The Brand New Christmas Dinner How To Guide.

Here are  Facebook page links for all the previous Christmas Dinners   1. Manchester 2. Hackney  3.Leeds  4. Liverpool 5. Oxfordshire.    A few months ago representatives from each dinner came together in  Southend.  That’s us in the photographs.  We spent days comparing and contrasting our dinners.

We now have a brand new  Christmas Dinner How To Guide. It’s everything you need to put on a Christmas Dinner in your area for vulnerable 18 – 25 year old care leavers. Scroll through it below.

Download (PDF, 161KB)

There is also interest in Southend, Birmingham, Islington and Cornwall.  Scotland has Christmas Dinners inspired by us too.  If you now someone insiring who may be interested in putting this on then  please tell them.    You can download the new  Christmas Dinner How To Guide.    Then all you have to do  is  get fifteen people around a table for that first meeting in September.   Good Luck. There is a five thousand pound contingency for every Christmas Dinner.  I will raise the money with help of friends. As an example of how beautiful this project is take a look at Oxfordshire who put on a Christmas Dinner for the first time last year.

This is also a nudge to Mancehster, Oxford, Leeds,  Hackney and Liverpool. If you want to do it again you’ll need to rally the troops for that first meeting and you’ll need to advertise your progress on your facebook pages. I know some of you are ahead of me on this.  I urge all Christmas Dinners to allocate one or two people to become  Co-op member pioneers.


26 thoughts on “The Brand New Christmas Dinner How To Guide.

  1. My sister & I are interested in helping at the Manchester dinner. Please keep us informed of plans.
    Thanks
    Barbara Cartwright
    Pauline Kielty

  2. Hi Lemn,
    I live near Wigan and would be interested in supporting the Manchester Xmas Dinner, but because I can’t drive, I wouldn’t be able to be present on Xmas Day … however, I would love to help in any way I can in the preparation and lead upto Xmas … if that is possible?
    Kind regards,
    Elizabeth

  3. I would like to set one up in London Borough Richmond… I have read the booklet and it seems very daunting… can I ask other areas; have you had many offer of help/support etc? I have a lot of contacts so thinking of going for a first meeting to see what the interest is?
    Wonderful inniative…

  4. How did I find this? By attending the Women’s March on London in January. By joining their FB group. By discussing London’s architecture and being introduced to your ‘Gilt of Gain’. By discovering you as a result. By seeing a friend of a friend’s FB post asking for help in Richmond. By seeing your name associated and having a looksee. By signing up to the comms committee. By meeting amazing people including Sian, above, who’s a whirlwind. Amazing connections. Amazing initiative. Almost as good as the poem you wrote in the summer about the sky being like buttered toast. 🙂 Thanks Lemn, for making the world a better place, and the people in it just a little better too.

    • Maia Thankyou for finding me. I really appreciate your showing the journey. I love being discovered even if I can’t always live up to some of the team efforts that I’ve been a part of. Just got news today that we have the hampers gifted to us.

  5. I am interested in arranging a dinner in Leicester next year but would like to get involved with one this year to see how it works. How do I get in touch with the Birmingham dinner group.

  6. I might be able to create Christmas dinner an my rural community in Northern Ireland for next year. Is there some way I can keep in touch?

    Paula

    • Okay Paula, I have been waiting for Northern Ireland!!! This event is the spirit of Norhtern Ireland. In the UK per capita NI is the msot giving community. That’s a proven fact. Sty in touch via here. Set up a facebook GROUP. download the How to Guide. This is my advice for now

  7. would like to put on a Christmas Dinner or help in the West Suffolk region, Bury St Edmunds/Newmarket. Is there one established already? If not, is it as “simple” as just starting this next September?

    I’ve posted this in another area of an older blog, 2016 and so apologies for the duplication

    • Get the Brand New How To Guide from lemnsissay.com and read it. Then ask people who might be interested. Collect their details this year and then get them together in September.

  8. Have begun plotting / gauging interest for a Cambridge Christmas dinner… the more people I talk to about it, the more possible it becomes! Have been reading the how to guide and feel a spreadsheet coming on!

    Will keep you posted!

    Beth 🙂

    • Beth it is a special thing and it all depends on that initial group of people. As the weeks go on it gathers interest through them and blossoms. It’s a beautiful thing. but please pay attention to the How To Guide. it suggests you gather your contacts now but that the first meeting is in September/October. This is when people start to become aware of Christmas and its the perfect time to gather together interested partis. Remember they are doing it for free so you want to use their time wisely.
      I’d be so happy for Cambridge to run a Christmas dinner

      • Thanks Lemn, I have read the guide; it’s great, really comprehensive so you have a clear idea of what’s required… I am not doing anything concrete yet but floating the idea to people to see how they respond and thus far it’s all positive, their names will go on the list to contact later in the year…

        Beth

        • Absolutely brilliant. The best people do the christmas dinners; THE BEST PEOPLE. Any questions don’t hesitate to ask me or better still go to the manchester Christmas Dinner Facebook Page.

  9. Pingback: Tiptoeing into Christmas after Childhood Trauma | Orphans & Care Experience in Literature

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