Callum Purvis, Treasurer of the Friends of Moorlands PTA approached Alok for assistance in obtaining sponsorship for the painting of the school playground in February. The funding comes following Alok Sharma’s meeting with Victor Zhang, Chief Executive of Huawei Technologies in the UK and Ireland in Parliament in March to discuss the move of Huawei’s UK headquarters to Green Park in Reading.
During the meeting, Victor Zhang outlined Huawei’s plans for investment in Reading, which includes £10 million which has already been spent on the Reading office refurbishment, signing a catering contract worth £1.5 million per year with a local Reading company and managing at least 50 properties in the Reading area.
Huawei and Alok Sharma also agreed to work together on local educational charitable projects as a part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme and Alok subsequently wrote to Victor asking if the company would be willing to provide sponsorship for Moorlands Primary School. Alok Sharma said: “I am delighted that Huawei have provided £3,500 in funding to Moorlands Primary School to pay for the revitalisation of their playground, which I know the children are really excited about.” Alok continued: “I would like to say a big thanks to Huawei for their incredible generosity, which they agreed to before they had even completed their move to Reading.
Huawei have proven that they are not only bringing jobs and valuable investment to Reading, but that they really care about building community spirit and take their corporate social responsibility programme seriously.” Moorlands Primary School Head of School Sian Randall said: “We are absolutely thrilled that the children will now have a bright colourful playground to use during their break and lunchtimes. We cannot thank Huawei enough for their generous donation, the children simply cannot wait for the project to be completed so they can get out there and play!”
Callum Purvis, Treasurer of the Friends of Moorlands PTA said: “I am thrilled and so excited for the children. I would like to thank Alok, the school, FOM PTA, the parents and everyone working behind the scenes who have helped to make this possible. They have been wonderful. To Huawei, I am humbled with your generosity. The children are our future and we will reap the benefits of this in seeing the children’s faces light up for many years to come.”
Victor Zhang, CEO, Huawei Technologies UK said: “Huawei is very pleased to be able to contribute to the repainting of the Moorlands Primary School playground. We already work with a number of organisations in the UK that are focused on young people in education, so we were keen to support this project.”