Pictures from Events taken throughout 2023

On 2^nd December, Santa decided to give his reindeer a rest before their big job on Christmas Eve. He arrived at the Winnersh Garden Centre on a Harley-Davidson, courtesy of the Thames Valley Harley Owners Club. A large number of the group also escorted Santa on his Harley. See his arrival video on Youtube.

Our latest donation was a special projector to Camp Mohawk in Wargave for their sensory room. It projects continually changing images onto the wall of the sensory room alongside several other images and activities for the children. Here, club members hand over the projector to Matthew Wood, Camp Mohawk Site and Operations Manager.

In November we worked with the Rotary Clubs of Reading Abbey and Binfield and Winnersh to support Children in Need. Merchandise was delivered to three schools by our club (Winnersh Primary, Crosfields and Whitley Park). Pudsey visited them too and helped the fundraising. With other local schools they raised £6482 for the BBC charity. This, added to the collections at the Reading Station and the Oracle resulted in a total donation of £13,092.

At the end of October 2023, we ran a very successful Art and Craft Fair at Leighton Park School which raised over £8000 for supplying packaged meals for food share organisations in the local area. A proportion of the sum raised will also go to support other charitable causes.

On 5^th September we organised a coffee morning with the Inner Wheel Club in the garden of one of our members and Raised £1000 for the Macmillan Cancer Charity. Click on the thumnail images to see an expanded view of all the photos.

On 10^th September we enjoyed a horse-drawn barge outing on the Kennet and Avon Canal. Here is our one horse power propulsion unit - Drummer pulling us from Kintbury. Afterwards we enjoyed a lunch in the Dundas Arms.

On 30^th September we helped the Winnersh Garden Centre with their Christmas preview event. We took along our Splat the Malteser game which enthralled lots of children and even some parents.

We had the pleasure of welcoming a new member, Graham Bloomfield, to the club.

On a very wet day in August we participated in the Earley Green Fair, providing hot and cold drinks and snacks for visitors.

On 1st July the Oakleaf Interact Club at Leighton Park School ran a sweet sale table at a Music for a Summer's Evening event. The Photo shows Rotary Youth Team Lead Pat Holloway (left) Isabelle Lauzeral (Leighton Park Teacher) and Alistair Knox with the Rotary Gazeobo. Note no children in view due to respect for safeguarding.

In July we sponsored a young participant to take part in a Rotary Young Leader's Award course in the Snowdonia National Park. The participants spend a week under the guidance of experts and learn different leadership skills, including abseiling, canoeing and navigation, both above and below ground. In September, Luke Collinson, our sponsored candidate, talked at one of our meetings about his experience and benefits he had gained. He was presented with an award certificate from President Richard.

A golf competition run by our club at Sonning Golf Club on 6th July raised £7000 for Charity. As well as the golf, the fundraising included a raffle and a dinner in the evening at which a comedian compere ran a very successful auction and President Richard presented prizes to the winning golfing teams. Click on the first image to expand it and see all the others.

President Paul Cunningham (left) handed over the reins of the club to Richard Nicholson (right) on 27th June. Both have been Presidents in previous years. Rotary changes Presidents every year in late June. The two presidents are with their wives and Assistant District Governor Tony Smith (centre) in the photo.

Every month a group of Rotarians, wives and friends go on a walk in the countryside followed by a lunch. This time the lunch was hosted in their garden by Rtn Tony Cornell and his wife Beryl. As well as keeping fit and enjoying the countryside, it is a very sociable way to keep in touch with friends.

Congratulations to Rotarian Maura Williams-stock on receiving the Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship award from President Paul Cunninham. Named after the founder of Rotary Paul Harris in 1905, this is one of Rotary's top awards for dedication to service making a significant positive impact on communities. Well-deserved recognition! #Rotary #ServiceAboveSelf #CommunityLeadership

Once a month we go on an organised walk and end up at a local pub for lunch. Rotarians enjoy keeping fit and enjpying company as well as supporting communities.

On 25^th March a team of Rotarians and friends planted approximately 400 tree saplings at JAC (Just Around the Corner).

The Greenways RotaKids Club at Winnersh Primary organised an Easter-themed cake bake competition and sale. Over 400 children came to buy a cake for 50p each with money going to the RotaKids chosen charity.

On 1^st February a working party of club members carried out garden maintenance at Camp Mohawk near Wargrave, a multi-functional day centre for children with special needs.  Everyone enjoyed the companionship and working in the fresh air. If you are interested in helping the community with projects like this, please get in touch via the Contact Us tab above.

We held a Charity Bridge Drive in the Charvil Village Hall on 27^th January and raised over £1000.  The players were treated to a splendid afternoon tea of sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee all served by Rotarian and Inner Wheel volunteers. Everyone, bridge players and catering team, had a very enjoyable afternoon.

Funds raised from our recent Art and Craft Fair are paying for 2500 frozen meals prepared by the chefs at Leighton Park School in Reading who are supporting a project called Feeding Communities run by the Thomas Franks Foundation catering company. We are currently delivering the packaged meals to many food share charities in the local area (see all the gallery photos by clicking on the photo above).

On 24^th January we organised a gathering of 16 of the many charities that the club has worked with in the past and some which it is currently supporting. It was a really vibrant evening with enthusiastic presentations from the representatives of the charities and an excellent opportunity to hear about the amazing support they provide for many people in the local community.