A CHARITY which empowers and helps women into work has raised a staggering sum thanks to an annual fundraising event.

Smart Works Reading welcomed around 100 guests to Badgemore Park Golf Club in Henley and achieved and achieved a total of £13,000.

Ambassadors Virginia Chadwyck Healey and Nayna MacIntosh joined special guest Donna Ida for a memorable gathering.

Maggie McMillan, event organiser and Smart Works trustee, said: “This was our fourth similar annual fundraising event, each one slightly different and bigger and better than the last.

"This year we raised £13,000, an amazing total achieved with outstanding support from local businesses and friends.

"This will be invaluable in helping us to grow our outreach programme so more women in and outside Reading and across the Thames Valley can find out about our services and can access them more easily.”

One of seven centres across the UK, the Smart Works Reading team help women across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Launched in 2015, the charity provides disadvantaged women with the tools they need to give them the best chance of pursuing a new career.

Sarah Burns, founder of Smart Works Reading, said: “Anyone’s life could fall apart through the loss of a job or relationship or illness.

"The women assisted are often long-term unemployed and many have mental health issues, various disabilities or socially challenging circumstances."