During the May half term, libraries across Wokingham Borough will be hosting free events for children

Elmer Storytime – Celebrate Elmer Day with a story and colouring activity

Wokingham Library       Saturday May 25                              11am to 11.30am

Woodley Library           Saturday May 25                              11am to 11.30am

Explore Learning – Piece of Cake

Children take a trip to the bakery as they learn to divide up their favourite treats to help the master their fractions and decimals. How much cake will they get if they need to split it between the whole? Free session with Explore Learning for children aged 9 to 11 years old. Places must be booked.

Woodley Library            Tuesday May 28      10.45am to 11.45am

Wokingham Library      Thursday May 30      10.45am to 11.45am

Lower Earley Library     Friday May 31         10.45am to 11.45am

Explore Learning – Put a spring in your step!

Children can jump straight into this comprehension workshop and learn some fantastic skills that they can apply to any text they read. Can they help us predict what will happen next? And why did that character say that? Free session with Explore Learning, for children aged 7 to 9 years old. Places must be booked.

Woodley Library        Tuesday May 28          9.30am to 10.30am

Wokingham Library      Thursday May 30           9.30am to 10.30am

Lower Earley Library        Friday May 31      9.30am to 10.30am

Get Arty

Arts and crafts fun on for children aged 4 to 10 years old. Just drop in, £1.50 charge

Wokingham Library          Friday May 31      10.30am to 11.30am

Outdoor Let’s Explore

A fun and creative session exploring the outdoors and nature with the rangers from Dinton Pastures. For children aged 3 to 8 years old. Places must be booked.

Wokingham Library    Wednesday May 29      9.30am to 10.15am

Woodley Library      Wednesday May 29       11.30am to 12.15pm

Read Me, Make Me

Drop in and join in with our Read Me, Make Me, craft activity. For children aged 7 and under. Just drop in!

Wargrave Library          Saturday June 1      10.30am to 11am

Rhymetime

Rhymes for under 5’s and their parents, Just drop in! Free Event

Lower Earley Library     Tuesday May 28   10.30am to 11am

Finchampstead Library        Friday May 31        11am to 11.30am

Sand Art

Just drop in and create a sand art picture with Kids Bee Happy with Maddi. £4 per picture, for children aged 4 to 11 years old.

Woodley Library           Tuesday May 28    10.30am to 12.30pm

Lower Earley Library        Thursday May 30      10.30am to 12.30pm

Storytime

Stories and rhymes for children aged 5 and under. Free

Wokingham Library           Tuesday May 28          4pm to 4.30pm

Wokingham Borough Libraries at Dinton Fun Day

Come and join us at Dinton Pastures Country Park for outdoor themed stories and craft activities, free colouring and more. Charges may apply.

Dinton Pastures Country Park         Saturday June 1      10am to 3pm

Wokingham Borough Libraries Contact details

Come and see Woodley Town Council and the Oakwood Centre’s stall at this year’s Woodley Carnival as we go Back to the Future…

FREE entry for adults!

FREE entry for children!

Woodley Resident’s Survey 2018

The independently commissioned and produced Woodley Resident’s Survey 2018 is now available to view.

Please click HERE to view the 2018 and previous years’ results.

(L-R top): Sean Riordan, David Provins, Bob Hansford, Chas Randle, Mark Rozzier (L-R bottom): Lindsay Browne, Liz McDaniel, Cllr Sam Rahmouni, Jackie Baines, Hannah Evans

At the first Annual meeting of Woodley Town Council and its new councillors, community grants were given to the following charities and individuals.

1^stWoodley Boys Brigade  –  represented by Bob Hansford

£250 – to purchase camping equipment, sports & games equipment, expedition equipment and storage solutions.

2^ndWoodley Scout Group  –  represented by Chas Randle

£250 – to purchase camping equipment and activity equipment.

Emmanuel Church, Woodley  –  represented by Sean Riordan

£250 – towards the cost of running a 48 hour “Fun Days” event for all residents of the Drovers Way / Southlake Crescent area.

