Stratton ABC Foundation, in the process and although a refund was offered she wouldnt hear of it, and I’m glad to report that she is now in contact with the correct John.

Everyone at Stratton House wishes to thank Jennifer for her genorosity and will all visit our local Temple to make merit in honor of her late father Ted Lavery

This post is a little belated, but its been a busy week with no new phonelines on the horizon for Mae Salab:(.
December 5th is Fathers Day in Thailand, being, as it is, The Kings Birthday. In tribute to The King, at the start of his 82nd year,the  Chiang Mai Royal Flora Exhibition opened its gates [...]

Its that time of year again, and although I’ve always been a bit of a Christmas humbug, not being a Christian, and being far more into the idea of people gift giving when they want to and not when they feel they have to, I’m now running a Childrens home and I do appreciate the [...]