Last updated 15/12/2009 17:36:25

Grand Charity Magic Show with Buffet at the Amari, Pattaya a great success! More details here

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© 2004 - 2009 The Lions Club Jomtien

We have been very lucky to make the acquaintance of a world-famous practitioner of the Secret Arts. His name is Howard Posener and he is recognised as one of the finest Magicians in the world. (Click the photo to visit his website.)

He has probably entertained more Royalty than any other performer and until recently the only way you could see a performance of his unique magic was at Annabel’s in London or by invitation to a Royal palace, or to an A-Plus Celebrity’s home. He has entertained many dignitaries including Lord Richard Attenborough, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and celebrities such as Sir Elton John, Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand, John Travolta, Kevin Costner, Melanie Griffith, Brad Pitt, Rod Steward and many, many more.

Recently, he very kindly offered to stage a one-off extravaganza here in Pattaya to help with our fund-raising activities. This was planned as a prestigious event at the Amari Hotel in north Pattaya and, along with Howard’s spectacular show, it included a mouth-watering buffet prepared by the Amari chefs, plus a “silent auction” for a number of fantastic items. This was a truly exclusive event with only 100 seats available, and took place on the evening of November 21st 2009. If you weren’t there, click here to see what you missed. This event raised a staggering 350,000 Baht, and the “Jomtien Lions” would like to thank everybody who participated, either by patronising the event and generously opening their wallets and purses, or by providing support and encouragement during the event and its planning. Special thanks are due to David Cumming and his team at the Amari, and of course, to Howard who kept everybody entertained with some mind-blowing feats of magic. Local press and TV were present throughout the event and a full-page write up appeared in the Pattaya Mail December 4th - December 10th edition.

All funds raised during this special event were donated to the Croston House Children's Home in Lamphun (which has Thai Foundation status), in northern Thailand, not far from Chiang Mai. The home is managed by Glenn Croston and his wife Rosjana, and provides more than two dozen children, both boys and girls, from provinces throughout central and northern Thailand, with the best care possible in a loving, family environment. These children, who are all Thai and aged between 1 and 15 years old, are given the opportunity to complete their education and are therefore also given the chance of a much brighter future later on in life.

While they are not orphans as such, these children come from families that have been seriously affected by drugs and other addictions, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, parents in prison or families that are simply unable to afford to provide for the children properly. Some of them have been simply abandoned with other relatives after their parents left the family home and did not return. Without the help and support of the foundation, they may well have had nowhere else to turn to.

The foundation may still be fairly small compared to others that are better established in and around Chiang Mai, but it is growing. As the number of children increases however, so does the amount of money needed to feed, clothe and educate them. The foundation is heavily reliant on donations from people in more fortunate situations as without them, only a limited number of children can be offered a brighter future. It costs just 2,000 baht to sponsor a child to go to kindergarden or primary school for a year which covers the cost of their school books and some items of school clothing and equipment and is a small price to pay for changing a young child’s life.

Glenn’s ultimate ambition is to build a permanent, purpose-built home in Lamphun on land owned by the foundation and help as many disadvantaged children as he can. To help reach this goal Glenn has already undertaken a staggering 1,200 km sponsored walk from Pattaya to Lamphun in September 2008. He has recently completed a repeat of this achievement, but in the opposite direction. All the details can be found here.