Kingston’s 185th Mayor hands over nearly £20,000 to local charities
Councillor Margaret Thompson, who served as Kingston’s Mayor from May 2019 until April 2021, has handed over the £19,853 raised during her tenure for the Mayor’s Charitable Trust.
The money will be split equally between her two chosen charities: Kingston Centre for Independent Living and Oxygen.
Cllr Thompson, former Mayor of Kingston, said:
Kingston Council for Independent Living (KCIL) and Oxygen are two local charities that make a huge difference to the lives of local people.
KCIL supports people living with disability and Oxygen works with young people. It has been a privilege to support them both through the Mayor's Charitable Trust during my two years as Mayor. Around £20,000 was raised in total, divided between these two excellent charities.
The COVID-19 pandemic made fundraising particularly challenging, and I would like to thank all those who supported the charities in any way.
Jason Lamont, Chief Executive at KCIL said:
It was an honour for Kingston Centre for Independent Living to be chosen as the Mayor's charity of the year for 2019-2020, alongside Oxygen, and all of us at KCIL extend our utmost appreciation and thanks for the amount raised.
Thanks to the pandemic cancelling almost all of the planned events we were extended as the Mayor's chosen charity for a further year, and we were amazed at the inventiveness and tenacity shown by the Mayor and her team in raising funds for the two charities.
These funds will go some way towards our 2022 programme of community activities and events, providing support and wellbeing to isolated and disabled members of our community.
John Trend, Chief Executive at Oxygen, said:
We are hugely thankful for the money we have received through being Mayor's Charity which will enable us to continue supporting vulnerable young people in Kingston through our youth work projects.
It has been a pleasure working with Cllr Margaret Thompson and the RBK Mayor's Office for the past two mayoral years and we are grateful for the publicity we have gained from this alongside the fundraising. It was brilliant to have the mayor at events getting involved with activities and even playing football with our young people at Kingsnympton Youth Centre
Cllr Thompson was succeeded by Councillor Sushila Abraham, who became the 186th Mayor of Kingston in May of this year.
Her two chosen charities are Anstee Bridge and Milaap. Visit the Mayor’s social media channels (@RBKMayor) and www.kingston.gov.uk/events to stay up to date with the latest fundraising activities.