MAY I pass on my thanks to so many people in the area. Christmas 2010 was the 78th year that the Poole Christmas Parcels Fund has delivered parcels of seasonal groceries to the needy, the lonely and those down on their luck in Poole.
(With the exception of the war years when, because of rationing, coal was delivered.) This year was one of the trickiest yet but thanks to a magnificent combined effort probably one of the most satisfying.
Our collection at Tesco Branksome on December 8 and 9 raised £909 and, at Sainsbury’s Pitwines on the December 15 and 16, we raised a further £732 from the generous public in Poole.
It was really cold weather at both stores but people were kind enough to stop and give us a donation.
Then at the Poole Rotary/HopeFM carol concert at St James’ Church on December 10 our share of the proceeds amounted to £840 with special thanks to generous sponsors and a superb collection on the night.
We then come on to the really difficult bit: the delivery.
Three hundred parcels are packed at the Coop, Ashley Road by the St.Aldhem’s Scouts as their major community project and ready to be delivered on December 18 ,the day of the snow.
We had already received the generous support of Poole Grammar School’s Christmas appeal of groceries, which had been dealt with by Poole Salvation Army’s outreach team.
So all in all we were in a position to bring a bit of seasonal cheer to a good few households in the days before Christmas.
I am pleased to tell you that all our parcels were successfully delivered, though the conditions were very difficult in the hilly parts of Poole.
So a big thank you is due to all our helpers who collected, organised and delivered the goods. Members of Poole Lions, Poole Rotary, Poole Soroptomists and many friends went out of their way to make sure that we completed the job and, because of illness, even our patron the Mayor of Poole, Cllr Chris Bulteel kindly delivered some of the parcels.
That’s what I call the “Big Society”.
JOHN DUCKENFIELD, Poole Rotary, Chairman, Poole Christmas Parcels Fund
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