Online appeal pays off for pensioners

Online donations paid for a three-course lunch for a group of pensioners.

Husband and wife, Dave and Charmaine Silvester, put out an appeal on Facebook and approached companies asking for financial contributions for the lunch and say they were overwhelmed by the response.

The idea came from Charmaine who runs Here To Help, a small cleaning company in Newark.

“I clean a lot of houses owned by old people and I realised how many of them didn’t see anyone,” she said.

“I wanted to do something to correct that and Dave and I set about organising the lunch.”

Dave said: “We were overwhelmed by the response. We didn’t realise everyone would be so generous.”

Among those who attended the Tawny Owl, Fernwood, were 11 pensioners assisted by Age Concern Newark.

'Bringing people together'

Singer Anthony Pegg, from Amp And Decks Disco, provided the music for guests to sing along to.

“It’s about bringing people together,” said Mr Silvester “We’ll do a Christmas one as well.

“It has given us a great deal of satisfaction to be able to organise this and see everyone laughing and joking and singing their hearts out.”

The lunch cost around £300. The Tawny Owl set aside an area of the pub, and Lynn Preece, at Newark and Sherwood District Council, donated £100 through a community fund.

Mr Silvester, who works as a plant driver, does a lot of charity work and his next event is a gig night on June 10 at Spanky Van Dykes, Goldsmith Street, Nottingham.

It will be headlined by XSLF, featuring two members of the original line-up of punk band Stiff Little Fingers, along with Static Kill, Nowhere Fast and Australian band Young Offenders, who are playing at Glastonbury this year.

It will raise money for Maggie’s Cancer Care in Nottingham.

Tickets are £12.50 and are available from Mr Silvester or Nick Widdowson through Facebook.