I would like to extend my warmest well-wishes to all constituents over the Christmas period. This is a wonderful time of year in which we can spend quality time with family, friends and loved ones, and take stock of the things that really matter to us.
However, I also appreciate that this time of year can be very difficult for some, and I would like to pay tribute to all those individuals and charities that offer their time and support to help those less fortunate than themselves over the holidays.
It is always a privilege to be able to work with community and voluntary groups, and I was pleased to be able to recently join a local FareShare collection at a supermarket to support their efforts and to thank them for the valuable work they do all year round. I know that the Readifood Food Bank has held a number of Winter Food Collections at Tescos in the lead up to Christmas, and that some local people have been planning their own food drives to support these efforts.
Individuals have been donating generously to important causes, and I would like to pay special mention to everyone who attended the Carols by Candlelight event that raised more than £17,000 for Launchpad to support their work to help some of Reading’s most vulnerable people who are homeless or facing homelessness. Reading Refugee Support Group’s Christmas Carol Concert sold out and I hope it was a huge fundraising success and an enjoyable evening for everyone who attended.
I would also like to highlight the generosity of local businesses and their customers; one notable example of this is the donations from Fidget & Bob’s customers that helped raise £800 to buy new equipment for New Beginnings Reading. New Beginnings is a fantastic local organisation that supports those experiencing poverty and financial hardship, and they have been taking donations to enable them to serve Christmas dinner to the homeless.
Reading Family Aid’s Toys and Teens Appeal 2024 – launched by the Mayor of Reading, Councillor Glenn Dennis, and sponsored by the Reading Chronicle – has been asking residents to donate new and nearly new toys at drop off points across the town to support children from poor backgrounds whose families don’t have the means to provide them with a present at Christmas. This is a wonderful initiative, and I would like to thank everyone who was involved in this good cause.
These are just a few of the many charitable initiatives and funding drives that have been taking place in our community in the run up to Christmas, and I hope that those who are able to will consider donating their time or funds to one of these excellent causes.
Christmas is also a time that can bring communities together. Christmas parties and events such as the free Civic Carol Service at Reading Minster bring festive cheer to residents from different backgrounds and community events, such as the Pakistan Community Centre Christmas Party that I recently attended, bring people together across different faith groups.
It is impossible to mention every fundraising event and community celebration but I would like to thank everyone for their efforts and wish them all well.
Finally, I would also like to pay tribute to our public and emergency services and thank them for the very important work that they do over the Christmas period and throughout the year.
I would like to wish everybody in Reading Central a very Merry Christmas and extend my heartfelt well-wishes to all those celebrating over the holidays.
