News
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A few awesome things in 2023 so far:
The Symbolics raised an amazing amount of money for Chorley Help the Homeless with a performance at Brinscall Cricket Club on Friday 5th May. £1000 was raised between ticket sales and raffle. Thank you to The Symbolics for an awesome show, and of course to everyone who bought tickets and came along! Asda Community Champion Lucia and General Store Manager Andy popped in to present us with an Asda Community Thank You Hamper, to thank our staff and volunteers for all the work they do to help the community. But of course we are just as thankful for all the support that the Asda Foundation have given to us since we opened The Gateway. In April, Sambafriq kicked off their gig season with a town centre busk for Chorley Help the Homeless, raising £89. Huge thanks to everyone who came out to watch, dance and groove. Chorley and Leyland Lions Club chose our charity to receive a donation, presented at a special evening in April for all the local charities that Chorley & Leyland Lions have raised money for during the year. We're incredibly grateful to be chosen as one of the supported charities this year! In March we met Ross Griffiths from Kingfisher Couture, a fashion designer from Chorley who donated some wonderful clothing packs. He has an inspiring journey from homeless to award winning fashion designer, and came to visit us with thanks for how Chorley Help the Homeless helped him in crisis 12 years ago. |
Christmas 2022 Digest:
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We had such an incredibly generous amount of support for our food bank in December, and with everyone's amazing donations we were able to provide toys and gifts for 50 families at Christmas, food parcels for those in need, and cold-weather items for the winter weather.
Thank you so much to everyone mentioned below, and to many more who kindly brought donations to us. Donations included: - Toys and gift packs from collections raised at Ecceleston Methodist Church and St Peter's Church in Chorley. - Bobbin Mill - Grill & Pizza at Buckshaw Village delivered lots of handwarmers, toiletries and food. Buckshaw businesses - including Buckshaw Tesco and Dalesman - donated these items to Bobbin Mill's Christmas appeal. - Kerry Woods, Community Champion at Morrisons, helped us to become their charity for the Charity Christmas Tree appeal. - The Talbot in Euxton delivered a huge and generous donation of food from their Food Bank Drop-off point. - The Asda Foundation supported us with a Cost of Living grant -- big thanks to our Chorley Community Champion Lucia. - Jade's Bag charity dropped off some of their winter packs. - Chorley Council Customer Services brought a huge number of selection boxes. - Runshaw College raised a large collection of food and toiletries. - Southlands pupil Ethan was given a support budget and chose to spend it on on packs of thermal items to help people in cold weather. - Cellmark Forensic Services in Buckshaw donated food and chocolate. - Hillside Methodist Church donated selection boxes. - ESG Global, based in Chorley, have supported us several times over the year, and visted us with an awesome food collection raised in December. - GA Pet Food Partners raised a fantastic collection of food and items. - Chorley and Leyland Freemasons chose our charity for an incredible donation of £2400 to support our services, in particular our Market Voucher scheme. This will be a great help for people in the year ahead to get fresh food from Chorley Market stalls, with the added benefit of supporting local stallholders. Again, thank you so much to everyone who raised these donations in December, and to everyone in the community who supported Chorley Help the Homeless in 2022! |
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July and August 2022
Morrisons Fundraiser:
Great big thankyou to Kerry Wood Community Champion at Morrisons and the fantastic customers for their support at our fundraiser in August.Their generosity raised £172 and 11 trays of donated food.
The Gym Group, Leyland:
Thank you so much to manager Jordan and everyone at The Gym Group in Leyland. They raised a collection through August to try and get as many pot noodles and dried or tinned food as possible for our food bank.
Inspire Youth Zone:
Huge thanks to the children and young people at Inspire Youth Zone for their delicious slow cooker meal donations! Each month, Inspire is working with businesses across the UK to discover the nations favorite slow cooker recipes and to spread the word that slow cooking is the most cost effective way of cooking. They have been able to donate some delicious pulled pork for our lunchtime meals!
Morrisons Fundraiser:
Great big thankyou to Kerry Wood Community Champion at Morrisons and the fantastic customers for their support at our fundraiser in August.Their generosity raised £172 and 11 trays of donated food.
The Gym Group, Leyland:
Thank you so much to manager Jordan and everyone at The Gym Group in Leyland. They raised a collection through August to try and get as many pot noodles and dried or tinned food as possible for our food bank.
Inspire Youth Zone:
Huge thanks to the children and young people at Inspire Youth Zone for their delicious slow cooker meal donations! Each month, Inspire is working with businesses across the UK to discover the nations favorite slow cooker recipes and to spread the word that slow cooking is the most cost effective way of cooking. They have been able to donate some delicious pulled pork for our lunchtime meals!
