Theophilus Allen, a sixth form student at The Downs School, Berkshire talks about the joint project to support the charity Swings and Smiles in Thatcham. It started, as many meaningful things do, quite simply. Back in 2024, a group of us came together through school to support a local charity called Swings and Smiles. At […]
Finding Joy in Helping Others – Theo Talks with Bella Read More »
What if something as simple as baking a cake could help build confidence, independence and life skills? In 2025 we became involved in a match funding project with a group of 15 and 16 year old students at The Downs School in West Berkshire. The idea behind the initiative was for the team of 21
“I Did That Myself” – a story about cooking Read More »
We’ve had the privilege of working alongside the incredible students from The Downs School who have shown how they can meaningfully help the homeless in Newbury. The students choose to support Newbury Soup Kitchen after learning about the growing tragedy of homelessness across West Berkshire. What followed was a thoughtful, energetic and successful effort led
Pot Noodles and feeding the Homeless Read More »
The crisis of Homelessness in our country is getting worse. Often, it is the rough sleepers who are the most visible and clearly in need of the basics of food and protection against the weather. We have partnered with Newbury Soup Kitchen, a small charity making a big difference in West Berkshire to fund practical
Rough Sleeping: How can we help Read More »
Stockdales is one of our valued Partner Charities and in August 2025 we were pleased to give them a grant of £5,250 to cover the cost of a replacement shower bench for their Ashton Lane home in Sale. The team shared with us how essential this piece of specialist equipment is for their residents ………
Dignity, Comfort and Care Read More »
Stockdales is a valued Partner Charity we have worked with over the past five years to deliver four important projects. We asked their chief executive, Emma Morris to give us an insight into the challenges she faces in leading this wonderful charity and making a real difference to the lives of the people with learning
What is it really like running Stockdales? Read More »
As Henry Ford once famously said “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself”. A recent project with three different groups moving forwards together definitely led to success and lots of fun. This story is about a group of students at The Downs School in West Berkshire, working as a team
Together we are better! Read More »
Fun and play are the themes of our third project with Stockdales. We really wanted to do something different this time, having focussed previously on their residential homes, so we were excited when Emma Morris, their CEO, talked about another part of what they offer, Community projects. These schemes focus on learning life skills through
Appealing to our Senses Read More »
We met with an exciting charity called Swings and Smiles based in Thatcham Berkshire at the end of 2023. Every time we have visited them, the centre has been buzzing with kids with a range of special needs, who come to play. We helped to extend their outreach programme with a grant this year. We
Let’s Play – Out and About Read More »