Thank you to all who helped make this year’s Christmas Hampers such a great success. This is a joint project which was organised by Botley Bridges Family Support , Food for Charities, Community Larder and lots of wonderful local volunteers. St Peter and St Paul’s Church kindly lent the hall for 2 days for packing. Local people could register themselves for a hamper but we also took requests from social services and health visitors to make sure we reached the families most in need.
Many local folk gave up their time, donated goods, money and presents and gave some Christmas cheer to 123 families. We have had some lovely feedback about the difference it made to families and individuals. Most of the hampers went to local families but we also donated some to families living in very difficult circumstances, including recent arrivals from Afghanistan.
Botley Bridges is your local Family Support Charity. We organise drop in sessions for families including Stay & Play and Baby Groups as well as online sessions too. We also run courses such as paediatric first aid, baby massage, speech and language and family nurturing. We are open to all and our aim is to improve the lives of families and children by supporting parents with information about child development and children’s physical and mental health. Our sessions are open to all and we only ask for a small contribution. Our coordinator, Hayley Hayle leads the majority of the sessions and we were delighted that she was recognised in the Queen’s New Years Honours list and was awarded a BEM for services to postnatal work in Oxfordshire.
We have an exciting new venture which we are currently in the process of planning which is to work in conjunction with a local care home to bring residents and young children with their parents together once a week.
As a charity we rely on grants and donations as well as parental contributions from the sessions and are currently looking to raise £10,000 to cover our costs over the next year. We are constantly looking for funding so if you are interested in donating or have a link to an organisation, which is looking to support a local charity please get in contact. Details for donation can be found here.
Thanks again for all your support
Sue Dowe – Chair of Trustees on behalf of the Trustees
