On July 4th we held our AGM. We were honoured that The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Reading, Councillor Paul Woodward joined us.

Ruth Perkins as Chair welcomed everyone and gave a report on the work of the charity over the past year. She said we had managed to provide toys or an Outing to more families than ever before and commented on the changes that the committee has had to accommodate over the last 20 years not just in terms of numbers of families that we support but also in terms of technology, social media and new laws and regulations to which we must abide.

All this means building a committee with diverse skills and knowledge ranging from Project Management to IT to Tombola preparation to Social Media to Charity Law and Governance and everything in between. Luckily we have managed to recruit an excellent team that cover most things.

David Berry reported that we had managed to spend slightly less that our income over the past year which is always good! We have a healthy bank balance but all of this is earmarked for spending on the Outings and Expenses over the next few months so we will need to raise more funds for next year's outings.

Officers, existing and new committee members were voted in and the formal meeting was closed.
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This was followed by a social hour enjoying refreshments provided by the committee.

June 29th was Armed Forces day and was also the hottest day of the year and perhaps one of the hottest days ever in Reading!

​The Mayor had organised a celebration of our Armed Forces in Forbury Gardens and we had a stall to spread the word about what we do. ​

We had a prime spot next to the grandstand and were entertained all day with music - everything from Vera Lynn and Gracie Fields, to the Beatles and more classical numbers.