Woodditton Shoebox Sunday 5th November

For many years Woodditton has supported a Christmas shoebox appeal whereby shoeboxes are packed with toys, sweets, stationery and other good things for children in less fortunate countries than our own. For the last three years we have supported T4U (Teams for You) which is a UK based Christian charity. As well as children this charity supports families and adults, so some of our boxes contained household items as well as a few treats.

On Sunday 5th November a shortened morning service was followed by packing these wonderful gifts. Twenty people joined us for the service, quickly swelled to more than seventy as families, friends and supporters joined us. About half the total number of boxes were delivered already packed, and we were especially delighted to receive 70 boxes from Cheveley School - each with a personal message for the recipient. Well done indeed school! Other schools and businesses in the area supported us either by filling boxes, providing items to include in the boxes or donating money towards the transport costs.

On the day we packed 450 boxes. The quite magnificent total of 981 boxes were ready for despatch at the end of the morning. T4U sent TWO large vans to collect them on Tuesday, and they will soon be wending their way to Ukraine, Romania and other parts of Eastern Europe, in time for Christmas. The photographs clearly show how busy we were, and the well-loaded vans about to depart.

Sharon and Simon Gale, Gillian and Tony White, Lucy Robinson and many others.