Over 80's Parcel Fund launched
Newburytoday.co.uk seeks your help and generosity in joining our fundraising events for the elderly
CHRISTMAS may seem a long way for many of us but here at the Parcel Towers we are already working on the Newbury Weekly News Over 80's Parcel Fund.
The fund started out in the late 1800's as the ‘Two T's fund', and was set up by Frank Stillman, who was a NWN reporter at the time but went on to become the second editor.
The aim of the Two T's Fund was to give a Christmas gift of tobacco and tea to some of Newbury's oldest residents, many of whom lived in the workhouses in Newbury.
Over a 100 years on, the name has changed and the contents of the parcels have certainly changed, but even today the aim of the fund remains the same – which is to give our oldest citizens a seasonal gift from the community.
It is not means tested in any way and for some of these people the knock on the door and the company for a few minutes is what they look forward to at Christmas more than anything.
The parcels go out to anyone aged over 80 living in Newbury, Thatcham or Hungerford and last year we delivered more than 2,200 parcels.
This year the fundraising has already started and the buying of the food parcels is set to leave the fund with another enormous grocery bill of approximately £16,000.
This is of course where we need your help and the Newbury Weekly News is calling on all West Berkshire's generous individuals, schools, businesses and community groups to join in our fundraising events or to organise their own. If you have any ideas for fundraising please contact Joanne on jo.fulker@newburynews.co.uk or alternatively phone her on (01635) 564526 so we can help to publicise your event.
* Alternatively if you don't have the time to organise an event and you would like to contribute to this worthy cause, please send us a cheque. It needs to be made payable to ‘NWN Over 80s' Christmas Parcel Fund' and sent for the attention of Jo Fulker, Newspaper House, Faraday Road, Newbury Berkshire RG14 2DW.
If you need to add the name of a person over the age of 80 who lives in Newbury Hungerford or Thatcham to our list, or to remove a name of someone who no longer requires a parcel, please also email their details to Joanne on the above email.
To keep abreast of the latest news at Parcel Towers, see the Newbury Weekly News from now on each week until Christmas.
