Steyning club goes 'above and beyond' for Christmas parcels to donate to West Sussex homelessness charity
Hundreds of donations have been gathered to make up Christmas parcels for Turning Tides, the West Sussex homelessness charity.
Members of Steyning club Vintage Years have been collecting items since April and at the monthly meeting on Friday, November 6, a total of 50 shoeboxes were packed up.
Each box was wrapped in Christmas paper, labelled and filled with a mug, toiletries, drink sachets, savoury and sweet tins, a packet of biscuits and sweet treats.
Bev Francis-Hills, operations manager, said members had 'gone above and beyond' with their donations.
She added: “It has been completely different and something where they have all come together to make a difference. We have collected truly a mountain of donations for our boxes. This is something that I feel should be given the credit that it deserves.”
The club has members aged from 60 to 100, who meet at The Steyning Centre on the first Friday of every month for entertainment, refreshments, a raffle and 'a great deal of fun'.
Bev said: “The club has currently a maximum number of members, set at 110 for safety and manageability, and at each club meeting we generally get between 60 and 70 people, sometimes more. It is very well attended.
“Whilst setting up our entertainment programme for this year, we wondered, with such great numbers, if we could give something back and with our thinking caps on, we came up with an event that would benefit the Turning Tides charity at Christmas.
“Since April, we have been collecting different items from toiletries to chocolates to make up shoeboxes, which will be donated to Turning Tides for those less fortunate at Christmas.”
The club donates and decorates the Christmas tree for The Steyning Centre each year, and the wrapped boxes will be placed around the tree to be presented to the Worthing-based charity at the December meeting.