Surviving Christmas: Bringing Christmas cheer to Hastings and Rother's most vulnerable

Held for the second year at His Place in Robertson Street, the charity provided food, entertainment, medical advice and companionship to over 300 people during the two days. Along with this, they also packed and distributed 979 hampers between December 14 and 19 to families and individuals nominated by support organisations, carers, and other local agencies.

Sue Peck, chair of Surviving Christmas, said: Surviving Christmas, in the first instance, was just about hampers when it started, and we would send out about 30. We sent out 979 this year and bags for the homeless. We used Battle Abbey School (for the hamper project). They really hosted us so well and didn't charge us that much, which is one of the most important things."

Regarding the two-day Christmas project, she admitted there is always some pre-event anxiety.

"I'm always anxious about whether we have enough food. Have we got enough chairs? Have we got enough volunteers? And then it comes together every year, and it's amazing. It's made amazing by the volunteers. But we start our fundraising work very early in the year, because we are totally self-funded. This year, people have been so generous, more so with cash than with food donations, although we do like both, but the food donations have gone down. Our hampers last year cost us £37 each; this year, they were £50.45 for the same ingredients."

Because staging the event costs £70,000, she said it is vital to maintain a financial safety net for the following year.

"With the cost of living crisis, everybody knows from their own pockets how much extra everything costs. Who knows what the year's going to bring and whether this cost of living crisis is going to get worse, which I think it will. People may not be as generous next year, and we can't rely on that. I always like to keep £70,000 in the bank. At the moment, we're on track to do that."

She added: "Thank you to our volunteers, we couldn't do it without them, and they give up their Christmas. That's why we make it like a family Christmas here, with fun, music, and laughter. Thank you to everybody who contributed. Whether it's time, transport, donations of money or food. Thank you from all of us, because we couldn't do it without you."