Annual Christmas Day dinner at Thrum Hall Methodist Church is a Christmas cracker

The annual Christmas Day dinner at Thrum Hall Methodist Church in Shawclough saw 400 meals cooked for people.

Scores of volunteers helped distribute food to people who wouldn’t otherwise see or talk to anyone that day, with 24 people attending the party in person.

Attendees were treated to a three-course meal and a bag of goodies before being driven home, whilst an additional 360 meals were delivered as far afield as Middleton and Uppermill.

In a real community effort, much of the meal was donated: the main turkey dinner was bought from Bridge Street Butcher’s in Heywood by Jonathan Lumb, director at Jonathan James Lettings & Property Management Limited, before being cooked by Lord’s Catering in Whitworth. Lord’s also carved the turkey and provided the gravy, whilst vegetables came from Ralph Livesey’s Limited, paid for by Kevin Ramsden, Ian Davies and Derek Whitehead.

 

 

 

The Oxford and ‘Team McNeeney’ created 400 portions of trifle; Suburb in Bamford and Market Street Kitchen in Whitworth each created 150 portions for starters; and the Lancashire Hospital Co-operation in Rochdale made soup for 100 people.

The annual effort is led by Marilyn Jones, who is co-founder of the Rochdale Soup Kitchen and Whitworth Lighthouse Community Foodshare.

The Christmas Day dinner and party has been an annual event for over 40 years, having been started by Diane Chadwick. In the early days, a cold meal was served alongside entertainment from the youth club. Marilyn became involved around 20 years ago, being joined by Leanne Grindrod, who manages transportation, some five years ago.

 

 

Marilyn said: “Every year it gets better and better. Lord’s lent us their hotplates, meaning we can box everything up for delivery four times quicker than we were doing a few years ago.

“The meals were out by 12-noon, giving us half an hour before the party. It was a relaxed atmosphere and lots of volunteers sat and chatted to our guests.

“Usually, I ring around the care agencies in November to see if there is anyone who would be alone that day but this year, they’d all rang me by late October or early November.”

Marilyn added: “The community is fantastic. We have volunteers like Lesley Huggins who raised money for 400 boxes of chocolates. Some of our other volunteers wrapped them and our ‘little elves’ filled 400 plastic bags with the gifts, plus a mince pie, tangerine, After Eight and a Christmas cracker so everyone had a three-course meal and a bag of goodies.

“I think we were inundated with volunteers because it feels good to help someone else before going home and having your Christmas meal; I’m really grateful for those people who came forward and spent their time volunteering.”

Extra donations made on the day were given out to people as an additional meal, or went towards the Rochdale Soup Kitchen and Whitworth Lighthouse Community Foodshare so that nothing went to waste.