Past Fund Raising Events

Another entertaining night with three great comedians plus an MC:

MC: TOM TOAL

ACT 1: JONNY PELHAM

ACT 2: KIRK FONTAINE

ACT 3: LAURA LEXX

We are part of a consortium that runs the annual Wokingham Fireworks Spectacular. This year’s event was exteemely successful

We sold 700 torches and lit them ready for an amazing procession from the the town centre to Cantley Field. Watching them follow Saint Sebastian Band down Broad Street was a sight to behold!

The firework display was equally spectacular and watched by 10,000 spectactors, which was a sell-out crowd.

Funds raised from the event are distributed to charities nominated by each of the participating clubs. This year’s main beneficiaries are:

Over 300 walkers took part on the Autumn Walk. They had the choice of 5 mile, 10 mile or 15 mile routes through beautiful countryside around Wolkingham.

Some fantastic feedback has been posted on social media:

• “Thanks to everyone involved in the organisation, really good route, we had never walked along the Blackwater before”

• “I just wanted to thank the organisers of The Wokingham Walk, Autumn 2024 and Wokingham Lions Club. With the 10-mile walk, it was really nice to see different areas of Crowthorne and the countryside beyond as well as the familiar Wokingham town and countryside”.

Some walkers also took the opportunity to raise funds for their favourite charities. One family walked for The Thames Valley Air Ambulance after they helped them this year, saving the life of their child. Two walkers, who shared the walk, told us they had raised around £1,000 for The Alzheimer’s Society and Me2, whilst another family were supporting the National Autism Society. A small group were walking for No5, which supports young people aged 11-25, who live, work or study in the ‘RG’ area, with their mental health.

We were again helped in the organisation of the event by the Ollie Young Foundation, their supporter’s ‘younger legs’ did a lot of the setting up and taking down of the route. Some of the profits from the event will be going their way. They also had one of their supporters walking the route, and despite having had a replacement hip not too long ago, he completed the 10-mile route, raising around £1,000 for them!

Organiser Andy Slay said “We are really happy with the support this event attracts. Although final figures are yet to be calculated, we will have made a significant amount for local charities and good causes, including of course the Ollie Young Foundation. It was good to see people using the event to explore the countryside around Wokingham, catch up with friends and family, get some great exercise, and of course our thanks to those who use the Wokingham Walk to raise money for causes close to their hearts”.

We continued our season of comedy nights with four more comedians entertained a full house in Wokingham Theatre . As before it was a great night enjoyed by everyone.

The event raised over £3,000 for good causes

For future reference there will be more Comedy Nights on Fridays 15 November 2024, 28 February 2025, 4 April 2025 and 16 May 2025

12 teams of 8 competed for the coveted achievement of winning the challenging quiz set by our quizmaster Ian Grange, with the prize of achieving the accolade of being quiz champions, puls a bar of chocolate for each member of the winning team!

The event was held in a new venue for us, the 1st Wokingham Scout hut, which proved to be a nice room easily able to accommodate us all.

As always Ian Grange made a very professional presentation and asked some very challenging questions. The event raised £1,700 for our charity account.

The Wokingham Swimathon was a community event in the Wokingham Leisure Centre which allowed teams of swimmers to raise funds for their nominated organisation or charity and have fun at the same time.

22 teams took part, with each team having up to eight swimmers. They had 50 minutes to complete as many laps as they could (each lap being two lengths of the pool). They didn’t compete against each other, so the scores were only for their personal satisfaction.

However, each team was encouraged to seek sponsorship and together they raised over £10,000 for their own charities

A big thank you to the management team at the Wokingham Leisure Centre and Places Leisure, the company that runs the centre, without whom we couldn’t run this event.

Rain showers and at times gusting winds couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the vehicle owners, the visiting public and volunteers at the second Classic Motor Show at Elms Field.

The show was opened by Wokingham Town Mayor, Councillor Rob Comber, who also spent time viewing the exhibits and meeting the owners and visitors.

We decided to make Regain Sports Charity the nominated charity for the show. An advocate for the charity is Kylie Grimes MBE. Kylie is a triple Paralympian of the London, Rio and Tokyo games, finally becoming Paralympic Champion with her fellow teammates in Wheelchair Rugby at the delayed Tokyo Paralympics in 2021. Kylie was delighted to be at the event and happily chatted and showed her Gold Medal to the public. For more information about the charity visit www.regainsportscharity.com.

