British School Muscat raises OMR800 at charity event

Muscat: During a charity fashion auction and fashion show OMR800 was raised at the British School Muscat (BSM).
The charity evening sought to raise awareness about plastic waste, through raising money for the Environment Society Oman (ESO).
As students from Years 7 to 9 took the catwalk to model T-shirts they had designed, all with an environmental message, the audience had the chance to bid for the students’ creations.
And they bid enthusiastically, which made the auction an exciting event. Members of the audience were willing to pay high prices for the students’ garments, and two T-shirts proved especially popular, being sold for as much as OMR70.
“We are very happy with this result”, said Justine Phillips, Art and Technology teacher at BSM and one of the organisers.
“We wanted to show students how much we actually throw away,” added her colleague, Dr. Hayley-Ann Myhill, Arts teacher at BSM.
“Children growing up here don’t know about recycling. If they lived in other parts of the world, they would have seen it, but they probably don’t see it enough here. We wanted them to be aware that, instead of throwing it in the bin, they can do something with it,” she said.
The audience saw clothing created from recycled materials. Special garments, almost haute-couture, were displayed on the catwalk, all designed by students and made from waste materials such as plastic, newspapers, magazines and rubbish bags.
Students from Years 4 to 6 took the stage with T-shirts they had designed and a jury selected winners in each age category, which included: In Year four, Olivia Phillips won the competition, followed by Calypso Pery and Shaya Al Mahrooqi.
Nada Fakhreldin won in Year five, followed by Keira McDonald and Pettula Jeyakumar.
In Year six, Jodi Al Farsi took first place, with Tara Maziliakas second and Rosie Mahoney came third.
“By organising a T-shirt design competition, we could involve the whole school in our initiative. We really wanted everyone to appreciate that all of these things we throw away every day can be turned into something very beautiful,” Myhill said.
All proceeds from the evening will be donated to the Environment Society of Oman (ESO). The fashion show was sponsored by Zubair Corporation.