Friends of Woodford Park  –  represented by David Provins

£250 – to purchase spring flowering bulbs and to replace any plants in need.

Me2 Club  –  represented by Liz McDaniel

£250 – towards the cost of recruiting and screening 5 new volunteers within Woodley.

School Days Project  –  represented by Lindsay Browne

£250 – towards the cost of purchasing new uniform items that are not available through donations.

Woodley Festival of Music and Arts  –  represented by Jackie Baines

£250 – to help towards the cost of providing the Festival of Music and Arts in 2019.

Woodley United FC  –  represented by Mark Rozzier                       

£250 – towards the cost of running a girls’ academy to encourage increased girls’ participation in football.

Individual

Hannah Evans  (Archery GB)

£100 – towards the cost of upgrading her equipment to remain competitive in higher level competitions.

The awards were presented by outgoing Mayor Cllr Sam Rahmouni.

The new Mayor for Woodley was announced as Cllr Kay Gilder, to be deputised by Cllr Dave Mills.

Keith Baker remains leader of the Council, while Shadi Brindley remains Deputy Leader.

Woodley Town Council will meet for its first Annual Meeting at the Oakwood Centre this evening – Tuesday 14th May 2019 – from 20.00. Local residents are welcome to attend.

Foster carer Steve Allum with his daughter, Jo-Anna, and dog, Minty

More than 10 local foster families are urgently needed to join the 46 Wokingham Borough Council fostering homes for some of its children and young people in care who want to be fostered close to their families and friends in the Borough.

With the annual national Foster Care Fortnight (13 to 26 May) about to start, the Borough Council wants to reach out to would-be foster carers for teenagers, siblings, and asylum seeking and disabled children who desperately need foster carers in the borough.

The Council always looks for homes for the 100 plus children and young people currently in care with its own Council carers first.

Rewarding

Additional financial assistance in the form of council tax exemption is offered as part of a wide range of benefits and incentives.

Executive member for children services, Cllr Pauline Helliar-Symons said: “We’d like to find local homes for all our children and encourage more local residents to come and talk to us about how fostering can change lives.”

She added: “Our foster carers find fostering enormously rewarding. Children go into foster care for all sorts of reasons, usually not their own fault, but the work our foster carers do gives youngsters a happier and more supported life. We are really grateful to them and value them enormously.  Please give some thought as to whether you could be one of these special people.”

Foster carers

Foster carers, Steve and Monika Allum, are proud to foster. Steve said: “Since joining Wokingham Borough Council as a foster carer, three years ago, we feel part of a big family. We used to foster for an agency and nearly gave up because of the lack of support. Looking after young people in care is challenging but we can’t see us doing anything else after seeing what a positive impact we have on their lives.”

Regardless of culture, background, sexual orientation and whether you are a homeowner or tenant, if you have a spare room, are aged 21 and over with life experience, live within twenty miles of the borough and have time for a child, you could foster. What matters most, is that you are the right family or person for our children.

As a foster carer, the council offers attractive remuneration packages, council tax exemption, excellent training including a specialist therapeutic programme, as well as one-to-one and out-of-hours support. Fees increase with experience often resulting in the equivalent of a reasonable salary, which could provide a complete change of career. For example, an experienced foster carer at Level 2, who cares for two children all year, could earn more than £25,000 p.a. excluding allowances for the child.

Information day

During Foster Care Fortnight, the council is holding a drop-in information day on Thursday May 23 at the Diamond Jubilee Room in Wokingham Town Hall. Foster carers will share their experiences and discuss the positive life changes created for the children and young people involved. People can drop-in anytime between 1pm and 7.45pm.

Contact

The application process is also probably much quicker than you think. To find out more, call Jackie Ross, Recruitment & Marketing Officer on (0118) 974 6204 for an informal chat or visit www.fostering.wokingham.gov.uk

International Composting week

As part of a Wokingham Borough-led initiative, in partnership with Re3Recycling and Get Composting, Woodley residents are able to take advantage of discounted compost bins, including an offer of ‘buy one get one half price’.

Further details are available HERE