Building for the Future set to receive cheque from former Mayor

Tag : peapods

Former Mayor of Wokingham Borough Council Cllr Annette Drake raiseda staggering £22,859 for local charity Building for theFuture and she presented a cheque to them on Tuesday (July 15).

Cllr Drake dedicated her year in office to raise money for a newcharity, Building for the Future, which aims to raise enough moneyto purchase a community-based building for children withdisabilities and their families in the borough.

Building for the Future is an umbrella group of seven charitiesthat already work with disabled children and their familieslocally: Peapods, Friends of Ryeish Green Bungalow, ASD Family HelpGroup, West Berkshire Down’s Society, Reading DeafChildren’s Society, Friends of Bridges, and Berkshire BlindSociety. The charity’s vision is to provide astate-of-the-art building to cater for children’s individualneeds as well as for community groups. It is also forming anindependent parents’ forum so that parents of disabledchildren can support each other.

Cllr Drake hosted a number of events during her year in office,including a banquet at Bearwood College which raised £2,000. Other highlights of the Mayor’s civic year included theannual carol concert at Loddon Valley – a very enjoyableevening which raised £4,000 for the charity.

Cllr Annette Drake said: “I am delighted to have supportedsuch a worthwhile charity during my time in office. I would like tothank everyone who helped me raise these funds and supported me indoing so over the past year.

“People have been so generous, which is no surprise, as thisis obviously a very worthy cause. Many parents with disabledchildren have told me that there is a need for a dedicated centrein the Wokingham Borough – and the parents are those who knowbest. I am optimistic that we will change this dream intoreality.”

Chairman of Building for the Future Jane Holmes said: “We aretremendously grateful to Cllr Annette Drake for raising such aphenomenal sum of money for us. Her hard work and support over thelast year has really given us our wings and set us on our waytowards achieving our aim for our children. We are continuing toraise funds ourselves and many local people and businesses arehelping us to raise funds also. We are keen to create partnershipswith more local businesses and are very keen to talk to developersabout our Building for the Future.”

Building for the Future has raised in excess of £30,000 todate.