Mayor's Announcements
Including a presentation from Power of Parenting.
Minutes:
Presentation from Power of Parenting
The Mayor welcomed Paul Adams, Founder and Trustee of Power of Parenting, who had been invited to the meeting to talk to the Members present about the charity.
Mr Adams advised the meeting of his own personal fostering journey and explained that he was passionate that ‘Life as it should be’ for looked after children (LAC) should be improved.
He explained the charity’s objectives were:
· to provide financial and moral support for LAC to fulfil their academic/sporting achievements in the form of a bursary
· to raise the profile of all foster carers especially in Bracknell Forest in relation to the invaluable work they do with young people
· help recruit more foster carers
He described the successful fundraising in the charity’s first two years which had achieved £20k to date and had enabled the first £12,000 bursary to be available.
His long-term objective for the charity was to own a building in Bracknell called the “POP” building which would be a place of safety, where looked after children would be always be welcome, with an area of accommodation and learning and development, run and maintained by the charity.
In response to Members’ queries, Mr Adams made the following points:
· The charity had no overheads as Mr Adams was able to cover the costs through his work as a safeguarding consultant.
· He reported that his plan to recruit more foster carers was focused on using his network of retired police officers who he believed had the skills of public protection and understanding of behavioural science.
· He was working with Red Snapper Plc to market the opportunities of fostering to their database of police officers.
· He hoped that he could develop the model of Power of Parenting at a local level and that the model could be repeated elsewhere in the country.
The Mayor thanked Mr Adams for attending the meeting.
Mayoral Charity Collection days
The Mayor thanked everyone who had supported the two collection days and announced that over £2,000 had been raised for her charity, the Firefighter’s Charity.
Naming Waste Truck Raffle
The Mayor reported that due to her illness she had needed to delay the official naming ceremony for the two trucks until 14 February.
Thanks to Past Mayors
The Mayor thanked the Immediate Past Mayor and Past Mayors who had attended events to represent the Council in December on her and the Deputy Mayor’s behalf while she was unwell.
Team working on recycling
CouncillorMrs Hayes MBE, Executive Member for the Environment shared with the meeting an image of a large amount of glass which had been left around recycling bins obstructing access. Working with partners Councillor Ms Merry had helped remove 40 trolleys worth of glass and was thanked for her efforts with a gift by Councillor Mrs Hayes MBE.
The Mayor in turn gave Councillor Mrs Hayes MBE a gift in recognition of her support in organising the naming of the waste truck raffle. Councillor Mrs Hayes MBE replied that she thoroughly ... view the full minutes text for item 38