There were several prizes available. Best in Show was awarded to Robert Pidgeon’s Bullnose Morris, which had been set up on the day as a van, but is actually a 4-seat tourer, and which featured in the popular TV drama, Downton Abbey. The best motorcycle was a Yamaha RD250 owned by Alister Tallents. The Trophy Sponsors, Trimmania Ltd. chose David Simms’ Ford Escort Mexico as their favorite, and the Children’s Choice was the Messerschmitt KR200 owned by Gary Hammond. All vehicles displaying at the event received a unique lapel badge.

We would like to thank Wokingham Town Council for their support, as well as the event sponsors, Clifton Ingram, Wokingham MOT & Service Centre, Bulldog Triumph, Lind Harley Davidson, Trimmania, Wokingham Tyres & MOT, Total Tyre Company & Triple C Paintwork.

Four more comedians entertained a full house in Wokingham Theatre . As before it was a great night enjoyed by everyone:

For future reference there will be more Comedy Nights on Fridays 4 October 2024, 15 November 2024, 28 February 2025, 4 April 2025 and 16 May 2025

We have rarely had bad weather for the May Fayre, but this year was an exception! The previous day and the next day were glorious, but it rained most of the day!

However, that didn’t deter the hardened locals who attended in numbers almost as great as any other year. Everyone enjoyed it, even if they got a bit wet!

As before the event took place in Elms Field, Denmark Street and Market Place. There were about 130 stalls covering charities, crafts, novelties and of course, food and drink.

We run the event with three objectives:

• It’s a free event for the local community
• It gives charities the opportunity to raise much-needed funds
• It raises money for our charity account, which will be used to support local good causes and worldwide disasters

It was a succes in all respects. Charities raised a total of around £20,000 and we raised a further £20,000 for our charity account.

Around 350 walkers braved the elements and completed our 5, 10 or 15 mile routes. As you can see from the pictures we had some challenges with flooding around the route – around 20mm of rain fallen overnight. Thank you to everyone who worked to help us overcome the challenges, and to our walkers who took it all in their stride!

Another fun-filled evening. Four great comedians made us laugh and helped us raise £1615 for good causes. Thames Hospice ran a raffle that raised a further £566

Yet another successful event. 12 teams of 8 competed for the coveted achievement of winning the challenging quiz set by our quizmaster Ian Grange.

The event raised £1,700 for our charity account, and we invited Wokingham Foodbank to hold a raffle which raised £420 for their funds.

Our series of comedy nights at Wokingham Theatre continued into 2024

Four great comedians entertained a full house and allowed us to raise £1699 for our charity account.

Wokingham Foodbank ran a raffle and raised £420

This was another great free day out for the community. Thousands came to enjoy a selections of funfair rides, charity stalls, trade stalls and food and drink.

Santa was in his grotto to welcome small children. The grotto was a fairyland of twinkling lights and decorations.

There was a full programme of performances on the stage, featuring music, dance and singing.

The whole of the town centre was closed to traffic for the day, and the event extended into Elms Field.

The event was introduced by Lions president Lyn Baily and opened by Wokingham Town Mayor Sally Gurney and Wokingham Mini-Mayor Leah Vas. Lyn then took Sally and Leah around the carnival, which took over three hours due to the size the event has now become.

Although the weather was cold and at some points damp, the carnival was very busy and culminated with the switching on of the Christmas tree lights. music from St. Sebastian’s Wokingham Brass Band and the Wokingham Singers, carols for everyone to join in with and finally a spectacular laser light show.

Lyn summed things up: “By the end of the day there were many tired, wet, and cold people, not just Wok-ingham Lions, but friends, volunteers from other Lions Clubs and Service Clubs, local entertainers, police and police cadets and first aiders. Everyone worked hard to make the event the success it was. We also had some fantastic sponsors without whose backing it would be impossible to stage an event like this.”

Winter Carnival Chairman. Tim Hanlon concluded: “Finances are still being finalised, but profits will be more than last year. The major charity recipients this year are Home Start Wokingham District and Share Wokingham, with smaller amounts going to other local charities and good causes. In addition, we enabled charities to raise more than £25,000, whilst at the same time raising their profiles within our community.”

