FOWOCA

Friends of West Oxfordshire Citizens Advice

Friends of WOCA (FoWOCA) was established as a stand-alone charity to provide much needed financial support to Citizens Advice West Oxfordshire. They fundraise for Citizens Advice West Oxfordshire so our charity can purchase IT equipment, office furniture and costs of updating technology.

Donate to FOCA West Oxford

‘The Friends’ fulfil their aim through an exciting fundraising programme of social and sponsored events that are open to the public as well as to people already involved in Citizens Advice. They are also building links with local businesses and with community leaders to engage them with the cause.

Previous activities have included:

an amazing summer garden party, courtesy of our Patron Sir John Allison and his wife
pub quizzes, treasure hunts and golf days
a silent auction as part of Oxfordshire Arts Week
and a pop-up shop in the centre of Witney.

Three ways to help our Friends:

Join the Friends of WOCA (FoWOCA)as a volunteer to help arrange a variety of fundraising events. All ideas are welcome! Please contact our acting Chair Tessa Farley on farley.tessa@googlemail.com.
Donate towards the charity
Attend the varied events. More events coming soon.

2024 Events

Car Treasure Hunt on Sunday 6th October at 10am

Join in a competitive drive around Cotswold villages searching for clues and learning more about treasures in our local villages. End up in a local hostelry with an option beforehand to book a Sunday lunch. £20 a car to take part. Lunch not included!

Witney Blanket Hall Historical Evening raised £470

Richard Martin hosted another entertaining evening for us. It was a beautiful with drinks and canapes in the delightful riverside garden of the Blanket Hall, followed by an amusing and informative talk by Richard, based on his extensive repertoire of local historical knowledge and anecdotes. Tickets £10 each.

Spring Quiz at Burwell Hall raises £450

This fun quiz comprised of 8 rounds with a Ploughman’s supper provided as well. The Quiz evening was an enjoyable evening with 46 participants who worked well together in their table teams. The varied rounds covering a wide range of subjects, had an underlying plants/growing things theme. It was a very close finish with the winning team – by one mark only!

February Bridge event raises £550

With the help of Val Mountford (a keen Bridge player) another Bridge Drive was organised on Sunday 4th February at Burwell Hall Witney. A big thank you to all who organised and contributed to the event. A wonderful £550 profit will be added to our funds!

2023 Events

Pop-up clothes shop & cafe on Saturday April 29th raised £810

The Friends are organised a café and a ‘Pop up Shop’ with ladies clothes, shoes, bags and jewellery at the Methodist Church Witney. They were so grateful for the help from many staff and volunteers- including CEO and Office manager! The local charity shops also grateful for the contributions after the event – win win all round!

Our aims were to:

give pre-loved clothes and accessories a new home and a new lease of life
everyone involved to have a fun day
and over and above everything else to raise funds to enable us to support the work of Citizens Advice West Oxfordshire.

Witney Blanket Hall evening of tales on 2 March raised £750

The Friends organised a social and entertaining event at the Witney Blanket Hall. ‘This will be a romp through the last 300 years since the Witney Blanket Hall was built in 1721. Mr Richard Martin will entertain us with tales of the Hall set against the history of the times.’

Charity Bridge Drive – Chicago on Sunday 22 January raised £450

2020 Events

Pop up Clothes Shop and Café on Saturday 28 March 2020 at The Methodist Church in Witney

You may remember that we ran our first ever Pop-Up Clothes shop in March 2019 – at The Methodist Church, Witney? Well we enjoyed the experience so much that we have decided to run another one this March at the same venue.