Christmas 2024
A friendship-filled Christmas season!
Christmas party
This year, The Link Visiting Scheme kicked off the festive season with our Christmas party. An amazing 76 Link Friends came along to get into the Christmas spirit with bucks fizz and a delicious afternoon tea.
With the help of 56 volunteers, we served, laughed, sang and danced along with our Link Friends to live music, provided by ‘Eight to the Fore’, a fabulous ukulele band who have raised many funds for our charity over the years. We finished off with a fantastic raffle and everyone went home with a 2025 Link diary. A massive thank you goes to our wonderful volunteers, without whom this event would not be possible. They assisted with the preparations, hall set-up, cake-making, serving, table clearing, dishwashing, raffle and transport… the list is endless!
One Link Friend told us: “We thoroughly enjoyed the party, thank you all for the fantastic work you do to make everyone happy”, with another expressing: “Thanks to all concerned with organising and helping at the Christmas Party today. Such a generous and enjoyable event, with so many volunteers working hard. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, thank you.”
Christmas with Link to Nature
One of our favourite events came next - making Christmas table decorations. We were joined by 24 Link Friends, who were assisted by seven volunteers and some members of the Wokingham Horticultural Society, who have supported our Link to Nature project since it began.
We welcomed a special guest this year, our local MP, Rt Hon Clive Jones, who joined in with his creative skills to make his own centrepiece. Tea and cake always make the day even more sociable, and everyone had a great time. One Link Friend told us: “My display is in my hallway with pride”, whilst a volunteer told us: “My ladies talked about the event and how much they enjoyed the afternoon all the way home. Definitely the highlight of the year!”.
In addition to making Christmas table decorations, 14 members of our Link to Nature group also enjoyed a fun shopping trip to Henry Street Garden Centre. Our Link Friends had a ball – there was so much to see, lots of shopping to do and of course, tea and cake completed the trip. “Now it feels like Christmas has begun!” said one Link Friend.
Connecting with local schools
St Crispin’s School, Wokingham, extended a kind invitation to some of our Link Friends to attend an afternoon tea organised by their Year 12 students. They made us feel very special with carols, cake, conversation and even a visit from Santa! We were incredibly impressed by their friendliness, enthusiasm and kindness, making this event so special for our Link Friends.
We were delighted that the pupils from Nine Mile Primary School, Wokingham, made our Link Friends the most beautiful Christmas cards. They love to receive the cards from the children, and we are grateful they chose to make them for us.
Christmas at our much-loved groups and activities
Community Kitchen
Community Kitchen embraced a new venue this year for its annual Christmas afternoon tea at the Wade Wokingham Day Centre. We welcomed 32 Link Friends and 21 volunteers as they battled stormy weather to come together to enjoy a delicious afternoon tea, raffle and a fun Christmas quiz. We also celebrated three December birthdays, including a Christmas Day birthday. This event was also supported by Arborfield Co-op, who donated food for our Link Friends to take away; in addition to food goody bags provided by Waitrose, Wokingham.
Pie and Pint
Our Pie and Pint clubs continue to be our most popular groups throughout the year, rotating across 4 pubs in the Borough: The Dog & Duck; Shinfield Arms; Two Poplars and The Wee Waif. Those held over the Christmas period were enjoyed by 57 of our Link Friends. Christmas jumpers were worn, bad cracker jokes were shared and we found a new favourite Pie and Pint beverage - Bailey’s hot chocolate!
Singalong
Singalong group had an amazing 23 Link Friends come along to sing out loud and joyously with our group leader – Soph. We were joined by employees from Kensington Mortgages who chatted and sang along, as well as wrapping and giving out gifts to everyone. “I drove home singing Christmas songs; it was a wonderful afternoon”, shared one attendee.
Craft and Coffee club
Introduced in 2023, Craft and Coffee club is supported by Andrea Jones at Purple Robin. The club allows our Link Friends to express their creative side by making beaded necklaces, painting trinket boxes and lots more. Our Christmas event was enjoyed by 12 Link Friends who made decorations to take home and a messy time was had by all!
Link Thursdays at Space for All
When we launched our Link Thursdays at All Saints Church, Wokingham last September, we created a Space for All’ to be enjoyed by all members of the community.
On 19th December we welcomed another ‘full house’, with over 100 Link Friends and 55 volunteers joining us for a full programme; including making Christingles and writing memorial tags. Christmas singing was led by our Singalong leader, Soph and the wonderful St Sebastians Brass Band. We had poetry readings and took the time to reflect and remember those no longer with us and those far away. With mulled wine and mince pies, everyone came together in warm, friendly company - we think it was ‘bigger and better’ than last year!
