Looking out for the community at Christmas

Monday 24 December 2018

Festive lunches have been organised as different groups within Guernsey's community look out for those less fortunate this festive season.

Both the Guernsey Salvation Army and the Plough Inn are putting on Christmas Lunches for people who find themselves alone on December 25, to help them feel part of the community.

Both organisations had large numbers of people booking their places at these lunches, which aim to let them enjoy December 25 with friends around them.

The Guernsey branch of the Salvation Army have hosted Christmas lunches for around 30 years, and once again nearly every seat available was pre booked.

Church Minister, Major James Hill said: "We start on Christmas morning with a service at 10:30 that anyone is welcome to come along to, and then we have a lunch for people who find themselves on their own - they have to have booked in - but we have the lunch and then we have some entertainment.

"We watch the Queen's speech, and everyone gets given a present to open. We have had a lot of support from the community this year which I am very grateful for. We are a Christian Church, and Jesus came into the world to give his life to all people, so we try to help people on Christmas as much as we can, so they can feel part of a community." 

In a similar fashion, but with its own twist, the owners of the Plough Inn are also hosting a lunch that people have booked in for. The Inn has its own charity, Plough Inn, Plough Out, and this year is the first event of its kind.

Richard Skipper from the Inn said: "This is our first community Christmas lunch. We started our own charity to support the community with all sorts of events, and this is our big festive one. Most recently we also hosting a Santa's Grotto, so we have been doing a number of things, but this is really for people that haven't got a family to spend Christmas with.

"At the core of it, we want people to 'plough money in' so we can give it back out." 

People need to have booked to attend the lunches, but the Salvation Army's service on Christmas Morning is open to all. They also host the lunch year on year, and you would be able to book for next year when that time comes. 

Pictured top: The Salvation Army and The Plough Inn are looking out for the community.