2023 End of Year Roundup
We are delighted to report another excellent year of fund raising, that has allowed us to keep afloat, to move forwards and to replace some of our equipment as we approach our tenth anniversary.
Voluntary contributions from clients remain our main source of income and thank you to all our clients for the contributions they make. The Good Exchange has again provided the largest source of other funds, being a mix of donations from local Trusts, individual supporters and match funding from Greenham Trust, so far bringing in nearly £28k this year. This included donations from The Peter Baker Foundation, the Englefield Trust and The Albert Hunt Trust who gifted us £2k each, also from The Miss Lawrence Trust which gifted us £1,500. Also via The Good Exchange we were delighted to be granted £1k by Thatcham Council and more recently £770 by Greenham Parish Council, in recognition of the support we provide for their parishioners.
A magnificent grant of £19k+ from West Berkshire Council's Community Levy Fund enabled us to purchase three Thera-Trainer replacement exercise bikes. Newbury & District branch of Parkinson's UK and of Newbury & District MS Society funded therapy for their members to the tune of over £11k between them. Four organisations provided grants of £5k each; Tesco in the Community, The Forrester Family Trust, Berkshire Community Foundation and The February Foundation. Gift Aid linked to client voluntary contributions brought in over £4k. Our partnership with the Berkshire Long Covid service brought in £2k from The Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust, to fund treatments and assessments for those affected by Long Covid. The Helen Robertson Trust gifted us £1k during the Autumn and Newbury Rotary Club supported us with £300 from one of their fund raising events. Our ever-supportive and enthusiastic staff raised £800 from organising raffles. Also some significant donations were received from anonymous supporters. A huge thank you to everyone who raised funds or made donations through the year; amounting to over £100,000!
In addition to replacing our three Thera-Trainer exercise bikes we have replaced all the major working parts of our Treadmill, extending its life by about eight years or so and we have the first of our Shapemaster (Innerva) replacement chairs on order, with another being overhauled to extend its life.
We were delighted to welcome Gill Brunsdon to our Board of Trustees and Julie Bennett onto our staff team during the year, also to have increased our very important and hugely appreciated volunteer team to cope with the growth we are seeing as we move forwards.