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June 2022
Massive thank you to Marcus Roby at MR Home Improvements. Marcus has done an amazing job tiling our kitchen, donating both his time and materials. |
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News Update - May 2022
We would like to say goodbye to two of our trustees who have been with us for the last few years, Gemma Rowland and our Chair Ken Phillips. They have worked extremely hard for the organisation and will be missed.
Ken stated in his letter to volunteers that:-
We would like to say goodbye to two of our trustees who have been with us for the last few years, Gemma Rowland and our Chair Ken Phillips. They have worked extremely hard for the organisation and will be missed.
Ken stated in his letter to volunteers that:-
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“The volunteers, staff and trustees are a great group of people and I have been so lucky to have worked with you all over the last few years. I am sure though that staff and trustees would agree that the foundations of the Charity are yourselves as volunteers and advisers and the fantastic dedication you give to helping those in need. I would like to give huge thanks and respect to everyone of you and my very best wishes for the future.”
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Also at the end of April, Gill Ferris, our general manager of 18 months left to pursue other commitments. Gill said:-
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“This has not been an easy decision as I can honestly say that working for the charity has been one of the most enjoyable periods of my life, working alongside such a dedicated and amazing team of volunteers, staff and trustees who all care passionately about helping others.”
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Gill receiving a cake made by some of our regular visitors to the Gateway.
Visitors, volunteers, staff and trustees wish all of you the best wishes for your future endeavours.
We would like to welcome two new trustees to our committee, Karen Derbyshire and Peter Walkden - we look forward to working with them. Current trustee Janet Walker has taken over as the chair from Ken. We have had a very busy and interesting few years and are ready to take on the challenges to come.
If you are interested in becoming part of the team at CHTH then please do contact us by calling 01257 220077 or by emailing reception@chth.org.uk
We would like to welcome two new trustees to our committee, Karen Derbyshire and Peter Walkden - we look forward to working with them. Current trustee Janet Walker has taken over as the chair from Ken. We have had a very busy and interesting few years and are ready to take on the challenges to come.
If you are interested in becoming part of the team at CHTH then please do contact us by calling 01257 220077 or by emailing reception@chth.org.uk
New Fitted Kitchen - March 2022
The Gateway now has a full fitted kitchen to help us serve our daily drop-in customers! Until recently we just had a kettle, toaster and not much else. Now, thanks to generous assistance from Howdens Chorley we have a cooker, dishwasher and full facilities - thank you so much! We are also incredibly grateful to Mike Baines joinery and electrician Craig Nolan.
The Gateway now has a full fitted kitchen to help us serve our daily drop-in customers! Until recently we just had a kettle, toaster and not much else. Now, thanks to generous assistance from Howdens Chorley we have a cooker, dishwasher and full facilities - thank you so much! We are also incredibly grateful to Mike Baines joinery and electrician Craig Nolan.
Saturday 27th November 2021:
Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP and the Mayor of Chorley officially open Chorley Help the Homeless charity's new larger premises 'The Gateway'
Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP and the Mayor of Chorley officially open Chorley Help the Homeless charity's new larger premises 'The Gateway'
October 2021
It's Harvest Festival time, and we are very very grateful to the schools and churches in the Chorley Borough who have shared their Harvest Festival celebrations with us this year. It's great to see that churches are able to meet and hold all regular activities again after such a long time of pandemic restrictions, and we are very thankful to all the children at Chorley's primary schools who have brought food donations to school.
This is the main time of year when our Food Bank supplies get replenished, and with twice as many people using our food bank this year, Harvest Festival donations are incredibly important.
We have also recently reached out to schools with our "Bring a Tin to School" campaign and had a great response!
We have lots of 'thank yous' to give, but right now let's say a big Thank you to Euxton Primrose Hill Primary School:
It's Harvest Festival time, and we are very very grateful to the schools and churches in the Chorley Borough who have shared their Harvest Festival celebrations with us this year. It's great to see that churches are able to meet and hold all regular activities again after such a long time of pandemic restrictions, and we are very thankful to all the children at Chorley's primary schools who have brought food donations to school.
This is the main time of year when our Food Bank supplies get replenished, and with twice as many people using our food bank this year, Harvest Festival donations are incredibly important.
We have also recently reached out to schools with our "Bring a Tin to School" campaign and had a great response!
