Pat is 85 and lives alone in Bristol. She was a nurse for 35 years and used to help out a lot in the community. This will be her second year as a guest at our Christmas Day lunch.
“My husband died seventeen years ago. We were married for over fifty years. Roy used to love Christmas. When he was alive the house was filled with decorations at Christmas time. After Roy passed, Christmas wasn’t the same. It’s horrible to wake up on Christmas Day alone and spend the whole day by yourself. You think, ‘Oh I’ll go and have a little drink’ but then there’s no one there to make a toast with. You might as well go to bed. There’s no one to share happy moments with. And me being a proper chatterbox, I missed everything.
This all changed last year when I was contacted by Marmalade Trust who invited to join them for lunch on Christmas Day. I went to a nice restaurant not far from me and I got picked up by a volunteer and driven there. It was lovely to see all the other older ladies there. I didn’t know any of them beforehand but when we started talking we all got on. It felt wonderful to sit around a table again with other people for Christmas dinner.
This year Marmalade Trust has also supported me to join a weekly social club where I enjoy lunch with others of a similar age and an afternoon of entertainment. It’s given me something to look forward to and I’ve been reacquainted with people I haven’t seen in years who I now have a good gossip with! It’s given me a real lift.
I’m delighted that Marmalade Trust has invited me to join them again this Christmas and I’m really looking forward to it. It will be so nice to catch up with the people I met last year and meet some new people as well. It’s just lovely to see a different face on Christmas Day and make some nice new memories. I still feel full of life and I don’t want to be sitting at home alone, doing nothing. Marmalade has made me feel like I’m part of something again.”
We don’t want anyone to spend Christmas Day alone if they don’t want to – donate now to help us help more people like Pat and make sure someone is #NotAlone this year.
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