Welcome to the first Vodafone West Berkshire Newsletter.  

Vodafone UK Limited

Newbury Race for Life: 

Since 2002, Vodafone has acted as principal local sponsor of the Newbury Race For Life event to aid cancer research. 

In 2003, as part of a series of nationwide Race for Life events, Vodafone employees in West Berkshire, ran five kilometres miles around Newbury Racecourse. Over £6,000 was raised by employees, to which Vodafone, through its employee matched fund raising programme and additional sponsorship, boosted to £14,500.  In July 2005, the event, now held at the Showground will have over 2000 participants with Vodafone employees well represented.

Newbury Comedy Festival: 

Together with a bevvy of Newbury-based partners, Vodafone helped stage the town's first weeklong Comedy Festival in July 2004.  51 events were staged at 16 venues providing a mix of free and paid for entertainment to audiences basking in hot weather which arrived right on cue! The Newbury Comedy Festival 2005 (9-16 July) promises to be even better with top draw acts. In addition, Vodafone is supporting a Live Music Concert programme over the next twelve months as well as the Newbury Spring Festival and Newbury Fringe Festival.   

In all, over £60,000 has been invested by Vodafone in these four local arts events, helping to attract top artistic talent to the area. 

Thames Valley Youth Games: 

Since 2002, a team of over 100 children from West Berkshire, with Vodafone finding the £5000 entry fee, has joined 15 other teams from the Thames Valley region to participate in the Thames Valley Youth Games event.

The Games is one of the largest events in the country, involving 3000 children, aged 8-15 years, from 16 local authorities in the Thames Valley, competing in 11 different sports. Supported by Sports England, the event is the culmination of three months' activity involving sports development officers, coaches and schools and acts as a celebration of the work going on throughout the Thames Valley over the year. This gives children the opportunity to participate in sporting activity that they might otherwise not be able to experience and encourages children to join local sports clubs.      

For the past two years the event, staged at the Eton & Datchet Sports ground, has been followed by a special awards evening in Newbury to celebrate the West Berkshire contingent's achievements.

Goring and Streatley Regatta:

The regatta is one of the best-attended river events in the region with over 3000 people enjoying the attractions in 2004. Vodafone is one of a number of local businesses supporting the event, which draws many day visitors and tourists as well as the local population.

Volunteering at Castle School:

On Friday 8th July, seven members of Vodafone's Technology Business Management Team will be volunteering their time to host a 'Best Buddies' Day at Castle School, Donnington. 

The all-day event will take the form of lots of games with the students with the aim of emphasing the importance of everyone working together as a team.
 
The Vodafone UK Foundation

Community Furniture Project:  Community Furniture Projects provides furniture, household goods, electrical items and toys at low cost to people in need in Newbury and the surrounding towns and village.  The Foundation’s funding of £10,321 has gone towards a Volunteer Skills Pilot Project, a new initiative to provide accredited training for volunteers and contribute to the charity’s self-generated income. 

The Downs School - Compton:  The UK Foundation donated £25,000 in 2002 in support of the school's bid to attain Modern Foreign Language College Status. The Foundation has now pledged £25,000 to equip an Information Communications Technology room with PCs and associated hardware.

BTCV:  BTCV is the UK’s largest practical conservation charity. The UK Foundation has funded £5,500 for production of their CONTACT newsletter. This is a key information tool for the charity and reaches 700+ stakeholders across the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. 

Mobility Trust:  Mobility Trust is a national charity based in Hungerford and provides wheelchairs for those people who cannot procure specialist equipment with statutory funding or who have too complex needs for standard wheelchairs. The Foundation is donating £2500 towards training of the therapists.

For more information on any of these activities, please contact the Vodafone UK PR Team on 07000 500 100 or email: press.office@vodafone.com