We have lots of 'thank yous' to give, but right now let's say a big Thank you to Euxton Primrose Hill Primary School:
And thank you to St Chad's Catholic Primary School
(Photos used with permission)
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The 1st - 7th June 2021 is Volunteers' Week - a time to recognise and say thank you for the amazing contribution that volunteers make to charities and to communities, and of course in the response to the pandemic.
Chorley Help the Homeless has been running for over 25 years thanks to the essential support of volunteers, and we'd especially like to show appreciation to our wonderful team for all the hard work in the big move to our new location! |
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We have exciting news about our new location at Matrix House, Friday Street, Chorley - opening soon! Please see our current Prospectus with information about our current and future plans, how Chorley Help the Homeless will be developing its activities and services - with your help!
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The Lancashire COVID-19 Community Support Fund helped us to fund our services
between July and October
Please check out our report to see what this funding helped us to achieve
between July and October
Please check out our report to see what this funding helped us to achieve
NEWS UPDATE from our Chairman Ken Phillips
28 August 2020
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NEW MANAGER: Can I extend a warm welcome to Gill Ferris, our newly appointed Manager who will be helping us to continue to improve and grow our much needed services at this challenging time. |
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OUR SERVICES:
At the moment we are open Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri but please check Facebook or our website for regular for updates.
We wanted to give you an update on our current services and a reassurance that we aim to continue to offer food parcels and household items, including local deliveries to households in need across Chorley Borough. Our Benefits Advice and telephone Counselling Services are continuing on an appointment only basis.
Primarily we aim to support single people and families in distress as a result of homelessness, redundancy, illness, debt, family breakdown, leaving care or institutions, delay in benefits, including those whose benefits have been sanctioned.
NEW SERVICES:
We are also offering two new services: a weekly family food scheme which provides larger food parcels for families with children to support; and a Chorley Market fresh food voucher scheme for people to access fresh fruit, vegetables and meats. Both these services can be accessed via self referral on-line, telephone, or collection service. A delivery service is also available.
At the moment we are open Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri but please check Facebook or our website for regular for updates.
We wanted to give you an update on our current services and a reassurance that we aim to continue to offer food parcels and household items, including local deliveries to households in need across Chorley Borough. Our Benefits Advice and telephone Counselling Services are continuing on an appointment only basis.
Primarily we aim to support single people and families in distress as a result of homelessness, redundancy, illness, debt, family breakdown, leaving care or institutions, delay in benefits, including those whose benefits have been sanctioned.
NEW SERVICES:
We are also offering two new services: a weekly family food scheme which provides larger food parcels for families with children to support; and a Chorley Market fresh food voucher scheme for people to access fresh fruit, vegetables and meats. Both these services can be accessed via self referral on-line, telephone, or collection service. A delivery service is also available.
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WHAT WE NEED:
Over the coming weeks and months, we expect the need for our support to increase due to ongoing hardship caused by the pandemic. We continue to need donations of food and household items - in particular small electrical items like kettles, toasters and microwaves. We are also asking if people can continue to make financial donations so we can purchase more fresh food vouchers and household items as and when we need them, as we are aware donating in person may be difficult. |
THANK YOU:
Chorley Help the Homeless extends its thanks to the wide and caring local community as we simply could not continue to deliver such a broad-based and extensive service without the commitment of our fantastic team of volunteers, help and support from Chorley BC, community-based agencies, local Diocese, commercial businesses and not least the generosity of our donors.
Ken Phillips,
Chairman, Chorley Help the Homeless
Chorley Help the Homeless extends its thanks to the wide and caring local community as we simply could not continue to deliver such a broad-based and extensive service without the commitment of our fantastic team of volunteers, help and support from Chorley BC, community-based agencies, local Diocese, commercial businesses and not least the generosity of our donors.
Ken Phillips,
Chairman, Chorley Help the Homeless
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Please click to make a donation to Chorley Help the Homeless through Paypal Giving Fund
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July 2020
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Chorley Help the Homeless, in addition to our regular food parcels are now providing Food Vouchers to use at Chorley Market. The vouchers are for families affected by COVID-19 to purchase fresh fruit, vegetables, bakery products and fresh meat. Register for the vouchers by completing the self referral form on our home page.
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May 2020
A very big Thank You to everyone who has made a donation to us over this very difficult period. Many people have been in touch with us, offering support and we have also been fortunate to receive several donations.
The work of Chorley Help the Homeless was featured recently on Channel 4 news. The programme highlighted how some communities have come together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and featured a number of local groups.
