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Crawley pensioners get Christmas cheer from housebuilder's grant

A group of Crawley pensioners enjoyed an extra dose of Christmas cheer thanks to a donation from a leading UK housebuilder.

The Young at Heart Over 60s Club has been selected to receive £500 as a part of Persimmon Homes Thames Valley’s Community Champions scheme.

The group used the money to take its 23 members for a Christmas dinner and to host a festive party at the base at Langley Green Family Centre, Stagelands.

The Persimmon Homes Community Champions scheme is a national programme where charities and groups can apply for funding up to the value of £1,000 to match money they have already raised themselves. Nationwide the company will donate a total of £750,000 this year.

Linda Hunt, one of the organisers at Young at Heart, said: “We have members aged from 64 to 94 and we meet every Tuesday afternoon for bingo, refreshments and a raffle.

“We try and arrange occasional outings and the fantastic donation from Persimmon has allowed us to put two events on for our members which we wouldn’t normally be able to do.

“The vast majority of our members live alone so the Young at Hearts club is a really important outlet to allow them to meet other people.”

Rachel Faulkner, sales director at Persimmon Homes Thames Valley, said: “The Young at Heart Club does a fantastic job providing a crucial service to the pensioners of Crawley. We are delighted to be playing a part in helping bring some happiness to the group over the Christmas period.”

And she urged other groups to apply for the Community Champions initiative which is open to any charity or community group which raises funds.

Rachel added: “If applicants were unsuccessful last month, we urge them to visit the Persimmon Homes website and to try again and hopefully they will become our next Community Champion.”

Organisations can apply for funding by completing a simple online form at www.persimmonhomes.com/charity

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Garrison .