12
COMMUNITY
november 2023
MyWokingham
www.mywokingham.co.uk
Hundreds turn out for annual scarecrow trail
H
undreds of children and adults joined the scarecrow trail in half term throughout Binfield. With more than 50 scarecrows to find, maps could be bought for £3 each from Daphne’s Coffee Shop, the Foxes’ Den Community Café and Binfield Village Stores. All money raised will go to The Church Care Project. The entire trail could have taken around two-and-a-half hours if all scarecrows were located. Some of this year’s creations included Harry Potter, Mr Potato Head, Blippi and lots with a Halloween theme. The Binfield ARC (All Saints’ Repair and Care) Project was launched in 2016 to raise funds for the repairs of All Saints’ church, after a survey revealed the need to urgently address them. With the amazing support of the community, the first two phases of the project have been hugely successful and much of the urgent repair work has been carried out. However, there is still more work to be done. With the collapse of the ceiling at St. Mark’s in 2020, significant maintenance needing to be carried out at the cemetery and this on top of the remaining repairs at All Saints’ which
were delayed by the COVID pandemic, it became clear that the fundraising needed a wider remit to be able to support all of the spaces. The Church Care Project has therefore been created to raise funds to
achieve this. So far this year work carried out with Church Care funds (along with residual ARC funds) has included: l extensive tree work at St. Mark’s, as identified as urgent in a site sur-
Library hosts community event
L
ower Earley library was the place to be in half term with lots of activities and stalls to find out about the local community. Visitors had the chance to find out more about the work of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the world’s largest breeder and trainer of working dogs. Guide dogs and their owners were on hand for visitors to pet and find out more about the work that they do. Herbies Hedgehogs were there with a stand promoting their work. They take in sick/injured wild hedgehogs and rehabilitate them to be able to release them back in the wild. They pride themselves on giving the best care possible to the patients and work
with the local vets to facilitate quick and appropriate treatment. The health and welfare of the hedgehogs always come first. Being a home run rescue, they rely on donations to help sick and injured hedgehogs. Each hedgehog costs about £5 per week just for food. Other organisations there included Sport in Mind, My Journey, The Link Visiting Scheme and Trinity Church. Dr Bike was there advising people on their bikes and helping to make sure they were road-worthy. And Thames Valley Police were on hand to meet local residents and let youngsters set off the ‘blues and twos’ in a police van.
vey (£3,216)
l fixing the hearing loop at All Saints’
(£364).
l replacing the pump at St. Mark’s l installing new heaters at All Saints’
(£6,702 to date)
