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:

And also Amber on Publicity

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."

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."

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. 

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.

Vivienne and Sallie organised the trips and enjoyed the bracing sea air!

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

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

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

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.

Huge thanks go to Cathy Jones, Club Captain, Hilary Rusby, Ladies, Captain, and all the members and businesses that supported us. ​

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.

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.

Jason and Hilary (centre) enjoying a well earned sit down and celebratory drink at the end of their exhausting day.

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.

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.