Shaving Beards in Support of Headway

Earlier in the Spring Term, we caught up with Burr Housemaster, Mr Guillaud, to hear about the House's plans to support a local charity, Headway Thames Valley. Today, we learn more about the charity and how Burr House is attempting to raise money for Headway. 

On Wednesday 15 March, Mr Guillaud took two of our Burr pupils to visit Headway Thames Valley, a charity based in Henley-on-Thames that helps people to live life after sustaining a brain injury.  

Year 12 pupil and Charity Co-ordinator for Burr, Sam Frisby, said:  

‘We chose Headway Thames Valley because brain injuries can be devastating and can affect people and their families for the rest of their lives. Huge amounts of people currently do not know that there is help for them. We think it is crucial to help by making support for families both financially viable and visible so that they can receive help with the fantastic work they are doing at Headway Thames Valley.’ 

House Captain of Burr, Ben Brooks, added:  

‘I found my visit to Headway to be really informative, and it was amazing to find out how they work closely with the families to make the transition back to normal life so much easier for the patients and their families.’ 

Headway Thames Valley supports more than 200 families impacted by brain injury every year. There are many possible causes of brain injury, including a fall, a road accident, sports injury, tumour, stroke, cardiac arrest, and more. A brain injury can challenge every aspect of your life – the way you walk, talk, think and feel. 

General Manager at Headway Thames Valley, Mr Jamie Higgins, said: 

‘I am so excited that the students at Shiplake College have chosen to support Headway Thames Valley. As a local, independent charity, our profile isn’t as big as some other charities, and we are often overlooked. I’m grateful that the pupils spent time to understand the great need for services like ours in Berkshire and South Oxfordshire. I also can’t wait for some of the students to spend some voluntary hours supporting our services soon.  

Each year, we need to raise over £200,000 to continue supporting families to deal with new challenges, provide individual rehab programmes, support people to regain lost skills, build confidence and independence, provide practical advice on returning to work and establish routines to help with life after brain injury. Support in the community from places like Shiplake College is vital in helping us achieve our goals.  

On behalf of Headway Thames Valley, I would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Guillaud, Ben and Sam for making this happen.’ 

The Burr House pupils have a number of fundraising ideas and have created a JustGiving page, which contains more details about their first fundraising event – shaving Mr Guillaud’s beard! Thank you in advance for any donations.