New club committee raises £6,000 for two charities

A NEW charity committee at Phyllis Court Club in Henley has raised £6,000.

Members of the private members’ club off Marlow Road took part in fundraising events such as a “Hotfooted” shoe sale and a quiz night organised by the committee, which was formed in August.

The proceeds have been divided between the Rivertime Boat Trust, which provides boat trips for disabled and disadvantaged people, and the Henley food bank run by Nomad from the d:two centre in Market Place.

Cheques were presented to representatives of the charities at the committee’s first annual meeting, which was attended by Henley Mayor Michelle Thomas.

Chairman Barry Jackson said: “When I joined council last year I was determined to renew our charity efforts and was asked to chair a group of what is now known as Charity at Phyllis Court.

“With the support of fellow members of council, the fabulous committee and, most importantly, Phyllis Court Club members, we have been able to raise funds for two local charities.”

He said the shoe sale held in Peppard in September was popular and that the quiz night at the club was attended by more than 200 people.

More money was raised at the chairman’s Christmas drinks event, where the club donated half the proceeds and the singers who performed donated half of their retirement collection. Lucy Herbert, skipper at the Rivertime Boat Trust, said: “Thank you all so much for choosing to support us.

“You’re obviously very good at organising events. The Hotfooted sale was such fun and I won a pair of leather gloves in the raffle.

“The money you’ve raised we are going to use to offer families with a disabled child to come along for a lovely ride on the river with other families. They will have both a relaxing and stimulating time.

“These trips have been really successful in the past. It really is nice to be able to offer families with children of mixed abilities something they can do together.”

Tim Prior, manager of Nomad, said: “We have been supporting young people and families in Henley for 26 years now.

“We do a whole variety of things, from supporting young people in schools to supporting parents with parenting programmes and one-to-one support.

“The money you have very kindly raised this year is going towards the food bank, which has been incredibly busy this last year.

“In the last 12 months we have seen a 40 per cent increase in the number of referrals.

“We have supported probably 800 households — that’s approximately 1,600 large bags of food that have been distributed to local families.

“That’s families of the young and old, a whole variety of people in different situations. We are reliant on donations of food and money.”

Support worker Angela Face said: “When we deliver food parcels, we don’t just leave them on the doorstep as it’s a way of us meeting the families, which then allows us to open up conversations and maybe support in other ways.”

The Mayor called the new charity committee “fabulous”, adding: “I think it’s genius and thank you so much for supporting Henley, all of you.”

This year, the club will be raising money for Alzheimer’s Dementia Support and Younger People with Dementia.