“Stand Up People of Wisbech and be proud! You collected, delivered, donated and rallied an abundance of fantastic food and clothing in aid of our Christmas Day Soup Kitchen.”

In fact the response was a heart warming eye opener in these days of austerity and common problems affecting us all.

People do care about those less fortunate, yet it is difficult to thank all those involved personally by name as many were simply giving with no expectation other than doing a good deed. However, there are some known to us and here are a few we would like to mention.

First the owner of Bygones’ Cafe in Little Church Street Wisbech who cannot be commended enough for all his selfless help in providing the premises, use of all etc and giving not only his time but supplying several things we badly needed at the time. A real trouper!

Another Andy, Andy Lyons of CE Trading gave such a lot to the cause in all directions plus the lovely gift of chocolates to share afterwards. Tony and Janet Manning quick to supply fresh fruit and tea and Franks’ the butchers who arrived on the day bearing scrumptious pork pies and lots of hot sausage rolls he had baked that morning.

Then our thanks to C Brewens for the kind donation, Morrisons who supplied 100 fresh rolls & mince pies along with disposable plates/dishes etc, Asda, again giving us thermal cups, Sandra Stevenson, manageress of the Salvation Army shop who kindly collected and passed on to us and the lady who worked so hard sending her hubby along with the delicious baked potatoes stuffed with cheese and ham. Thank you all so much.

Of course it goes without saying that special thanks go to all those who came along to help, Lesley, James, Sarah, Mark Sarah & Rhiannon Overall, Shaun Peacock, Chris & Oxana Wright and our rather nice Mayor Michael Hill who was a pleasure to have on board.

All in all it was jolly hard work. Yet we had a lovely time in lovely company managing to help the a few that came along. Those that didn’t for whatever reason missed out on super food and friendly faces.

We made up hampers afterwards which were sent to refuges across the county and into Norfolk too. Another with some nice treats was sent as a small gesture of thought to the family of Seth Dixon the young boy who died just before Christmas after an accident that occurred earlier in the month.

Any surplus clothing will now go to others working with the homeless and charity collection. The unopened food is boxed and set to go to a local food bank so that all will be given to those who need help most.

Like we said in the beginning, well done Wisbech. And you all made a difference clearly for one man, a local known as Bob, who commented it was his best Christmas! Job done.

(The above article was written by Becky Peacock Organiser and Salvation Army employee on behalf of all the family Tydd St Giles)