Charity Celebrates New Home in Bagshot

A joint charity event was held in the shared offices of Christopher’s Smile and The Lisa May Foundation who have recently acquired premises in Tanners Yard on London Road.

The Lisa May Foundation was set up in 2004 when it was set up a cruel twist of fate struck the lives of local Cllr John May, the immediate past Mayor of Surrey Heath and his family.

Cllr May lost his daughter Lisa in The Thailand Tsunami when he was there to see one of his daughters get married Days later his other daughter a bridesmaid at her sisters weeding lost her life as she stayed on island and the rest of the family left to come home. Thanks to a true testament of the faith, compassion and strength of one family, something good came out of something bad. Cllr May set up the foundation in memory of Lisa to raise money for natural disaster relief initially in Thailand and then in other parts of the world too.

During his term in office as Mayor he recognised the need for help on his own doorstep. Struck by the sheer number of unsung heroes running small local charities that simply need a little extra boost to their funds charities can make some pretty big differences. In June LMF was re-launched as an umbrella charity to help boost funds in the local and wider community. The idea is simply to help 4 local charities each year as well as The Lisa May disaster relief fund.

"When we moved in to share the premises in Bagshot with Christopher’s Smile it was time for a welcome make over for the office and while we decorated we decided to pamper our supporters too. A few temporary changes transformed the offices into a Pamper Palace!

Local health and beauty therapists gave their time and services free to allow 100% of the fees charged to be divided between both charities. There were 20 minute taster sessions of all kinds of health and beauty treatments from Indian Head Massage to Reiki Reflexology and Nail Treatments all for just £8 per session. We are all about having fun while fundraising and donating this way was a win for both supporters and charity! No pamper event would be complete without the ability to shop and thanks to Virgin Vie, Benefit Make Up and new business start- up La-Di-Da Cupcakes donated cupcakes to sell. So clients could browse and shop in between their appointments.

The Mayor Cllr Tim Dodds paid us a visit and the Mayoress donated by booking a treatment too. Over £1,200 was raised over 2 evenings and our new offices were christened with a glass or two of wine thanks to Sainsbury’s Watchmoor Park and Waitrose Frimley. Community spirit is alive and well in Bagshot and the surrounding areas of Surrey Heath.

We look forward to meeting more of you around the village or call us and arrange to pop in and see where we are and what we are doing. Perhaps you might like to help us out by volunteering!

Read more about both charities by visiting our websites (www.lisamayfoundation.org www.christoperssmile.org.uk) for progress and forthcoming events or you can also find us and "like" us both on Facebook."