BSR appoints new chairs of the Trustees and a new treasurer

Just over ten years ago Helen Connor and Ann Linton organised a group of trustees to form Brightwell Supporting Refugees – a charity initially founded to help educate refugee children in Jordan As joint chairs of BSR Helen and Ann have been passionate advocates for the charity and have used their complimentary skills to create this highly successful village organisation. But after ten years they have decided to stand down, along with Anthony Finn, our Treasurer and Sarah Metcalf, one of the original trustees. We are extremely grateful for the love and dedication they have given this cause.

But BSR lives on, and continues to be successful through the commitment of our supporters in the village and surrounding area We are very pleased to announce that Luke Clancy has agreed to become treasurer for the charity; and Alison Leigh and David Dugan will co-chair BSR. We will also continue BSR’s tradition of staging popular events from talks to films to jazz nights and other treats.

River with Robert Seatter

On Friday 22 May 7.30pm :Robert Seatter presented ‘RIVER, from source to sea ‘ - a  collection of poems , music and photographs representing a journey along the Thames. . Robert is working with the Thames Path as writer in residence  marking its 30 year anniversary.

Chernobyl Film Night

After the success of our screening of Mr Nobody Against Putin last year, we decided to have a Chernobyl film night on the 40^th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident.  On 1 May series director, Tom Cook, showed highlights from the National Geographic series, Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown. We also screened the award-winning short film Chernobyl: My Promised Land – a masterpiece of storytelling with an unexpected twist at the end.

The Mountaineers ‘ Mountaineer

In April ,legendary mountaineer, Mick Fowler, gave a talk in  Brightwell looking  back at his extraordinary climbing career. Mick has made many first ascents of unclimbed Himalayan peaks, he is  a cancer survivor and winner of three Piolet d’Or awards . He was voted ‘Mountaineer’s Mountaineer’ by his peers, including Sir Chris Bonnington, in The Observer newspaper.

We have also had two great BSR performance events, very well supported - the Jazz, Soul and Blues Evening in the village hall, organised by George Potter, and the performance of Peter Adamson’s ‘A war in 10 poems’ in St Mary’s Church, Wallingford. Both were memorable evenings. Thank you to George and Peter. Along with several sizable donations, it means that we had enough funds to meet our pledge to give £3000 in December to The Big Give and our commitment to pay teachers’ salaries at the Hope Centre in Amman, Jordan through to July this year.

Big Give 2025

The 2025 Big Give was Windle International’s key fundraising effort. Donations are matched, so from our £3000 given, Windle will have received a massive £6000. This year’s campaign is focused on several refugee education initiatives across East Africa including secondary school bursaries, a school digitisation pilot programme rollout, and professional training for students.

Watch out for posters about what’s coming up or look on our Facebook page or this website bsr@bsr-charity.org. You will also find more information here about donating.