Housebuilder beyond Kingsbrook development hands over huge £80k donation to Aylesbury charity

The housebuilder beyond the Kingsbrook development has handed over a huge £80,000 donation to an Aylesbury charity.

Housebuilder Barratt David Wilson North Thames is celebrating a year of fundraising success for its charity of the year, CHAT Children’s Respite.

Staff raised a total of £82,057.98 throughout 2022, following a range of fundraising events from a virtual racing night, golf day and a gala dinner, which will be used to provide much needed respite care for families with children with special needs.

The housebuilder kicked off fundraising with a donation of £10,000, with the final funds handed over to CHAT Children’s Respite on 27th February 2023. Located nearby to the housebuilder’s Kingsbrook development in Aylesbury, the charity helps families with children who have special needs, providing grants for those in need of a carer. The charity believes all families should be able to take a break from their caring role, with the comfort of knowing their child is being safely looked after.

Anthea Cass, Charity Fundraiser at CHAT Children’s Respite, comments: “As a small charity, a donation of this scale will go a long way to support families across Buckinghamshire with children who have special needs. This amazing funding will enable CHAT to explore different forms of respite care aside from funding a carer. As a result of the donation, we will now be able to pay for after school one to one activities these children wouldn’t usually have the chance to try, such as drumming lessons, fitness classes and clubs during the school holidays. We are currently working with school nurses and other organisations to see what other respite services we can offer which will benefit both the families and their children, none of which would be possible without Barratt David Wilson Homes support.”

Marc Woolfe, Head of Sales for Barratt David Wilson North Thames, said: “The support CHAT Children’s Respite offers to the families of children who have special needs is second-to-none, and I’m so proud of the amount we’ve been able to raise this year for such a worthy cause. We initially selected CHAT as our charity of the year for 2022, as they were a small, local charity with a fairly low annual income meaning our donation would make a real difference, but I never envisaged then that we would raise anywhere near this amount, so I’m very grateful to everyone who has contributed. I hope we can go on to raise the same amount, if not more, for our 2023 chosen charity.”

Barratt David Wilson North Thames chosen Charity of the Year 2023 is Playskill. Playskill provides vital free therapies to physically disabled children aged 8 months to 5 years through weekly specialist playgroups in Watford and nearby Hemel Hempstead. Barratt David Wilson North Thames contribution will secure funding for the group for the whole year, allowing the charity to continue providing vital free sessions to physically disabled young people. As it has done for CHAT Children’s Respite, the housebuilder will be hosting a selection of fundraising events over the next year to raise money for the charity.