Wokingham Borough Connect
 Pop into the volunteer fair today
Are you recently retired or have extra time on your hands? You could volunteer to help your local community.
The Wokingham Volunteer Centre is hosting a recruitment fair today (Wednesday 6 July) from 11am to 12 noon at the Wokingham Charity and Community Hub at Waterford House in Erftstadt Court, Wokingham town centre. There is no need to book an appointment, simply drop in to find out more about our wonderful local charities.
Volunteering can help you gain new skills, meet new people or test the water for a career change, while allowing you to give something back to the local community and help a cause you really believe in.
The local organisations attending the recruitment fair include Cianna’s Smile, Citizen’s Advice Wokingham, CLASP, Cranstoun, Green ‘n’ Tidy Gardening Scheme, Healthwatch Wokingham Borough, Homestart, Link Visiting Scheme, Me2Club and the Wokingham and Earley Transport Scheme.
If you would like to find out more visit the Volunteer Wokingham Borough website, call (0118) 977 0749 or email volunteer@wok-vol.org.uk.
 Celebrate Pride by attending local events
Wokingham Borough residents and the wider community are invited to the Wokingham Pride Picnic in Elms Field, Wokingham, on Saturday (9 July)
Now in its third year, the event is free to attend and starts with photos at Wokingham Town Hall at 11.30am, followed by a family-friendly picnic from 12 noon at Elms Field. Residents are encouraged to bring a picnic rug, food, rainbow flags, their friends and family, plus invite other members of the community along for a fun-filled day.
From 8pm until 10.30pm, The Station Tap will be hosting a vibrant afterparty featuring an evening of drag cabaret by local artist SemiColon and performers Dulce Kraving and Tania LeCoq. The event is free to attend for people aged over 18-years-old. SemiColon will also be running an eco-friendly glitter stall at the Pride Picnic. For more information, visit the Wokingham LGBTQ+ Pride Group on Facebook.
 Repair café in Spencers Wood
Repair cafés are a worldwide movement to encourage repairing broken items instead of throwing them away. It provides a meeting place for people to come together and mend things which can still be used for longer.
At a repair café, free tools and materials are available for people to make their repairs. Volunteers with repair skills in different fields are on hand to help if needed. Many household items can be fixed at a repair café, such as clothes, computers, bicycles, gardening equipment and more.
Joining a nearby repair café helps reduce the amount of raw materials and energy needed to manufacture new products and cut your personal carbon footprint.
A pop-up repair café was recently held at Spencers Wood Village Hall with great success. On the day of the event, a number of items were saved from going to landfill and given a new lease of life. The next pop-up repair café is on Saturday (9 July), 9.30am to 12.30pm at the same venue.
 Waste action day at the Acorn Centre
Interested in finding out more about recycling and how you can reduce your waste? Why not head down to the Acorn Centre in Woosehill, for Waste Action Day on Tuesday 12 July?
The event brings together a range of groups including My Journey, SHARE Wokingham, The Hawthorns School, WATCH (Wokingham Active Travel Community Hub) and more. Acorn's Focused Friends group will also be attending to highlight how the learning disabilities community is joining the waste reduction effort.
You can also meet our new Executive Member for Climate Emergency and Resident Services Cllr Sarah Kerr who is coming along to chat with residents and help launch the Acorn Centre as an "Ali's Recycling" collection point.
And residents making a waste reduction pledge on the day, will be entered into a prize draw to win a £20 voucher for local zero waste store, Maya's Refillables.
The event is being held at the Acorn Centre on Fernlea Drive, Woosehill, RG41 3DR. Visitors are welcome to drop in at any time from 10am to 1pm.
 Stand up against street harassment training
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust is delivering a free one-hour virtual training event – Stand Up Against Street Harassment on Tuesday 12 July at 1pm to 2pm via Zoom.
The aim of the event is to drive awareness of harassment, upskilling and empowering individuals across various settings such as schools, public transport, festivals, public spaces and workspaces to help defuse situations, discourage harassers and support victims.
The event is in response to demand for bystander training from the business world and general public after the tragic case of Sarah Everard. People and organisations want to take steps to address the prevalence of unwanted and aggressive behaviours such as harassment that underlies the broader cycle of violence against women and girls.
To register for the event, visit the Zoom booking link.
 Warm welcome for new arrivals
All residents are invited to join an event to welcome new arrivals to Wokingham Borough.
The event, named “Wokingham Borough Welcomes New Arrivals”, is being run in partnership with our voluntary and community sector partners, and is being held on Saturday 16 July, from 12 noon to 6pm at Elms Field in Wokingham town centre.
It's the borough's chance to welcome new residents , including more than 400 refugees from Ukraine as part of the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme, as well as families from Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Syria and other places who have moved to the area.
There will be range of fun activities for children and families, at this free event.
Those who are attending will be able to get food from stalls which will be available on the day, or bring their own picnics with them to enjoy in the town centre green space.
Various departments of the council, charities and other partners will be running stalls on the day, including some which provide direct support and services to new arrivals and families that are hosting refugees.
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