In view of the disastrous earthquakes suffered in Turkey and Syria, the Club moved swiftly to vote a donation of £1000 to help with rescue operations. The donation was made through the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee). By acting quickly, it enabled us to receive a UK Government matching grant which doubled our donation to £2000.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is an umbrella group^[1] of UK charities^[2] which coordinates and launches collective appeals to raise funds to provide emergency aid and rapid relief to people caught up in disasters and humanitarian crises around the world. Since being formed in 1963, the DEC has had strong relationships with major UK broadcasters in particular the BBC and ITV, who provide airtime to broadcast emergency appeals upon its recommendation.^[3] It is a member of the global Emergency Appeals Alliance, which reports that since its first television appeal in 1966, the DEC has raised over £1.4 billion.^[3]

The DEC is a registered charity (charity no: 1062638)^[4] with 15 charity members all with associated disaster relief capabilities such as providing clean water, humanitarian aid and medical care.