Deadline today for Over 80s Parcel Fund
Those wanting to receive the Newbury Weekly News' charity Christmas parcel must get in touch today (Monday)
TODAY (Monday) is the final day for adding your name to the Newbury Weekly News parcel list, in order to receive a free Christmas parcel if you are over 80 and living in Newbury, Thatcham or Hungerford.
When Frank Stillman, chief reporter and later editor of the Newbury Weekly News, set up the Tatler's Two Ts Fund in 1897, to provide some festive cheer for those less fortunate, he could never have imagined that more than 100 years on the renamed Over 80s Parcel Fund would be a major part of the community's annual fundraising.
His idea came about in 1897 when he set up an appeal to provide gifts for the less fortunate – tobacco for the men and tea for the women.
The response was overwhelming and the residents of the local “House on the Hill” (the workhouse) were able to enjoy a particularly strong cup of tea that year.
Today, fortunately we no longer have the “House on the Hill” in Newbury and the contents of the food parcel has definitely changed over the years.
This year there will be more goodies than usual being delivered to over 2,200 elderly residents thanks to additional sponsorship from Greenham Trust and we are currently in the process of ordering the contents from supporters Tesco.
The deadline for adding a name to our parcel list, so if you still need to add a name of person aged 80 or over living in Newbury, Hungerford or Thatcham to our list, or to remove the name of someone who no longer requires a parcel, please either ring Jo Fulker on (01635) 886651, or email jo.fulker@newburynews.co.uk before the elves, who this year are Newbury 3rd Cubs, and Vodafone members of staff, start packing the parcels and it's too late.
Money is still rolling into Parcel Towers and this week we would like to give our special thanks to English Provender Company Ltd, Colefax Charitable Trust, Soroptomist International of Newbury, Thatcham Town Council, Hungerford Town Council and for all the many more anonymous donations.
* On Wednesday, November 23, the Primary School Quiz evening takes place, where Junior Schools compete with each other to win the David Stephenson Trophy.
This year it is being held at Chieveley Primary School who were last year's champions and Mrs Stephenson has very kindly agreed to come along and present the Trophy.
If your school would like to take part please email jo.fulker@newburynews.co.uk for details.
If you would like to meet the mayor of Newbury then put December 3 in your diary and join him for a coffee and piece of cake, or later anytime after 11.45am for a bowl of tasty homemade soup at a bargain price of £1.50.
All the money will be going towards buying more food parcels for the Newbury Weekly News Over 80s Parcel Fund.
