Huge thanks to Kerry and her team at the Berkshire Arms who organised a Fun Day to raise funds for West Berkshire Mencap.  They raised over £200, despite battling with inclement weather, and we are very grateful for their support.

A bit thank you to Waitrose for supplying goodies for our very hungry teenage volunteers to eat on Playscheme.  Our volunteers give up loads of their holidays to work hard as a one to one with a child who has a learning disability.  They could be having time off, or earning real money and instead they donate their time and energy to West Berkshire Mencap.  Thanks volunteers and thanks Waitrose!

West Berkshire Council, Finance Dept. held their Team Meeting here on Thursday 10th June, after conducting their formal business they all set to, undertaking several tasks around our premises. Many Hands make light work and they certainly managed to achieve a great deal. The Sensory Garden was transformed, a huge fence treated and several indoor tasks were all completed for us. Many Thanks to all concerned.

Newbury & Reading Wargames Society play a range of games covering all genres, periods, scales and rules In addition to running weekly club sessions in both Newbury & Reading and wargames Sundays in Hermitage, the club organises A Call to Arms in February and the major Colours show in September.  Each year they donate their proceeds to us, this year it amounted to £1595 which is a fantastic amount and greatly appreciated.

It was lovely to see Mrs Bindloss-Gibb and some of her class from St Gabriel’s School at Bubble Club.  They met our little children and tried out the soft play room and sensory room (the magic room one little girl called it).  Mrs Bindloss-Gibb then presented us with a cheque for over £250... which will be spent taking the Bubble Club families on a fabulous day out in the summer.  Thank you all of you for your support, we value it enormously and it helps improve the lives of people with learning disabilities and their families.

Many Thanks to Andy, Abi, Amber, Emma D, Emma S, Jutta, Oonagh and Tim from Vodafone who spent a day at the Mencap Centre painting our well used hall. I don’t think it has been done since it was built in 1996. They worked really hard and did a marvellous job, they were even able to freshen up one of the lobby areas. We enjoyed having them in the centre and really appreciate their hard work, I know the users will as well. Thank You all.

Once again Alan Metcalfe, Head of Evers at St Barts School, has done us proud.  A group of young people, volunteers and staff from West Berkshire Mencap attended the hugely entertaining Evers House Evening on Friday 20th November  where we were presented with a cheque for £3,764.38!  This brings the amount raised by St Barts for West Berkshire Mencap to over £24,000 which is an amazing amount.

What was just as wonderful was that there were so many of our young volunteers there, they support us with both money and time and we are extremely grateful, as are the families and young people with learning disabilities that benefit.  Mr Metcalfe has supported us for many years and we really appreciate his encouragement.

We would like to thank Smiley Dave, a well known local lad who has done a lot in the music world, he helped us out at the last minute at a special Gateway event on Saturday.  We had invited Andover Mencap over for a joint Halloween party and were let down by the entertainment.  At the last minute Smiley Dave generously agreed to stand in and was fantastic, he entertained the crowds musically and refused to take any payment.  He does some spots for Newbury Sound and others but still gave up his time for nothing.  It was hard to get him out of the door as he was signing autographs etc!  Joe Lawrence from Bossman Studios has offered to give him some studio time as a thank you but I suspect Dave would have done this regardless

We would like to thank May Flooring, we were having trouble finding a flooring contractor to lay some new non slip vinyl in our new changing room and recently created craft area. One of our trustees recommended May Flooring to us, we contacted them and they could not have been more helpful, Ade May was able to provide the materials from stock, level the floors and fit the new materials in time for the Summer Playscheme, they then said they wished to provide their labour free of charge, fantastic this meant we could afford to fit floor coverings to both rooms. They have done an absolutely excellent job and we cannot recommend them highly enough. Many Thanks.

Sacha Emery must be pretty fit, already this year he has run the Silverstone and Reading half marathon. Raising a fantastic £668 from sponsorship. Later this year he is running the London 10k for us. Many thanks for all his efforts.