Summer 2023
Dear Friend,
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who was able to support our recent Champions for Children matched funding campaign. We were thrilled to raise almost £22,000 which will help fund our frontline work with local families in need. Each year we need about £600,000 to run our services and we rely on your generosity. Thank you for your continued interest and support.
End of term
Our term time programmes in local schools have just finished for the year and we are busy evaluating and planning for the next academic year. We have included an article about Cool Moves in this edition of our newsletter. Cool Moves is our programme that helps children in their final year of primary school to prepare for their transition to secondary school in September. This is an exciting time but often a challenging one - particularly for children who face challenges within their own family. Teachers, children and parents tell us that our workshops help equip children to manage the transition with greater confidence.
Supporting families through the holidays
In the meantime, WLAC's counselling and therapy services will continue to run throughout the summer holidays. Whilst most of us look forward to this time of year with eager anticipation, many of our client families can find the long summer break difficult. It can be stressful to juggle work and childcare and most of our client families struggle to stretch their budgets. Behaviour and family dynamics change without the routine and structure of school. This can present new challenges for parents and carers who often turn to us for support. We are ready to help.
In grateful memory
It is with sadness that I share the news that Susan, Duchess of Richmond and our President of over 20 years, died at the age of 90 on 13th June. Hers was a very varied and courageous life. She took a very active interest in WLAC and always made a huge attempt to join us at events and meetings whenever she could. The most recent of these was when she attended our Centenary celebrations at ‘Playfootball’ in White City. We very much appreciate her involvement with WLAC and we offer our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.
I hope that you have an enjoyable and peaceful summer holiday and I look forward to seeing you at our Autumn events (details here)
With best wishes
Heather Boxer
Chief Executive