Christmas fun with South London & Surrey
Sunday 14th December saw 41 families, including 74 children, gather at the Ashtead Peace Memorial Hall in Ashtead Surrey, for the South London and Surrey Branch Children’s Christmas Party.
The children were entertained with music, party games and face painting and everybody enjoyed party food. The adults also enjoyed a glass of mulled wine!
Father Christmas made time from his busy schedule, leaving Rudolf in charge of the elves and visited from the North Pole to see all the children. He spent time in his grotto and ensured that every child received a present. It was magical to see their faces, and you could feel the excitement in the air.
An array of raffle prizes were donated and the sale of tickets made £300. Many thanks to everybody for their generosity, it is greatly appreciated.
Families were also able to have a Christmas family portrait, as one of our parents is a professional photographer and was on hand with his camera. Santa hats, reindeer antlers and elves outfits were optional, and donations totaled an impressive £126.
Cheryl Oksuz, CLAPA’s newly appointed South East England Regional Coordinator attended her first South London and Surrey Branch event and chatted with parents and joined in the fun with her son.
In addition to Ann Young, branch committee member, and Nurse Specialist with the South Thames Cleft Service, we were very lucky to be joined by three of Ann’s colleagues; Carole Evans and Helen Brooks (Speech and Language Therapists), and Kate le Marechal (Clinical Psychologist). The branch committee would like to thank them for attending and helping to make teas, coffees, sandwiches and chat with parents and children.
Pete Leslie (CLAPA Trustee) also joined the party with his family, and presented Barry and Tracey Hancock with a certificate for all of their hard work and devotion to CLAPA. Barry and Tracey stepped down as branch chairperson and secretary earlier in the year, after many years of running the South London and Surrey Branch.
A big thank you to branch committee members Tamsin, Andy, Ann, Claire, Claire and Caroline for all their hard work in making it a wonderful party for all the children and their families. In addition, the committee would also like to thank Barry and Tracey for their ongoing support, Jackie for the fantastic face painting, Moritz for the amazing photos and of course a big thank you to Father Christmas.
On behalf of the branch committee, I’d like to wish all our families a Happy New Year, and we look forward to seeing you all in 2015.
Ian Chatt
Branch Chairperson
SAVE THE DATE
Branch AGM – Saturday 18th April 2015
SLASB Children’s Christmas Colouring Competition
There’s still time to enter the South London and Surrey Branch’s children’s Christmas colouring competition and win a Bocketts Farm Park voucher for two (Under 6’s competition) and a Hobbledown family voucher (6 to 12 Year Olds competition).
The competition is open to all family members of the South London and Surrey Branch of CLAPA. It’s entirely up to you what you use, crayons, pencils, pens, you decide!
See pages 19 and 20 of the South London and Surrey Branch Newsletter. The closing date is 16th January 2015, please scan and e-mail your entries to [email protected]
The winners for each category will be announced at the end of January 2015.
