A PUB’S comedy night might have been packed with giggles, but it had a serious purpose: helping young people with disabilities.
The Three Tuns in Henley’s Market Place was able to donate £921 to The Chiltern Centre, the proceeds from its mirthmaking event at the end of the year. The sum was topped up by pub owners Brakspear, from its Giving Back fund.
The pub’s general manager, Michaela Durdisova, said: “We’ve always chosen a local charity to benefit from our comedy nights and several of our regular customers were keen to support The Chiltern Society.
“The Comedy Night was a sold-out event and a lot of fun. Our customers were all very generous, putting money into collection tins and buying raffle tickets on the night, and making online donations afterwards.
“We approached Brakspear with the idea and they were more than happy to support this fantastic cause. They added from the Brakspear’s Giving Back fund to the amount we raised, which meant we could give more than £900 to The Chiltern Centre.”
The Chiltern Dentre is based in Henley and provides support, leisure and overnight short break services to young people with a learning disability.
Its marketing manager, Izzy Ansell, said: “We’re enormously grateful to The Three Tuns and Brakspear’s Giving Back for this very welcome donation.
“As a small charity, we’re reliant on local businesses and residents to keep the doors of The Chiltern Centre open to those who need us.
“Our work really does change the lives of the young people we support, and their families, and every donation we receive helps us to make a difference.”
The Giving Back scheme encourages pubs to raise money for charity, by enabling them to unlock additional money from a £25,000 annual contribution from Brakspear.
Separately, sums from Brakspear’s Giving Back are being put into bee conservation, a cause which Brakspear has supported for some years.
Last year they installed 12 beehives across their pubs, including The Cherry Tree in Stoke Row, Hare & Hounds in Sonning Common and The Chequers at Berrick Salome as well as nine hives at The Lion in Wendlebury near Bicester, part of Brakspear’s Honeycomb Houses managed division.
Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said: “Congratulations to the team at The Three Tuns on raising funds for The Chiltern Centre. We were delighted to boost the money the pub team collected so that they could present a larger cheque to this worthy local charity.”