Our thanks to The Reverend Hannah Higginson for welcoming us all and to employees from Vodafone for lending a hand. One Link Friend shared: “What a wonderful Link morning yesterday! Thank you and all your many helpers for such an enjoyable service. It really started our Christmas off with a bang and it really was an admirable get-together.”
Christmas Day
What an incredible Christmas Day we had supporting our community. 160 meals were prepared, delivered, served and enjoyed by both Link Friends and volunteers with food generously donated again from our good friends at Wellington College. With expert chefs from Wellington too, 60 older people joined us for a sit-down meal, 50 enjoyed a meal delivered to them at home and we, of course, we fed our wonderful volunteers. On what can be a difficult day for many, we were delighted to spread companionship, happiness and a delicious two course festive meal to so many.
We enjoyed singing led by Soph and Wokingham Town Council Mayor Cllr Rob Comber rolled up his sleeves along with our fabulous team of chefs, army of volunteers and staff members who all gave up their time to make this a huge success. As always, special thanks go to Fiona, our Community Kitchen Manager. Thank you to Debbie and Paul from Neos Networks, who helped wrap all the presents that were given out on Christmas Day. These gifts were various donations, including items on our Amazon wish list.
In addition to all the hard work and dedication from the Link team and our volunteers, all of our Link Friends received a Christmas card, year-end newsletter and 2025 Link diary. “I would like to thank you for sending me the 2025 diary. Last year’s diary has been absolutely brilliant because it is so big and roomy I can write appointments in it with a big, coloured pen and it is such a help. I really appreciate it, thank you”, shared one Link Friend.
Fundraising
Kindness Tree campaign
The third year of our Kindness Tree campaign was a huge success. We were overwhelmed by our existing local business partners and many more new ones who were keen to bring additional joy and cheer to our Link Friends. This year we had a record 19 Kindness Trees inviting the local community to ‘choose a tag’ to donate to the Link, all towards helping us to address loneliness and isolation during the festive season.
Local businesses shared: “We just love being and feeling part of this incredible charity” and: “The job of ‘caring’ is so easy to talk about but hard to do, we’re all guilty sometimes, so to have people like Liz and the wider team is amazing and we intend to continue to support them as much as we can.”
Fundraising appeal
Our Christmas fundraising appeal raised an incredible £24,207. The appeal closes at the end of January 2025 to help with extra support through the winter months.
None of the above would have been possible without your support and donations and our fantastic network of volunteers. Plus all the individual donors to our fundraising appeal and those who donated raffle/auction prizes for our various events.
Our sincere thanks to:
52 Lives
Barkham Ladies Social Club
Bearwood Lakes Golf Club (Ladies Section)
Berkshire Physiotherapy
Brakes
Cala Homes Thames and Legal & General Homes
Co-op stores in Wokingham town centre and Arborfield
David Brownlow Charitable Foundation
David Cliff Estate Agents
Earley Town Council
Easthampstead Rotary Club
Eight to the Fore
Englefield Charitable Trust
Field Seymour Parkes Solicitors (as part of the FSP Foundation)
Fiona Parry Boutique
First Days Charity
Handmade Cake Co.
Intersurgical
KJS Solicitors
Ludgrove School
Maiden Erlegh Rotary Club
Maya's Refillables
Neos Networks
Newbury Building Society
Nine Mile Ride Primary School
Nuffield Health & Wellbeing Gym
Phil's Good Food
Places Leisure
Purple Robin – Andrea Jones
R Young Gallery
Shinfield Studios
Sing for your Self - Soph
St Crispin’s School
Stitchery Do
Tesco Wokingham
The Tamarind Tree
United Airlines
Waitrose stores in Wokingham and Twyford
Wates Family Enterprise Trust
Wellington College
Wokingham Foodbank
Wokingham Lions
Wokingham Town Council
Wokingham United Charities
Woodley Town Council
People told us:
“I’m very proud to be a small part of this amazing charity!” - Link volunteer
“I never truly feel alone when part of The Link and can’t thank you enough for all you do. You have really helped me, and the people of Wokingham would be lost without you.” - Link Friend
“One Link Friend we support has numerous health issues, experiences anxiety and is vulnerable to infection which means she doesn’t really see people or go out. However, she remembered receiving our diary last Christmas and said it gave her such a lift for someone to acknowledge “that I exist”. Another Link Friend said “I think of you every day” as she uses her Link diary – it just goes to show how one small thing can have a huge impact.” - Link Assessor
“Singalong – everyone remembers my name; I feel so welcome. It’s a lovely atmosphere, and we have a laugh together. I’ve made a lot of new friends. Being part of the Link has been amazing; I never knew this kind of thing existed.” - Link Friend
“From the interview to the training, to meeting up with the volunteer manager, I have felt supported all the way”. - Link volunteer