Wokingham Lions run the event to raise money for our charity account. The main beneficiaries are SHARE Wokingham and Homestart Wokingham District. SHARE is a locally founded food sharing charity that helps over 2000 people in our local community who need support foodwise by redistributing an incredible 40 tonnes of food from local supermarkets and food suppliers that would otherwise go to waste. Homestart is a small, local charity, offering a family support service to disadvantaged and vulnerable families in the Wokingham District, with at least one child under the age of five.

Yet another great fun night.

The audience were entertained by four great comedians, David Ward, Michael Fabbri, Richard Morton and Mike Gunn

The event raised £1600 for our charity account

This year’s Fireworks was a sell-out, with all 10,000 ticket sold online in advance of the event.

Despite poor weather forecasts earlier in the week the rain held off but the field was very muddy! Fortunately most visitors came prepared and wore suitable footwear.

Hundreds of people met in the town centre to join the torchlight procession, which was as fantastic as ever with 700 flaming torches and hundreds of flashing toys for the children. When they arrived at Cantley Field they were treated to a fantastic firework display

We run the event in conjunction with three other local service clubs to raise money for our nominated charities. This year we have chosen Daisy’s Dream and First Days Children’s Charity to receive the majority of our share of the proceeds.

Over 250 walkers took part in the Wokingham Walk, which gave them the option of walking 5, 10 or 15 miles through lovely countryside in glorious weather.

Each walker paid an entrance fee that covered the costs and left us with around £2,500 for our charity account. Walkers also had the opportunity to seek sponsorship for charities of their choice which raised further amounts.

The Spring Wokingham Walk will be on Sunday 28 April 2024

Another great fun night that helped raise funds for our charity account.

A full house was entertained by Windsor, Ricky Balshaw, Mary Bourke and Andrew Maxwell

The event raised almost £1,600 for our charity account, and the raffle was run by Homestart who raised a further £540

Our quiz in Woosehill Community Centre was a sell-out with over 100 participants. It was expertly organised and run by our Ian Grange, who made sure everyone enjoyed a great evening and a challenging quiz.

This was a trial of a new event for us. We ran an online auction with a large number of lots. All lots were generously donated to us so all the proceeds went to our charity account. Participants were invited to make their offers online until the closing date of 31 August.

There were numerous lots on offer including:

• Photos with the TARDIS – and a Dalek
• Aerial photos of your house
• Tickets to our next Comedy Night
• A golf lesson

Due to public demand we are now holding regular comedy nights at Wokingham Theatre. This followed the trend of being a sell-out and successfully raising fund for both our charity account and Wokingham Theatre (which is a registered charity).

We also invited Share Wokingham to run a raffle, at which they raised £460.

The comedians were David Ward – MC, Terry Alderton – Act 1, Gordon Southern – Middle Act and Paul McCaffrey – Headline

Thousands attended the May Fayre, undeterred by the slightly inclement weather.

Stallholders were encouraged to decorate their stalls in a ‘Coronation’ theme and wear hats or items of clothing to reflect the celebration too. Wokingham Town Mayor, Cllr. Maria Gee opened the Fayre along with her consort Philip Gee and Mini-Mayor Jayden Hawie. They then judged the stalls, giving the first prize of £150 to CLASP, a local self-advocacy group for people with learning difficulties, Girlguiding Wokingham took the Highly Commended prize of £100.

The event was run to raise much needed funds for local charities. Many stalls were run by charities who raised funds for their own good causes. Our main beneficiaries this year were Camp Mohawk and Thames Hospice.

Camp Mohawk is a multi-functional day centre for children with special needs and their families, set in 5 acres of beautiful countryside, just outside Wargrave, Berkshire. Throughout the year the centre provides a range of activities, facilities and natural space to encourage children with a variety of special needs to play, socialise and learn in a secure and caring environment.

Thames Hospice is a leading UK Hospice providing inpatient and community palliative and end-of-life care services to people aged 16 and over across East Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire.

Thanks to Wokinghamaerialphotography for some of the pictures.

Thanks to all our supporters and sponsors:

• Wokingham Town Council
• The Wokingham Society
• Wokingham Local
• The Rose Inn, Wokingham
• Clifton Ingram
• Vet’s Klinic – Reading
• David Wilson Homes
• Allder Glass
• Prospect Estate Agents

The quiz was held in the magnificent surroundings of Wokingham Town Hall. Quizmaster Ian Grange challenged eveyone’s brain cells with some demanding questions

Congratulations to team “Where’s Wally” who were the winners.

