Meet the festive fanatics on a mission to spread joy and start prep in August
There’s no doubt we Brits love Christmas, and this year people seem to have gone into an even bigger festive frenzy than ever.
Supermarkets have been selling mince pies since September, Stacey Solomon put her decorations up at the start of November, and Christmas shopping has started in earnest. But for some, the festive period is as much about giving as it is receiving. Here, we speak to three people who go out of their way to make Christmas special for others.
'I cook up a feast for people in need'
Chef Alain Job, 54, lives in Bolton with his wife, Joanne, 44, and three children, daughter Saoirse, eight, son Canice, five, and daughter, Cara, two
I’m a Cameroonian chef and I run a street-food stall in Bolton Market. I love cooking up Cameroonian delights for the people of Bolton and nine years ago, as Christmas was approaching, I had an idea.
Alain Job with daughter Saris and son Janice (DAILY MIRROR)
Many go above and beyond to share the Christmas spirit (DAILY MIRROR)I decided to host a Christmas lunch for people experiencing homelessness – but with a Cameroonian twist. So I cooked a huge goose, and a few days before Christmas I decorated the tables in the food court of the market so people could sit down for a free festive dinner with all the trimmings.
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We had about 18 homeless guests plus 10 market visitors that first year, and they all gave really positive feedback, not just about the food but the day itself. It was a huge success, so the following year I carried on the tradition, this time cooking a piglet Cameroonian-style. Since then it’s become a firm part of my Christmas. I always do it a few days before the big day so I can still spend Christmas Day itself with my wife and three children, who are really supportive.
This year, I’m planning to serve up something just as special. I’ll be inviting guests to enjoy a tapas-style Cameroonian Christmas dinner. It will involve a banquet of dishes including bean cakes, mini fish-food pods in fresh leaves, plantain chips, fresh corn cakes and vanilla and strawberry sweet dumplings. I never know how many people are going to turn up, sometimes it’s 20, other years it’s 30. But I’ll have enough food for up to 40 people.
I’ll lay the table with Christmas decorations and I’m also inviting a local choir to perform this year. I usually wear a Christmas African-inspired costume too. It’s my end-of-year gift to one group of people who really need and deserve it.
Denise spent hours making the Santa outfit (DAILY MIRROR)
In the past they've raised hundreds for the NHS (DAILY MIRROR)'We start getting ready for the festivities in August'
Martin Claridge, 56, lives in Kennington, Oxfordshire, and is a carer for his wife Denise, 65
It all started five years ago when my wife Denise and I moved to Kennington, the village where Denise was born. In December, we put up a few Christmas lights and decorations in the front garden, really just for our own enjoyment and that of our six children and 12 grandchildren. But we soon noticed locals walking past to admire the lights and how festive they looked. So each year after that we added more and more to the display in the garden and on the house.
Then three years ago I built an 8ft x 4ft wooden sleigh out of plywood, so people who came to see the Christmas lights could sit inside it. Denise, who doesn’t work because of her health, spent hours making a Santa outfit for me and a Mrs Claus costume for herself, and we also enlisted the help of local volunteers to help collect presents for the children who visited.
Soon families were coming from all over to sit in the sleigh and have their photo taken next to Santa, and also receive a Christmas present. We left a collection bucket out for people to donate towards the NHS and raised more than £750.
Martin Claridge lives in Kennington with his wife Denise
Martin has even made a wooden sleigh (DAILY MIRROR)This year things are bigger and better than ever. I started to plan the Christmas extravaganza in August, and bought nine light-up flying reindeer, which I’ve suspended in the air over my fence. They look like they’re flying pulling the sleigh. The whole display involves thousands of Christmas lights – far too many to count – but because they’re LED bulbs it’s not too expensive to run.
Our living room is filled with gifts, some donated and some we’ve paid for ourselves. Denise and I spend weeks wrapping them so they’re ready in time for the big switch-on in November. After that the lights are on every evening from 5-10pm, with Santa there Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
And this year we’ve also got a gazebo at the back of the house where we offer visitors hot chocolate and hot dogs, asking for a small donation to raise money for Oxford Hospitals Charity and Sobell House Hospice. So far we’ve raised over £3,000 in total for charity. It takes months of planning and too many hours to count but we put our hearts, souls and every spare moment of our time into this because we love giving something back to the community. We love lighting up Christmas for so many families.
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Martin bought nine light-up flying reindeer back in August (DAILY MIRROR)
c (DAILY MIRROR)'My secret Santa charity honours Gran's memory'
Courtney Hughes, 25, is a nursing associate who lives in Oxfordshire with her partner, Pedro, 26
Christmas has always been a special time of year in our family and some of my earliest memories are of making paper angels with my Granny Nanny – my mum Claire’s grandmother. So 11 years ago when Granny Nanny was taken ill, me, my mum, my dad Lee, and sister Megan, now 18, decided that if Granny Nanny couldn’t come and celebrate Christmas with us, we would bring it to her.
On Christmas Day we went to the hospital armed with decorations, crackers and presents. When she saw us, her face lit up. But as I looked around the ward at the other patients, I felt sadness. Some had no visitors, and the day was just like any other. It gave me the idea to try and help people in hospital at Christmas.
We were all with Granny Nanny when she died in March 2013, aged 84. Afterwards, we were heartbroken, so that year, as Christmas approached, I decided to do something in her memory. I’d saved up £250 of pocket money and used it to buy presents for 80 residents in Granny Nanny’s warden-monitored flats. Then, I put on my Santa hat and went to deliver them personally, as well as hosting a Christmas tea party.
Seeing how much the gifts cheered them up was priceless, so the following year I decided to do it again. This time I contacted the local press, put appeals on social media and spoke in school assemblies. I raised £750 for gifts, and my Secret Santa charity was born.
After that things snowballed. I roped in my family to help and we worked hard to give the charity Christmas collections a special twist. Soon I wasn’t just organising gifts for the residents in Granny Nanny’s flats, but for other people in our area too, including people in hospitals, nursing homes, a support group for young mums and three homeless charities.
As the years passed I was recognised for my charity efforts – I was invited to Meghan and Harry’s wedding and went with my mum. I was awarded the British Empire medal on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2019, and was a baton representative for the Queen’s Commonwealth Relay in 2022, presenting it at 10 Downing Street.
I was also recently awarded a Platinum Champion award at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and got to meet King Charles and Queen Camilla. This year, after 12 appeals, I’ve decided to focus on the cost-of-living crisis by collecting food and essentials to create gifts.
I estimate my Secret Santa charity has helped more than 10,000 people over the years. And I’m determined to continue spreading cheer by helping more people who need it.
- Visit facebook.com/charitysecretsanta
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