Lancashire COVID-19 Community Support Fund and the National Emergencies Trust awarded a grant of £3,100 to Chorley Help the Homeless. This money was provided to help us adapt our services and purchase fresh fruit and vegetables, especially to support children and families affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A very big Thank You to everyone who has made a donation to us over this very difficult period. Many people have been in touch with us, offering support and we have also been fortunate to receive several donations.
The work of Chorley Help the Homeless was featured recently on Channel 4 news. The programme highlighted how some communities have come together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and featured a number of local groups.
Lancashire COVID-19 Community Support Fund and the National Emergencies Trust awarded a grant of £3,100 to Chorley Help the Homeless. This money was provided to help us adapt our services and purchase fresh fruit and vegetables, especially to support children and families affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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March 2020
New Intercom Fitted A Big thank you to Phil from AW Fire Safety who quickly responded to our urgent need to install a new door intercom system in order to keep our Emergency Food Service operational during the Covid-19 pandemic. Without the prompt service we received from AW Fire Safety e would have had to of closed the centre completely. Now we have a door intercom system, we have a safe system of work in place to protect our volunteers, enabling them to continue responding to the needs of those in need. A W Fire Safety are a local company www.awfiresafety.co.uk |
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Food Donations Received
The Bees Country Kitchen continue to support us during the UK Coronavirus Lockdown - pictured right is the latest collection food. During this unprecedented period our emergency food parcels will undoubtedly be in very high demand at the same time many people that would normally be able to pop into our centre with food or financial donations will not be able to come. |
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February 2020
Chorley Help The Homeless received a community award from Chorley In Bloom on Thursday night. Gemma (one of our Trustees - right) and Gill (our manager - left) are in the photo receiving the certificate. We are proud of being in partnership with Chorley in Bloom. |
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January 2020
Rock FM journalist recently visited Chorley Help The Homeless to learn more about the problem of homelessness in our community. Click here to read their report.
Rock FM journalist recently visited Chorley Help The Homeless to learn more about the problem of homelessness in our community. Click here to read their report.
December 2019
Throughout November & December, Chorley Help The Homeless received many generous donations and offers of support. Here are just some of the ways that the community supported our work:
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THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE who has supported our work with donations over the Christmas season!
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October 2019 - Harvest Festival
Last month was Harvest Festival, when many primary schools and churches give thanks for the food they have, and think of those who are less fortunate, raising donations of food for the community. We are so grateful to all the schools and churches in Chorley who chose to give their Harvest Festival donation to CHTH this year, which will greatly help our Food Bank stocks for the year ahead. |
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6-Month Digest: Some of the news items from Chorley Help the Homeless between April and September 2019
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1st September 2019 - Westmorland School donation
A huge thank you to the pupils, parents and staff at Westmorland School in Chorley for their very generous donation. The pupils chose Chorley Help The Homeless as their charity of the year for 2018/19. In discussions with them during the year they had an amazing understanding and sympathy for the work we are doing. And the school has very kindly donated to us the proceeds of their Open Days in July. Thanks again and the very best of wishes to everyone at the school but especially to the pupils who moved on to their secondary schooling at the start of this year. 1st September 2019 - ASDA cheque At the end of August we received a £500 cheque from the Asda Foundation's Local Impact Grant. Thank you so much to community champion Deborah and the Asda Chorley Superstore! It means so much to us that Asda have been able to support the community in Chorley. This grant is to help us get small electrical items for people starting up in new properties, and also to support the IT needs at our premises. 16th August 2019 - St George's Dental Practice food donation Many thanks to St George's Dental Practice for responding to our appeal for food. They have set up a collection point in their reception and collected all this in just two days!! Magnificent. And they have also helped with a very generous supply of toothpaste. Their collection point will be there until 29th August. 18th July 2019 - Thompsons Packaging paper bags Regarding our recent appeal for carrier bags: Thank you to everyone for your responses and suggestions. You have given us some good solutions that we will look into. We'd like to give a really big thank you to Thompsons Packaging in Chorley who have donated a large amount of paper carrier bags to us -- they'll be very useful, thank you for your generous support! |
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10th July 2019 - Dorothy Griffiths