Thanks to Tesco Superstore and Morrisons for donating raffle prizes, and to the 100 people who attended to support the event. It raised over £1000 for our charity account.

We’re planning another quiz on Fri 29th September – add the event to your Facebook diary by clicking here where details will be updated when they are announced

A nearly-full house enjoyed a great night being entertained by four amazing comedians, Jonny Awsum, Fiona Allen, Don Biswas and MC Kevin Shepherd.

Wokingham Winter Carnival was a fun day out for the whole family. The town was closed to traffic for the day so children could join in the fun in a totally safe environment.

There were a whole host of street entertainers, music, singing, dancing and all the fun of the fair with loads of different rides.

There was a fantastic grotto for the children, with Santa greeting them and giving them presents

The day ended with a laser light show.

Our comedy nights at Wokingham Theatre have proved to be so fantastically popular that we decided to hold them regularly.

There we four fantastic comedians:

Sally-Anne Haywood has the rare ability to be cynical but likeable, sarcastic but playful as she gives a tongue-in-cheek look at how we live our lives. She has performed all over the world and has provided tour support for Sarah Millican, Russell Howard,  Russell Kane, Hal Cruttenden and Suzi Ruffell.

Kevin McCarthy not only performs on but also writes for television, having been involved recently in writing “The Sketch Show”, the BAFTA award winning ITV comedy. His involvement with T.V. includes warm-up duties on such shows as “The Lottery”, and “Later, with Jools Holland”.

Stefano Paolini was a semi-finalist on Britain’s Got Talent and will be performing a brand new Stand-up Comedy Show, called First Impressions at the Camden Fringe.

Mad Ron, the Third Hardest Man in Uxbridge, is a comedy creation of Steve Lee, first appearing on the comedy circuit back in December 2015. Mad Ron has taken the circuit by storm. Now a multi award winning act, Mad Ron also finished 3rd in the prestigious 2019 NATY’s.

We are one of the five local service clubs that work together as a consortium to organise and run the annual Firework Spectacular. Over the years the event has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities.

This year’s event was as spectacular as ever. Despite the forecast of rain the weather held so a large crowd assembled in the town centre ready for the torchlight procession, which began at 6:15pm. The sight of 500 flaming torches is truely awe-inspiring.

The capacity this year was set at 10,000 spectators, with tickets sold only online. All tickets were sold out several days before the event.

Each club nominates a charity so this year the proceeds will be divided between Alexander Divine Children’s Hospice, Wokingham Foodbank, Farnborough Air Science, Topic of Cancer, Thames Valley Air Ambulance and Education Wessex & Thames Valley. Wokingham Lions nominated the Thames Valley Air Ambulance

Photos courtesy of Emma Merchant, Wokingham Today

The torchlight procession leaves Broad Street

Two of the 500 torches

Wokingham Town mini mayor Jayden Hawie enjoyed the event

The crowd eagerly anticipates the fireworks

The display was amazing

The funfair provided extra entertainment

...and the band played on

The Wokingham Walk has proved to be so popular that we organise two walks every year, in Spring and in Autumn.

There are four routes available: five, 10 and 15 miles, and an accessible route of five miles, all starting and finishing in Elms Field.

This Autumn walk was very popular, with about 200 walkers enjoying the good weather. As well as providing a nice day out and plenty of exercise the event also raised about £2,500 for our charity account in addition to any sums raised by participants who took sponsorship for their chosen charities.

Another fantastic night of comedy at Wokingham Theatre. We had another full house enjoying our great comedians!

The event raised over £2,000 for good causes. We also invited the Ollie Young Foundation to run a raffle, which helped them to support paediatric brain tumour research & support.

The next comedy night will be on 18th November – we’ll announce it here as soon as tickets go on sale!

Another successful night at Wokingham Cricket club, with over 100 attendees. Quizmaster Ian Grange challenged eveyone’s brain cells with some demanding questions

Congratulations to team “No Eye Deer” who were the winners – by just 1 point!

Thanks to Wokingham Cricket Club for hosting us, Tesco Superstore & Wokingham Theatre for raffle prizes, and Bears Burgers & Chicken for the great food! And of course, great thanks to Ian Grange for organising the event.

