In February 2022, I was delighted to photograph the very generous gift of a school bus by the John Sykes Foundation to a local school, Ridgeway Primary School. The Lord Mayor Rachel Eden was there for the official handover as well as councillor Alice Mpofu-Coles.
Aspire2 is delighted to announce that we have been funded £15,000 by the John Sykes Foundation.
This grant has closed the financial gap in our long held ambition to lease two minibuses which will be used to transport whole classes of children in Whitley over the next five years to extra-curricular activities, trips to the beach, holiday clubs, and more.
Chair of Aspire2 Charlie Clare explained, “Providing transport to a variety of places such as the countryside and the beach as well as sporting and cultural events can be difficult and expensive for schools and families. Having the minibuses will allow schools to provide a wider variety of experiences for children in our area of Reading.
Consequently, this generous donation will help greatly to enable Aspire2 to continue to provide non-statutory enrichment experiences directly and indirectly (working with other organisations), and to have a sustainable future.”
John Sykes, Founder & Chair of Trustees of the John Sykes Foundation, commented ‘We are delighted to have awarded a grant of £15,000 to Aspire2 to help them to lease two minibuses for five years and have a more sustainable future. Aspire2 are a fantastic and much needed Whitley based charity assisting children to access extra-curricular activities and giving them opportunities that the families may not ordinarily be able to access. We very much look forward to seeing the minibuses in and around Reading, with many happy and excited faces’.