Our Golden Awards Scheme started in 2024, the 50th Anniversary of the Club. The scheme is continuing to run, in it we continue our spirit of giving with awards of £500 each to support local charities and community organisations that wish to start a new initiative and need help with funding.
If you are involved with a local charities or community group that you think would qualify for a Golden Award then please complete an application form.
Previous Golden Award Recipients
- 1st Arborfield Scouts Group
- 1st Twyford Scouts
- 2nd Crowthorne Scouts
- 3rd Wokingham Scouts
- All Saints Church, Wokingham
- ARTS4WOKINGHAM
- Assisting Berkshire Children to Read
- AutAngel Community Interest Company
- Berkshire MS Therapy Centre
- Berkshire Music Trust
- Berkshire Scouts
- Building for the Future
- Buttons & Bubbles CIC
- Camp Mohawk
- CLASP
- Diana Brimblecomble Animal Rescue
- Epilepsy Berkshire
- HelloBench
- Hannah Tomsett
- Herbie Hedgehog Rescue
- Igniting Writing
- Involve Community Services – Cancer Support Network
- Just Around the Corner (JAC)
- Kaleidoscopic UK
- Keep Hatch Primary School
- Link Visiting Scheme
- Me2 Club
- Polehampton Swimming Association
- Promise Inclusion
- Read Easy Reading & East Berkshire
- Regain – The Trust for Sports Tetraplegics
- Sebastians Action Trust
- SEND Voices Wokingham
- Soulscape CIO
- Starmaker Theatre Company
- Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SoBS)
- The Barkham Hookers
- The Cowshed
- The Kingfisher Club
- Twyford & Ruscombe Community Association
- Wokingham and District Elderly Association (WADE)
- Wokingham Cricket Club
- Wokingham Girlguiding
- Wokingham Pantomime Group
- Wokingham Pride
- Wokingham Repair Café
- Wokingham Volunteer Centre
Golden Award Stories
The Barkham Hookers are a local crochet group, they have worked on many personal, charity and community projects over the last 10 years and raised over £70,000 for good causes. With the award they are planning something special for the Poppy Appeal in November, which will commemorate the 80th Anniversary of D-Day this year. This display will be prominent in Wokingham and there will be decorated post boxes, which have been very popular in recent years. They also want to crochet hundreds of purple poppies and use them to cover saddles and bridles to decorate the beautiful Horse Sculptures at Arborfield.
Wokingham Cricket Club approached Wokingham Lions for an award. They have over 200 members, boys and men, but this year they are running an initiative to get girls involved. Girls from year 4 upwards from the local area will be approached via their schools and there will be a social media marketing campaign too. Taster sessions are being offered and the aim is to have a wonderful group of cricket girls going forward. Their Golden Award is helping fund a part time coach for the season, to work alongside volunteers and parents at the girls’ structured training sessions, encouraging them to enjoy cricket and continue playing in the future.
Building for the Future is a charity supporting disabled children and young people. They have a centre in Wokingham, from which they run numerous services for the children and their families. They also run services for young disabled adults, offering social opportunities, work-related activities and learning workshops. Their Golden Award will help launch new workshops for these young adults, for which they need to rent space and buy materials and refreshments, as the existing centre is for children and is currently full!
Igniting Writing is based at Wokingham Library on Saturdays is for children aged 11-18. The children can share ideas, develop their writing skills and build friendships with other aspiring young writers in a fun relaxed atmosphere. The £500 will be used to organize regular speakers, which will encourage and aid literacy development and give opportunities to experience writing in different genres.
Hannah Tomsett is a successful para-athlete, who competes in watersking and wakeboarding. In 2023 she won two national titles including wakeboard adaptive trick champion, setting a new British record. Hannah also won a World Silver Medal in Slalom in California, a team Bronze Medal in the World Championships, a Bronze Medal at the British Nationals in slalom and fifth place in a non-disabled slalom competition. In 2024 Hannah aims to enter both National and European Championships as well as improving her slalom skiing, another of her passions. With this in mind, her Golden Award will be used to help fund a new ski seat which will be better fitted to her body and be transferable from her snow ski to her water ski, enabling Hannah to take her skills to the next level in both sports.
Wokingham Pride aims to promote equality, inclusion, reduce stigma and provide social networks and support for LGBTQ+ people and their families in Wokingham Borough. In 2023 they held a small Pride event, but they have bigger plans for 2024 with live bands, performers, stalls and a parade through Wokingham. The local bands are giving their time for free, but their Golden Award will assist with the cost of a sound engineer, materials to make Pride flags and basic first aid kits for their First Aiders to use. Wokingham Pride this year will be held on Saturday 13th July.
Wokingham and District Association for the Elderly (WADE) promotes the welfare of the elderly within Wokingham Borough. They also exist to reduce isolation and loneliness and to provide a safe and supportive environment for their members, via their day-care centre. The Golden Award will allow WADE to fund some good quality art and craft supplies for their staff and trustees to use with members. Items made can then be sold at various fundraising events, raising funds to keep the initiative moving forward. Their first event will be Wokingham May Fayre, which is of course organised by Wokingham Lions Club.
Wokingham Repair Café has recently been set up and runs at All Saints Church on the second Saturday of each month. It is a repair and advice service for hand-portable damaged, broken and torn household and personal items. Delivered by a team of experienced and competent volunteers in a safe café environment, repairs (where possible) and advice are free of charge.
Our grant will buy: A portable Electric Appliance tester and the training for two volunteers in its use, task lighting for volunteer repairers to work safely and protective vinyl for the tables.
Wokingham Lions also donated two refurbished laptops from their ReTec project for use by the Repair Café.
Kaleidoscopic UK is a survivor led charity (by and for) children and adults subjected to domestic abuse. As well as the ongoing information, support and courses they provide, this year they have started their ‘Fun with Mum’ monthly group, where mums and children can enjoy fun, games, activities and crafts as well as a warm meal. They can also meet others in similar situations and gain advice and support. These new sessions are very well attended and so Wokingham Lions Golden Award will go towards the meals, art, craft and activity items for the ‘Fun with Mum’ sessions.
Girlguiding are the UK’s largest youth group dedicated completely to girls, offering fun, friendship, challenge and adventure, inspiring girls to discover their best selves and make a positive difference to their communities. Wokingham currently has 27 units for girls aged 4 to 18, with around 600 members. There are over 70 girls aged 10-14 who would love to become Guides, but sadly, there is no space for them at the moment. Each unit is self-financing and the good news is that they have a volunteer and a venue sorted for a new unit to take some of the girls. The Lions Golden Award will help this new unit to purchase the programme materials, general stationery and other items which are used each week.
Arts4Wokingham are a relatively new charity that aims to make art more accessible and public within Wokingham Borough. They believe that engaging and responding to public arts, has the ability to support mental health and wellbeing. Public art also invites the community to experience its benefits without the intimidation or limited access of formal galleries.
Arts4Wokingham are partnering with another charity called PACT in a series of local artist workshops, to create some community art, which Arts4Wokingham will show at an accessible exhibition during Wokingham Arts Trail in September 2024.
Their Lions Golden Awards will help fund a local artist’s skills to facilitate the workshops, material to create and display the art, support in creating and promoting the free exhibition to local people and the creation of video footage of the workshops to help promote the wellbeing benefits and powers of collaboration that this art form can bring to the Borough.
Me2 Club will use their Golden Award to train new volunteers to accompany and support children with additional needs and disabilities access mainstream leisure activities.
The Link Visiting Scheme wants to make their service more inclusive and will use the Golden Award to translate their literature into other languages such as Urdu, Hindi and Cantonese.