The first-ever Wokingham Classic Car Show took place on Saturday, 2nd July in Elms Field. There were more than 100 classic, unusual and interesting cars and motorcycles on display.

The day began with a procession from Reddam House UK school to the display area in Elms Field, where refreshments were provided by local scouts and younger visitors were entertained with a Teddy Bear hunt organised by Lions Lyn Baily and Monnie Lin.

Town Mayor Councillor Maria Gee officially opened the event with a ribbon cutting ceremony, and later in the day presented four trophies, sponsored by generous local businesses, to two car and two motorcycle owners. One was presented to the owner of the world championship winning speedway bike, once ridden by Ivan Mauger.

The event was open to the public and attracted thousands of local residents plus enthusiasts from far and wide. There was no charge but local businesses were encouraged to sponsor the event to cover the costs and allow us to raise funds for charity. The main beneficiaries were Leukaemia UK and Wokingham Men’s Shed.

Bob DuGard, co-organiser of the event said “After expenses, we hope to have a profit in excess of £3,000. This includes a very generous donation of £1,000 from the Barkham and District Classic Car Club, who have supported all the shows I have been involved in“

We would like to thank our sponsors: A1 Group, Academy Insurance Services, Bearwood Fencing, Beech Hill Garage, Bulldog Triumph Motorcycles, Citroemech Ltd, Munich Motors, Steadfast Autos, Trimmania, Wingfield Engineering and Wokingham MOT & Service Centre Ltd,

Another fantastic night of comedy at Wokingham Theatre. We had another full house enjoying our great comedians!

The event raised over £2,400 for our charity account. We also invited the Kimelcafe charity to run a raffle, which helped them to support the neurodivergent community.

The next comedy night will be on 7th October – we’ll announce it here as soon as tickets go on sale!

MORE THAN 300 people put on their boots and went for a walk … and they were given a medal for doing so.

There were four routes available: five, 10 and 15 miles, and an accessible route of five miles, all starting and finishing in Elms Field. Youngsters were encouraged to fill in a nature trail as they went along one of three routes

There were teams from Dingley’s Promise, and Soulscape, among others.

Lion Andy Slay, who was one of the organisers, said “We should have comfortably made in excess of £4,000 for local charities, so it’s been a great day, I’m really pleased.”

Thousands of people visited the town centre for the first major event organised on the refurbished Elms Field, although it also encompassed Denmark Street and Market Place.

Alan Rouse, May Fayre chairman, said “It was an outstanding success with possibly the most people we have ever seen. This is the first year we have been able to run it after a 4 year break due to the town centre regeneration then Covid. I visited all the stalls, food vendors and attractions and without exception everyone was bowled over. We estimate that there were around 25,000 visitors”.

Andy Goffin, the president of Wokingham Lions Club, said “This year the two main beneficiaries will be The Link Visiting Scheme and Just Around the Corner (JAC). Link is a charity dedicated to reducing loneliness in the Borough and JAC help young people with special needs to find acceptance and employment”.

Alan added “Organising the event took a considerable amount of planning. I would like to thank my fellow committee members and all the volunteers who helped to make this a wholly successful day. We look forward to doing the same next year. Between now and then we will be organising numerous other events to entertain the public and raise money for our charity account so we can continue to support good causes”.

The event raised about £12,500 for our charity account, and the various charity stallholders raised a total of over £15,000 for their charities.

Photos courtesy of Paul King

As well as 100 stalls in the town centre there was a wide range of entertainment including:

• A full programme of performances on the stage outside the town hall
• A funfair and numerous childrens activities on Elms Field
• A petting zoo outside Nuffield Health
• Ferret Racing
• Birds of Prey
• Numerous food vendors selling a wide variety of meals, snacks, ice cream and drinks
• Street circus performers
• Punch and Judy

Wokingham Lions ran a very successful Comedy Night at Wokingham Theatre! There were three brilliant acts plus a fantastic compere – along with a full bar.

The event proved to be a good fund-raiser, earning us £1600 for our charity account. The theatre were very pleased too, because they had the takings from the bar.

We invited First Days Children’s Charity to run a raffle which raised £400 for their funds

We also held a collection for Ukraine

The Great #Woky Pub Quiz goes live again!

