20 June 2007 Biggest ever British ORT Summer Luncheon The growing strength of the ORT familys second largest fundraising organisation British ORT was in evidence last week at its annual Summer Luncheon. Some 200 people attended the event at central Londons prestigious Langham Hotel to hear guest speaker Carol Thatcher. Ms Thatcher, whose mother Lady Thatcher was Britains first female prime minister, has attained celebrity status in her own right recently as a popular winner of the reality television show Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Friends of ORT Co-Chair Roslyn Morris made the welcoming address. Ms Morris put World ORTs current activities in Israel, to which British ORT contributes funds, into historical context. ORT has a reputation for responding and adapting to the needs of the communities it serves. In 1880, it was the artisan communities in the Pale of Settlement. In 1991, it was the re-born Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union. In 2007, it is the communities in the north and south of Israel that are receiving ORTs urgent response to their needs, Ms Morris said. In January, in conjunction with Israels Ministry of Education and 30 local municipalities, ORT launched Kadima Mada, at a cost of 4.5 million, she added. These programmes are designed to bring a higher level of science and technology education to children who are today living in Israels confrontation zones, which include some of the poorest communities in the country and have not received an ORT education before. In the first phase, which has been completed, each school has received a new laboratory, computer and other equipment as well as additional teacher training and support. In total, more than 20,000 children have benefited. Carol Thatcher (left) with Friends of ORT Co-Chairs Susan Roffman and Roslyn Morris. Ms Thatcher told the guests how impressed she was by the breadth and depth of ORTs activities in so many countries around the world, said British ORT Executive Director Ivor Levene OBE. While Prime Minister, Lady Thatcher joined the long list of world leaders, past and present, who endorsed ORTs mission of equipping people with the knowledge and skills necessary to find an active and useful role with their society, Mr Levene said. We are delighted that her daughter mirrors that appreciation for the work we do. Among the guests at the luncheon were Lady Irene Hatter, wife of World ORT President Sir Maurice Hatter, World ORT Director General Robert Singer, Lady Sacks, wife of the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, Peter Halban, a descendant of ORT co-founder Baron Horace de Gunzburg, and the trustees of British ORT, including Chairman Alan Goldman. Special thanks were extended to Terry de Gunzburg, whose husband Dr Jean de Gunzburg is Deputy President of World ORT. Ms de Gunzburg had provided gifts for the guests from her renowned By Terry range of cosmetics. More than $60,000 was raised at the luncheon for ORT projects around the world. World ORT is the worlds largest Jewish education and vocational training non-government organisation and has benefited more than 3 million people Jewish and non-Jewish in 100 countries since its foundation in 1880.