Rotary Club of Ascot

PRESS RELEASE – 14^th December 2006

Communications & Press officer Ian Valentine ian@cival.info

Christmas Collection for “Crossroads”

Members of the Rotary Club of Ascot were braving the chilly wind last weekend for their annual charity collection at Waitrose store in Sunningdale. This year the chosen beneficiary charity was the Windsor & Maidenhead branch of CROSSROADS – Caring for Carers, an organisation which promotes, offers, supports and delivers high quality services for carers and people with care needs. The local branch provides over 700 hours of respite care in the Ascot area.

Whilst the Rotarians stood with their collecting boxes in the Waitrose car park, music was provided by Rotarian David Jones and his quartet, who did sterling work playing a range of jazz works to entertain both the collectors and the shoppers. At the end of the two day collection, a net total of £1,620 had been collected from the generous shoppers and passers-by.

Rotarian Alan Penny, Past President of the Rotary Club of Ascot, said “A recent appeal for help from CROSSROADS – Caring for Carers really struck a chord with Ascot Rotarians, who decided that they wanted to make a material difference to the work that this charity could undertake by donating the entire takings from this year’s Christmas collection. Today’s collection brings the total we have given them this year to £2,120”

Thanking the Rotary Club of Ascot for the “magnificent effort last weekend”, Tony Matthews, Vice Chairman of Windsor & Maidenhead Crossroads, said “All of us Crossroads people who came were very impressed with the cheerful way both the collectors and the band braved the cold wind outside.”