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 enjoyed working on her portfolio especially working with the Council’s officers and its waste partners.
Mayor’s Business Forum
The Mayor advised the meeting that the invitation would be sent out imminently for the Mayor's Business Forum which was being held on 23 February 2018 with a focus on Apprenticeships and that there would be no cost to attend.
End of Year Celebration
The Mayor announced that she would be holding an end of year celebration event on 11 May 2018 at the Coppid Beech Hotel and asked Members to note the date, however a Save The Date would be sent out within the next two weeks.
Bracknell Town Mayor’s Valentine’s Ball
The Mayor invited the Bracknell Town Council’s Mayor, Councillor Harrison, to promote his Valentine’s Ball event which was taking place on 16 February 2018 in aid of Ascot Area Alzheimer’s and Keep Mobile.
Cancelation of event
Unfortunately due to her illness the Mayor was sad to announce that she had cancelled her next scheduled charity event, a Nepalese Curry Night, which was due to be held at Bracknell Fire Station on 27 January 2018.
Executive Member for Adult Services, Health and Housing
Councillor D Birch reported that the Public Health team had successfully promoted Self Care Week between 13 – 23 November 2017. There had been 42 events across the borough with 17 student volunteers. 95,000 people had taken part including social media interactions with 16,000 views of the videos produced. Events included a 42 people strong walking group and park runs.
Councillor D Birch added that a hugely successful Junior Park Run had been held on 14 January 2018 with young people taking part in a 2K run in Great Hollands Recreation Ground. He thanked Bracknell Town Council’s Mayor who had opined the event.
The Public Health team had been nominated for the Young People’s Mental Health Awards. The team had reached the final three for their work on mental health awareness lessons in schools including a session at Reading Football Club attended by 400 people. He asked the Director to pass on the Council’s congratulations to Lisa McNally and her team.
Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning
CouncillorDr Barnard thanked everyone involved in the annual School’s Carol Concert event especially James Baker from Berkshire Maestros who had organized the event and the Corelli Orchestra. He reported that Students from 20 primary schools had attended the event.
He also reported that Ofsted had judged the Community Learning Service as ‘Good’ across all services. He was pleased that a service which reached out to the whole community was being recognised. He asked the director to pass on the Council’s thanks to Jeremy Saunders, Head Of Service, Information & Knowledge Management and Georgina Hayward, Community Learning Manager.