News

JANUARY 2004

Welcome to a brand New Year, we wish you all our very best wishes for 2004!

2003 came and went with the usual speed!  We all enjoyed the long hot summer holidays with lots of picnics and paddling in pools.

We had lots of outings to various places, including the usual haunts - Henley, local parks, Pizza Hut, etc. Various Minders and their tribes travelled quite far and wide to seek shade and water! Trips to Bournemouth to paddle in the sea, outings to California Country Park to enjoy the shade, afternoons out in the garden taking part in water fights - were all enjoyed by many children (and their Minders too!) making the unusually HOT Summer one to remember! 

A couple of us went along to the "  " , at Bucklebury Farm.  This was organised by the West Berks Early Years Team (so a special thanks to Helen Anstey and the team for making us feel so welcome.)  A lovely day was had by all our little (and bigger!) ones, it was very hot so it was great to make lots of noise under the shade of the big tree at 11 - as you can see from the picture below!

After such a good summer, disaster struck in October when a fire broke out and destroyed the smaller hall at St Marks.  Unfortunately this was where we stored all our 'smaller' toys - baby toys, puzzles, lego, t-sets, dolls (the list is endless!) and we lost the lot!  Although our loss was great the Cubs and Scouts loss was even greater.  After an appeal in the local paper, the phone didn't stop ringing.  We were inundated with all sorts of toys from kind and generous local people.  Asda (Lower Earley) and Early Learning (Reading) were extremely generous, Asda donated lots of goodies which the children enjoyed at our Christmas Party, and Early Learning donated lots of 'ex-display' toys for which we are very grateful.  The Reading Early Years gave us a grant of £500 - which we used to replace Duplo, dressing up clothes, dolls house, etc.  And finally the insurance claim came through, and we are slowly building up our toys and equipment once again, our biggest spend being a new, larger shed to store it all in!  

Christmas came (and went!), with a bang - we held a fantastic Christmas Party, just 3 days before the big day, so everyone (children & minders) were in high spirits (without the aid of alcohol!)!   With  games, lots of food, and a very special visit from a very important person - yes, Father Christmas, a great time was had by all!

A special thanks goes to Debbie T's 'old man' for standing in for the "big man in red".

Now onto the 'important' Christmas event - the grown ups night out!  12 of us enjoyed a great night (and early morning!) out at the Holiday Inn's Christmas Dinner & Dance.  Lots of eating (and drinking!) took place, with lots of dancing to burn the calories after!  Some of us even managed to stay to the bitter end - not getting in until nearly 2am - there were some tired faces around on Friday morning!

Now we're into 2004 - so we'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year as well as a HAPPY MINDING YEAR!!

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