This was our second live quiz since the end of lockdown and proved to be equally popular, with all places sold. Chris of Bears Burgers and Chicken provided meals and the Cricket Club bar was open to provide drinks.

Lion Ian Grange asked the questions and a raffle provided extra income for our charity account.

We ran a special Christmas online quiz from the Christmas Presence shop, with all proceeds going to Christmas Presence. The project is described in the video:

Over 100 teams took part in the quiz, and the overall winners were, appropriately enough, SHARE Wokingham.

The quiz was open to all with no entry fee, but participants were asked to make a voluntary donation through our Donations page

Quizmaster Ian Grange made it a very entertaining event, with challenging questions compiled by various Lions members

Wokingham Winter Carnival was a fun day out enjoyed by thousands of families. The town was closed to traffic for the day so children could safely enjoy the many stalls and rides.

There were a whole host of street entertainers, music, singing, dancing and the fun of the fair.

Santa was in his grotto at the library and there were stalls offering an amazing choice of food and drink.

Wokingham Lions ran a tombola stall next to the town hall with soft toys as prizes. Those who didn’t win were offered novelty keyrings as consolation prizes.

The stall proved extremely popular with young children, many of whom were attracted by the star prize of a large teddy. By pure chance the teddy was one of the last prizes to be won, so the lucky youngsters, after much persistence, took away the prize shortly before the end of the day

This year’s Fireworks was a sell-out! The maximum crowd capacity was reached several days before the event so ticket sales had to be halted and none were available on the night

The fun started at 5.30pm when the funfair opened on Cantley Field for those who chose not to join the procession.

At 6:00pm the torchlight procession left from Market Place in the town centre. The procession was be led by St Sebastian’s band and various local dignitaries.  If you have never attended the procession we strongly recommend it. The sight of several thousand people with 500 flaming torches walking down Broad Street is truly memorable!

The fireworks started at 7:30pm on Cantley Field and the display was bigger and better than ever and wowwed the audience just like previous years.

The pandemic meant we had to cancel this year’s May Fayre, but to give local charities the opportunity to raise much-needed funds we are instead organised a Spring Charity Market on the second May bank holiday.

With temperatures climbing to an all-time high for the year, those who were not at the beach stopped by to explore 10 stalls set up by local charities

Ian Grange, organiser of the event, said, “We were very pleased to have 10 charities participating in our first Spring Charity Market. This was a great opportunity for local charities to raise some much-needed funds for their good causes. We appreciate the support from the Wokingham Town Council..”

Among the participating charities were Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service, The Cowshed, Home-Start Wokingham District, Ollie Young Foundation, Oxfam Reading Area Group, WADE Day Centre and the Rotary Club of Wokingham.

The Wokingham Walk was a charity walk with three routes – 5, 10 and 15 miles.  All walks passed through some of the stunning local countryside and started and finished in Elms Field in Wokingham town centre. 

Over 500 walkers took part in one of the few events allowed during the pandemic.

Over £6,600 was raised, which was an amazing achievement considering the hardship caused by Covid.

£500 from the proceeds was donated to each of 9 charities:

• Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service
• Ollie Young Foundation
• Me2 Club
• Helen & Douglas House
• Sue Ryder
• CLASP
• Headway
• Sport in Mind
• Dawson Can Do It

The 5th annual Wokingham Walk was a great success, with about 250 participants walking one of three routes of 5 miles, 10 miles or 15 mies.

The event raised £2,715, which was all donated to Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service, which provides essential support to children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions, and their families, across Berkshire.

In addition, a number of walkers raised their own sponsorships for different charities. Two walkers set up team sponsorship pages for Alexander Devine and raised an additional £961, bringing the total to £3,676. The teams were the Moving Mamas (£385) and the Lloyd Family (£576)

Alexander Devine’s CEO and Co-founder, Fiona Devine, said: “Our deepest thanks to the Wokingham Lions Club for all their hard work in organising such a wonderful and fun event. It is no mean feat to organise an event like this in such challenging times, and we really appreciate all the effort that went into making sure the event went ahead, and the amazing amount of money it raised for our charity. What a real difference this money will make to the seriously-ill children and their families that we support. Indeed, it could help fund over 100 hours of much-needed respite for our families.”

We distributed giant easter eggs to numerous pubs and restaurants in Wokingham and the surrounding area.  Each venue would have held a raffle with the egg as the prize. All the proceeds would have gone to our charity account, which is used to support local good causes.

