Charities announced for Wokingham’s Living Advent Calendar 2017

THE CHARITIES that will be supported by this year’s Living Advent Calendar were uneviled at a fun ceremony held at Wokingham Town Hall on Tuesday.

There are 13 different local groups nominated, with each having separate fundraising days during the 24-day festive event.

Every night, at 6.15pm on weekdays and 4pm at weekends, from December 1 to Christmas Eve, there will be a different artistic performance happening at a range of venues across Wokingham town centre.

There will be a mixture of acts, including carol singing, dancing and, well, some surprises.

There will also be the traditional decorating of the town’s Christmas tree in Market Place on Monday, December 4.

The event is a collaboration between Wokingham Town Council and morearts.

The charities nominated this year are: Arc, Building For The Future, Camp Mohawk, Cruse Bereavement, Dingleys Promise, EBOS, JAC, Keep Mobile, MS Therapy Centre, Ollie Young Foundation, Soulscape, WADE and Wokingham In Need.

Cllr Gwynneth Hewetson introduced the event and said:

“The idea [of the Living Advent Calendar] is that it’s a charitable event.

“It started in 2011 and we all enjoyed it so much we thought we should do it again.”

The evening was a chance for the charities to take part in a lucky dip to find out which nights they would be able to raise funds on.

Wokingham Town Mayor,

Cllr Peter Lucey, drew the first charities and dates from the hat.

He said he was looking forward to the festive event.

He added: “It’s great, hopefully people will come along with their friends.”

www.wokingham-tc.gov.uk/ advent