Visit to Brooklands Motor Museum
Our Walton group members and volunteers enjoyed a fascinating trip to Brookland Motor Museum in Weybridge last month. Thank you to all volunteers, especially Joy, who planned an interesting accessible route round the Grand Prix cars, motorcycles, buses and aircraft. A big hit was sitting in the cockpit of a Harrier Jump Jet. The lego full-size McClaren racing car was amazing, but it wasn't a match for Joy's own yellow classic. We enjoyed a welcome cup of tea and cake in the Sunbeam Cafe half way through our visit. Thank you to all the Brooklands staff and volunteers for making us so welcome.
Creative times at our Walton group
Thank you to Parul Tolentino and her colleagues from Blue House Art Space in Esher for a creative and entertaining session at our Walton group. We explored mark making, printing and collage. We were very pleased with some of our results.
Thank you to Shepperton Studios
A big THANK YOU to Shepperton Studios Community Fund for their generous donation of £2500 to support our work.
Dan Burton and Paula Edwards from @Pinewoodgroup visited our Ashford group to present us with the cheque.
Wellbeing and Aphasia Conference
Carol, Trustee, and Anita, Ashford Group member, had a fantastic time at the Wellbeing andAphasia Conference in Warwick on 14th & 15th April. It was great to see so many people withaphasia from across the country coming together. We were inspired by many of the stories and discussions. We have lots of ideas to share with all TALK members.
27th April 2024
THANK YOU to the Edward Gostling Foundation for their generous donation of £15,000 to support TALK's work.
12th April 2024
Farewell to Jo
We were very sorry to say goodbye to our Fundraising Manager, Jo Matthews, at the end of 2023. Jo had been with TALK for over 9 years and did a fantastic job ensuring our financial stability.
We will miss her enthusiasm and humour. Thank you for everything, Jo, and wishing you well in your new job.
National Lottery success!
We are very pleased to report that our application for Big Lottery, Reaching Communities funding was successful. We have been awarded over £143,000 spread across 5 years. The money will go towards general running costs as well as some exciting new projects. Watch this space!
Welcome to our new Chair, Phil Welland
We are very pleased to welcome Phil Wellard as the new Chair of TALK. He will replace Carol Sacchett who stepped down as Chair in February 2024 after 5 years in the role. Phil will bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the role. You can find out more about Philhere.
A Captain's Day Success
Ashford Manor Golf Club raised over £2000 for TALK on Saturday 22nd July.
Paul Dunne superbly masterminded the day and with the support of the Ashford volunteers, all the pieces fell into place.
Thank you to everyone who made the time to support this event.
25th August 2023
Ashford Manor Golf Club has recently placed a new Golf Captain, Paul Dunne, who has selected TALK to be his chosen charity for the year April 2023 – April 2024.
Not only will this hopefully raise some much needed funds for our small charity, but equally as important help raise awareness about our services, helping TALK reach as many people as possible with Aphasia, who may need communication and social support at one of our groups.
26th April 2023
Spreading the word
Mayford Women's Institute
Thank you to Mayford’s WI, for hosting a talk by Trustees Clive Moon and Gill Simmons about TALK's important work and our support groups. We have since received feedback that the Mayford WI are very keen to help spread the word about our charity and raise awareness. We are also very grateful for their £50.00 donation to TALK.
17th April 2023
Spreading the word
Thank you to Woking Rotary Club for hosting a talk by Clive Moon (Trustee) and Carol Sacchett (Chair) about TALK's work. There was a lot of interest in what we do and inaphasia. We are also grateful for their £50.00 donation to TALK.
We're keen to spread the word to raise awareness of TALK andaphasia. If anyone has ideas of local groups or clubs to approach, please let Jo Matthews know by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
4th April 2023
We are looking for more Trustees
...can you help?
We are seeking new Trustees to help lead our charity and make a real difference to people’s lives. The Board currently consists of seven Trustees and we are looking to recruit up to four more. This is an exciting time to be joining TALK as we develop our services post-Covid to ensure we meet the needs of people withaphasia in our local community. You will be joining a friendly, committed and active Board and training will be provided. Please open the link here to see full details, thank you.
TALK and the Aphasia Alliance
Carol Sacchett, our Chair, recently attended the Aphasia Alliance meeting on Zoom. The Aphasia Alliance is a group of UK organisations that work together to:
- raise awareness of aphasia
- encourage collaboration
- promote good communication
- exchange ideas and resources
We are very pleased that TALK is a member of the Aphasia Alliance. It's so important to keep in touch with other similar organisations and to speak with one voice.
You can find out more about the Aphasia Alliance here
Goodbye to Alison
We also recently said 'Goodbye' to Alison, our Group Coordinator. She has been a fantastic member of the TALK team and all the Groups will really miss her. Here she is with some of her leaving gifts.
Thank you from all of us at TALK.
Thank you for your Donations
TALK is very grateful to have received the following donations:
- September 2021- £500 received in memory of Dorothy Baillee from her sister Chloe Armstrong
- September 2021 - £612 donated by Nick & Nicky Flew from the sales of their 'Lockdown' book
- November 2021 - £2000 donated by the Guildford RVS Onward Stroke Club
- December 2021 - £100 donated from the Thornbury Rotary
- January 2022 - Sadly one of our valued volunteers Steve Hand, passed away in January. He had volunteered at the Walton-on-Thames group for a number of years and will be very dearly missed by volunteers and members alike. His wife Jan and their children very kindly nominated TALK as their chosen in memoriam charity. We are very thankful as this has raised over £2500 for the Walton group.