However, due to the coronavirus all pubs and restaurants were closed over the Easter period. Some venues had already sold tickets, and gave us the takings. We asked each venue to use the egg however they choose, and several donated their eggs to the children’s ward at the Royal Berks Hospital

The Great Wokingham Virtual Pub Quiz was a Lion’s roaring success!  For 14 weeks during the lock-down we ran a quiz every Thursday.  Everyone was welcome to join in, with the request that they make a small voluntary donation.  We typically had over 200 teams each week.  Many teams were made up of friends and relatives getting together on Zoom, so the quiz gave them the opportunity to have a vitual social gathering to relieve the boredom of lock-down.  The competition between teams was fierce, even though there were no prizes!

As well as providing a brain-testing exercise each week the object of the quiz was to raise money for the Wokingham Hub,  which brings together Wokingham Borough Council, Involve Community Services, Citizens Advice, Wokingham Volunteer Centre, The Link Visiting Scheme, First Days, Wokingham Foodbank, Age UK Berkshire, Local Churches and others.  Together they provided food and toiletries to residents suffering through the coronavirus crisis.

We raised an amazing total of £5,500 for the Wokingham Hub from the quiz.

Wokingham Lions Club is deeply indebted to one of our members, Ian Grange, for organising this event and acting as quizmaster.  He was assisted by various other members who dreamt up challenging questions.  We would also like to thank Wokingham Borough Council, Love Wokingham, the Wokingham Paper, Bracknell News and BBC Berkshire for their support in helping to publicise the event, and local band The FiLF for providing some of the music rounds.

We had great fun at Hurst Village Hall, where we had a night with the theme Hoedown at the OK Corral.  Everyone got into the spirit and dressed accordingly. See the video here.

We had a meal prepared by some of the Lions ladies, then we were entertained by local band The Shelf Side. In between we made attempts at line dancing.

As well as giving us all a good night out, the event raised about £2,400 for our Charity Account

Following the amazing success of the last #Woky Comedy Night we decided to run another one!

As before it was held at WADE, which proved to be a perfect venue for events like this.

There were brilliant acts by Dan Evans, Andy Stedman and David Tsonos, introduced by the MC Jonathan Elston

All profits were split between the Wade Day Care Centre & Wokingham Lions Charity Account.

Wokingham Winter Carnival was a great family event and attracted thousands of local residents.  There was a funfair in Broad Street and numerous stalls supporting local charities and crafts as well as commercial businesses and food vendors.  Wokingham Lions participated by selling mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies.  Andy Goffin played his regular role of Leo the Lion, much to the amusement of the many children who attended, as well as some of the adults!

Fireworks was planned for Saturday 2 November.  However, the weather forecast for that day was for heavy rain and strong wind, but improving by evening.  It was expected to improve as the day progressed, but the display team decided for safety reasons to postpone the event until the next day.

The event therefore took place on Sunday, an hour earlier to allow for children going to school the next day.  Attendance was somewhat lower, but there was a brilliant display enjoyed by several thousand people.  The evening started with a torchlight procession from the town centre, led by a Scottish piper.  As always, the sight of 500 flaming torches in Broad Street was memorable.

This event is organised by a consortium of local service clubs:  Wokingham Lions Club, Wokingham Rotary Club, Easthampstead Rotary Club, Windsor Forest Unicorn Club and Thames West Unicorn Club.  They each nominate a charity, so the funds raised will be shared between:

• Sue Ryder Wokingham Day Hospice
• Citizen’s Advice, Wokingham
• Alexander Divine Children’s Hospice
• Topic of Cancer
• Life Education Wessex and Thames Valley

This play ran for six days at Wokingham Theatre, but thanks to their generosity all proceeds from the final dress rehearsal were donated to our charity account.  We raised a total of £768.

Numerous pubs and restaurants in Wokingham and the surrounding area each raffled a giant Easter Egg. All the proceeds went to our charity account, which is used to support local good causes

As well as being a fun event, it raised over £2,300 for our charity account

Wokingham Cricket Club provide us with a venue for our club meetings so it was fitting the we used their club house for a Quiz Night.  We had 13 tables, each with up to eight team members who competed to answer challenging questions posed by the quizmaster, Ian Grange.