Reading Family Aid
  • About Us
    • Meet the RFA Team
    • Our Supporters
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletters
    • Annual Reports
    • Policies & Procedures
  • Toys & Teens Appeal
    • Toys and Gifts we would love and those we can't use
  • How to Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Donate Toys
    • Volunteer
  • Our Blog
  • 2023 Diary
  • Family Outings
  • About Us
    • Meet the RFA Team
    • Our Supporters
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletters
    • Annual Reports
    • Policies & Procedures
  • Toys & Teens Appeal
    • Toys and Gifts we would love and those we can't use
  • How to Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Donate Toys
    • Volunteer
  • Our Blog
  • 2023 Diary
  • Family Outings

New Reading Family Aid Committee Members

25/9/2023

 
Over the summer we established that we really needed to increase the number of people working on our committee, particularly in the Publicity and Outings area as we had lost a few people over the last year.
We embarked on a recruitment campaign through Reading Voluntary Action, Social Media posts, our Supporters and personal contacts and amazingly managed to recruit 7 new people through all of these channels and another couple that we might call on in the future.
Here they are:
Angela - Publicity
Anna - Publicity
Carolyn - Toys and Teens
Nikki - Publicity
Paul - Publicity
Victoria - Outings
And also Amber on Publicity

Gorgeous Day at Caversham Lakes

25/9/2023

 
Picture
On August 15th amazingly the sun shone all day long!! Another fabulous day at Caversham Lakes who made everyone welcome and were fully inclusive of all. 
One little boy said "Wow mum this is the best fun all holidays!"
A mum said "Thank you for this, it's so nice to relax and watch the children have fun. The whole day has made memories."
Another mum said "Today has been so lovely, it's given my son a chance to be somewhere different during the holidays. Fun, water play all mixed up with nature. Perfect!"

Children enjoyed the family beach, splashed in the safe water and jumped from the floating pontoons. Parents paddled with them or enjoyed relaxing in the sun. 
Th organiser from Fifi's Vision said "​Thank you for yesterday, we have had all families commenting and sharing on Facebook what a lovely day it was.
Having an exclusive use of the beach with our group peer support meant the day was accessible and parents felt they had that vital respite knowing the children were safe.
Thank you again for the opportunity that gave so much fun and laughter making happy memories."
Picture
The organiser from the Reading Refugee Centre said "Thank you to Sallie and Vivienne for another wonderful day in the sunshine at Caversham lakes.  It was especially poignant to see the Afghan ladies enjoy the lake with their young children on the same day the Taliban have announced women in Afghanistan cannot visit parks."

Mixed Days at Bournemouth

25/9/2023

 
Picture
We organised two days out to Bournemouth this year. The first was on July 25th which was a great success with families enjoying a nice day on the beach. 

The second was on August 8th. This was a cool, windy and rainy day. 
Picture
While some did still venture into the sea for a paddle, we decided to organise for them to go to the Oceanarium so they could be indoors and see something of the sea-life of the world. This was a great success and much appreciated.

This second outing included half a coach of refugees who are living in a hotel. There they get their food and accommodation paid for and an allowance of just £9 a week for everything else they need (clothing, transport, toiletries, toys,  etc - anything that a family needs). There was no way for them to get a packed lunch or drinks so we decided to give them £10 each so that they could buy refreshments for the day.
Picture
Vivienne and Sallie organised the trips and enjoyed the bracing sea air!

Fun Day at Camp Mohawk

25/9/2023

 
Picture
On August 3rd, 52 children and their parents had a fantastic day out at Camp Mohawk. The families were all referred by Alafia, Christ The King school and a new partner organisation, Fifi’s Vision

Picture
Camp Mohawk caters for children with various disabilities, in particular those on the Autistic spectrum.

Picture
As well as enjoying the various play areas and sensory rooms, there is a heated outdoor pool to enjoy.
We also organised for a petting zoo to be there to allow the children to cuddle and feed animals they may not have come across previously
Picture
Picture

Reading Golf Club Charity Day

24/8/2023

 
Picture
On August 12th Reading Golf Club, held their Charity Day. They chose Reading Family Aid as their charity of the year and all their fundraising events will come to us at the end of their year, next Spring.
Their Charity Day is their main fundraising day of the year.
Members pay to play in a competition, holes are sponsored by local businesses and individuals.