It is with great sadness that we have to report that Dorothy Griffiths, who founded our Charity over 20 years ago, has died. She was very actively involved in both the running of the Charity and its day-to-day work right up to the beginning of last year by which time she was in her mid 80s. We decided then to call our building Dorothy House as a lasting recognition of her unstinting commitment to helping local people who had either been made homeless or were threatened with homelessness. The various Trustees and Volunteers who worked with her over the years are determined that the Charity will continue with the work she started. |
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9th July 2019 - St Michael's shoebox appeal A great big thank you to the Year 9 Charity Reps at St Michaels School for organising over 34 shoeboxes of food and household items and to everyone in the Year 9 tutor groups for making CHTH their year group's charity. Your support is very highly valued. 17th June 2019 - WatchUsGrow sleepout Many thanks to #watchusgrow, the self-help group based at Matrix House in Chorley. They did a sponsored sleepout over the weekend to highlight issues relating to homelessness. Part of the money raised will be donated to Chorley Help The Homeless. The photos show the group getting ready to leave St Laurence's Church on Friday afternoon and their weekend sleepout base. 11th June 2019 - Chocobella window dressing We were winners of the Window Dressing competition sponsored by Chocobella at the weekend! Thank you so much. 8th June 2019 - Taste of Chorley stall On Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th of June the food and drink showcase 'A Taste of Chorley' comes to the market stalls at Chorley town centre. As well as food and drink, it's also a chance to raise awareness of other activities in Chorley, so you'll find our volunteers at a stall representing Chorley Help the Homeless. |
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31st May 2019 - JADA Embroidery T-shirts
Thank you so much to Adrian at JADA Embroidery & Print on Eaves Lane for making these awesome t-shirts for our volunteers! 16th May 2019 - Duncan Mitchell Chorley 10K An update on some awesome fundraising: Duncan Mitchell ran the Chorley 10k last Sunday and raised £220 through his JustGiving page. We'd like to give a very big thanks to Duncan and to everyone who made a donation - thank you so much! 1st April 2019 - Booths collection point case embroidery Celia and Sue, two of our volunteers, showing off the embroidery of the CHTH logo on the suitcases we use to collect items from the food bank point in Booths. (Thanks, Anne.) We are very grateful for all your donations and to Booths for this valuable help. |
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June 2019 - update
Update on the House Hunt Trail and the Window Dressing award at the Chorley Food and Drink event On Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th of June the food and drink showcase 'A Taste of Chorley' came to the market stalls at Chorley town centre. As well as food and drink, it was a chance to raise awareness of other activities in Chorley. Thanks to support from Chorley BC a number of our staff and volunteers attended the event and organised a town centre trail competition with prizes. Update - great news, we were delighted to win the Window Dressing award for our unique window display at Dorothy House! |
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March 2019
Did you know?
Between January and March 2019 our volunteers and staff provided the following face to face housing advice, debt and counselling services as well as organising and distributing food parcels, household items and clothing. Once again, a huge thank you to everyone for all your support!
Did you know?
Between January and March 2019 our volunteers and staff provided the following face to face housing advice, debt and counselling services as well as organising and distributing food parcels, household items and clothing. Once again, a huge thank you to everyone for all your support!
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March 2019
Chairman of Trustees Anne Wilson and Vice Chair Ken Phillips called in to the Shepherds Hall Ale House to thank Will and the team for their fund raising in support of the work of CHTH. Big thank you to all who donated. |
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Monday 18th February 2019
Welcome to Gill Ferris, the new Manager at Chorley Help the Homeless. Gill has started this week and is keen to help the charity improve and develop its services to help many more people in Chorley and the local area.
Welcome to Gill Ferris, the new Manager at Chorley Help the Homeless. Gill has started this week and is keen to help the charity improve and develop its services to help many more people in Chorley and the local area.
January 2019
Many thanks to Dickenson’s of Market Street, Chorley for helping us to re-carpet Dorothy House, starting with the entrance and reception office today. Thanks guys for a great job.
Many thanks to Dickenson’s of Market Street, Chorley for helping us to re-carpet Dorothy House, starting with the entrance and reception office today. Thanks guys for a great job.
December 2018
Many thanks to Chorley England Stake (Preston England Temple, Chorley) for organising their members to donate decorated shoe boxes filled with gifts for CHTH to distribute over the Christmas period. This was part of their Christmas Nativities Festival and we are expecting the fantastic amount of over a hundred boxes. In the photo on the right is Church member Thomas Davies who organised the donations, so special thanks to him and his team.
Many thanks to Chorley England Stake (Preston England Temple, Chorley) for organising their members to donate decorated shoe boxes filled with gifts for CHTH to distribute over the Christmas period. This was part of their Christmas Nativities Festival and we are expecting the fantastic amount of over a hundred boxes. In the photo on the right is Church member Thomas Davies who organised the donations, so special thanks to him and his team.
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December 2018
Drumstick, a local band made up of 6 pupils from St Michael's High School, called in to our offices just before Christmas with a cheque for £522.32 which they had kindly collected for us to support our work with the homeless. |
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