Air Ambulance Promises Auction Raised £3,000

Hurst residents joined people from all over Berkshire to support the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust at the Auction of Goods and Promises at the Village Hall in October. A total of £3,159 was raised at the Auction, which was organised by Reading Road Runners

Kevin Burree from Orchard Nursery is the charity organiser for the group. He would like to thank everyone from Hurst and the surrounding area, including local businesses, who contributed goods and promises, and all the people who worked hard behind the scenes to make the evening a great success.

The auction included: £340 for a week’s self-catering holiday at a gite in the Dordogne, £125 for a flight in a two-seater plane from White Waltham airfield, and £80 for golf lessons at Sonning Golf Club with the PGA Professional.

A load of manure went for £70 - which goes to prove the old adage that "where there's muck there's brass!"

Thanks to overwhelming local support, just over £1,000 was raised at the recent Ladies Indulgence Evening for St Nicholas Pre-school Playgroup, reports Louise Kendall.

More than 20 local craftspeople, small businesses and therapists were offering their goods or services. All of them also generously donated gifts and vouchers as raffle prizes.

At 7.30pm the first of 120 guests were working their way round stalls in the Village Hall, which was by then humming with activity. There were greetings cards, flower arrangements, clothes, flowering plants, candles, jewellery, cosmetics, chocolates, body treatments and other luxuries.

The bar was open and people enjoyed the opportunity to shop and chat in a relaxed atmosphere. By the end of the evening the feeling was that this had been a very successful event for everyone.

The Playgroup Committee would like to thank everyone who supported the evening by running a stall, buying a ticket and bringing a friend, or by staying to pack up at the end of the evening.