Fundraising

Fundraising is an important part of our work, as the costs for hall hire, our tai chi instructor, hire of the hydropool and physio fees all require ongoing funding. Over the year, we support various local fundraising events to raise both funds and awareness of arthritis. We try and take up any opportunities that come our way in order to raise extra funds to continue subsidising activities to support people with arthritis.

Recent fundraising efforts have included:-

• Celebrating at the Purley Platinum Jubilee Extravaganza with a stall and tai chi demonstration
• The League of Friends Summer Fete, where we organised a very successful tombola stall
• Reading Borough Council Disability Awareness Day, at which our tai chi instructor ran a short tai chi class for visitors
• We successfully applied for the Caversham Waitrose green token scheme for community projects, and were delighted to receive funds to promote and develop our Caversham tai chi class
• Members of Calcot WI chose Arthritis Matters for their annual charity and raised funds throughout the year through raffles and stalls.
• Our chairman’s sister Kareen Mann has signed up each year to run the Reading half-marathon, and although the race was cancelled one year due to bad weather, those people who had sponsored her were happy to donate their pledges.
• Raffles at our regular coffee mornings have continued to prove popular.
• We have recently been chosen for one of Asda’s chosen community projects.

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