FUNDS raised from a Wokingham Fireworks Spectacular held in November have been distributed to worthwhile organisations at a presentation event in the town.
The awards were made by Windsor Forest Unicorn Club, with eight charities receiving a total of £10,750 from Unicorn member Gerry Mortimore.
Wokingham town mayor, Sally Gurney, and deputy borough mayor, Adrian Mather both attended the presentation, which took place at Wokingham Town Hall.
The Unicorn Club ran the Wokingham Fireworks Spectacular for 25 years, raising over £1m for local charities and good causes.
As Wokingham grew the event became too big for them to handle alone, so they joined forces with Wokingham Rotary Club, Easthampstead Rotary Club and Wokingham Lions Club to form the Wokingham Fireworks Society.
The proceeds of this annual event are now divided between the clubs to donate to their chosen charities.
The Unicorn Club distributed more than £10,000 to local charities, including Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs, Woodley Foodbank, Sue Ryder, Debra, SHARE Wokingham, Building for The Future, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and British Sjögren’s Syndrome Association.
Wokingham town mayor, Cllr Gurney, thanked everyone for the donation to her chosen charity of the year, Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs, which helps Berkshire Lowland Rescue to search for missing people.
Deputy borough mayor, Cllr Mather thanked the Unicorn Club for the donation to the mayor’s chosen charity, Woodley Foodbank.
Ashni Parmar from Sue Ryder said the support would help them to care for terminally ill patients, and explained that they had looked after 400 patients last year.
Jade Adam from Debra thanked Unicorn for supporting them, and described the very painful condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa, which mainly affects children.
Debra started in Crowthorne but has expanded to cover the whole country and overseas.
Claire Revie of Share Wokingham said their donation would help the work their volunteers do to address food poverty, and said that every month they typically distribute 40 tons of food that would otherwise go to waste.
Jane Holmes from Building for the Future outlined the work they do at Our House, in Emmbrook, where they support over 500 disabled children and their families every year.
Unicorn member Arthur Rossell accepted a cheque for Cystic Fibrosis, and Barbara Rossell thanked Unicorn on behalf of British Sjögren’s Syndrome Association.
The donation will help them provide support for the little-known disease.
For information, visit: www.wokingham-fireworks.co.uk, www.bsard.org.uk, www.woodleyfoodbank.org, www.sueryder.org, www.debra.org.uk, www.sharewokingham.co.uk, www.bftf.org.uk, www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk, and www.bssa.uk.net.