Picture
There was also cake stall - Kerry Pardoe and Lynne Tarrant who made most of the cakes.

Picture
And and a tombola stall, where all th eprizes were donated by members who then bought tickets to win them back!​

All in all they raised an astonishing £6,900 for us!! 
Picture
Huge thanks go to Cathy Jones, Club Captain, Hilary Rusby, Ladies, Captain, and all the members and businesses that supported us. ​

May Smith passes away

5/7/2023

 
Picture
We are sorry to say that May Smith passed away on June 25th 2023. May was a long term Reading Family Aid committee member having been involved with the charity since the 1970s.
For many, many years she was one of the main organisers of the Toy Project at Christmas and got involved that everything that the charity did. She passionately believed in the work of the charity. In recent years her declining health prohibited her attending meetings but she remained on the committee and avidly read our meeting minutes and looked forward to updates from those that visited her. She will be missed.

Reading Family Aid receive £500 from Magic Little Grants

2/7/2023

 
Picture
Reading Family Aid this week heard that they were to receive a Magic Little Grant of £500. The funding for this grant has been provided by Localgiving in partnership with the Postcode Society Trust, a grant giving organisation funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
This money will go towards the cost of running our outing to Camp Mohawk in August. We are very grateful to Local Giving and the People's Postcode Lottery players.

Picture
Camp Mohawk is a fantastic centre for families with disabled children, mainly those on the autistic spectrum. There is an outdoor heated pool and many indoor and outdoor play and sensory areas. The staff are fantastic and the setting is lovely in the woods above Wargrave. We will also provide a patting zoo and an ice cream van!

100 holes in a day raises £2000 for Reading Family Aid!

2/7/2023

 
Picture
At about 4.30AM on Wednesday June 21st a member of Reading Golf Club set out on a marathon mission to complete 100 holes in a day - that's that's about 5.5 rounds, walking about 20 miles and hotting the ball over 500 times. He succeeded in his mission at around 9PM that evening after having only two short breaks during the day. This astonishing feat was undertaken by the amazing Jason Macbeth.  
He was accompanied in this marathon by the equally amazing Lady Captain, Hilary Rusby, who completed an astonishing 65 holes, as well as Club Captain Cathy Jones and several other members that kept Jason and Hilary company for significant parts of their rounds.

Obviously they weren't doing all this for fun! The members had sponsored the marathon and raised an astonishing £2,000 for Reading Family Aid in so doing. 
Huge thanks to everyone at Reading Golf Club and in particular to Jason and Hilary and Cathy and all the others that traipsed around with them. We hope your blisters have healed!
Picture
Jason and Hilary (centre) enjoying a well earned sit down and celebratory drink at the end of their exhausting day.

Reading Golf Club Ladies Day

2/7/2023

 
Picture
On Sunday June 4th Reading Golf Club's Lady Captain, Hilary Rusby, held her Ladies Day with golf followed by afternoon tea. One of our committee members, Jo Saunders, was invited for tea and to say a few words about Reading Family Aid. She said the ladies were very interested in our work and asked lots of questions. Hilary organised a raffle for afternoon tea at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, kindly donated by the hotel for which we are very grateful. All in all they raised over £500 for us. Huge thanks to all the ladies at Reading Golf Club.

Celebrating 30 years as a registered charity

3/6/2023

 
Picture
On Friday June 2nd, Reading Family Aid celebrated 30 years being a registered charity. We celebrated by providing gifts to around 45 children whose birthdays were on or around June 2nd.

Picture
We invited them, with their families, to a small celebration in Forbury Gardens. It was a glorious afternoon and much cake was eaten!

<<Previous

    Our blog

    This is where we share our news and inspiring stories of how people have supported us.

    Newsletter Sign up
    Read previous newsletters here.

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    August 2017
    July 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    October 2014

    Categories

    All
    Buckleberry Farm
    Butlins
    Camp Mohawk
    Earley Green Fair
    Newsletter
    Outings
    Pride Of Reading
    Sue Cromwell
    Summer Outing
    Summer Toy Project
    Toys & Teens Appeal
    Winnersh Fete

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.