Issue - meetings

Including attendance by:

·         Reverend Jim Barlow, the Mayor’s Chaplain, from Bracknell Team Ministry to introduce himself

·         Mary Durman, Joint Chief Executive Officer Mencap to update members on the work being undertaken by the charity

·         Councillor Love, Chairman of South East Employers to present the Council with an award for retaining Charter Plus standard for member development

Mayoral Update

The Mayor encouraged members to keep up to date with his activities through the Mayoral Facebook and Twitter pages.

Mayor’s Charity 2018-19

Mary Durman and Heather Young, Joint Chief Executive Officers of Wokingham, Bracknell and Districts Mencap attended the meeting to update members on the work being undertaken by the charity.

They explained that the charity supported local people with autism and their families. The charity celebrated their 20^th year in 2017 and had been in Bracknell since 2009. It was explained that though they were affiliated to the Royal Mencap Society they were a different organisation.

The charity provided a range of services including information, carer and family support, activities for children and adults with learning disabilities, siblings' support, activities for adults with autism, activities for carers as well as campaigning on local and national issues. Examples of activities were respite and shopping trips, supporting the transition process with older carers, providing support for younger carers through a youth club at Braybrooke Community Centre as well as social groups for adults.

They explained that they were honoured to have been chosen as the Mayor’s charity and that any funding received would be used to keep their Gateway Award running which promoted fun, self-confidence and independence.

The Mayor thanked them for attending and was looking forward to working with them.