I hope everybody in Wrexham had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Having recently become the seventh city in Wales, I was delighted that King Charles III and the Queen Consort visited Wrexham in December to celebrate Wrexham’s city status. During the service, His Majesty officially marked the conferral of city status, a particularly special and albeit bittersweet moment for us all as one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s last duties was to sign the ‘Letter Patent’ for our new city. It was an honour to be at the service at St Giles’ Church to mark this occasion on what was a very special and memorable day.
This year, to honour our wonderful residents at Ashgrove care home I asked them to design my Christmas card based on their memories of Christmas past. Following a hard process of choosing which one of the beautiful designs should come win, I went to Ashgrove care home and was extremely pleased to meet Marion Davies to announce that she was the winner of our Christmas card competition! Marion’s design then was printed on the front cover of my Christmas card, and I snapped up the opportunity to show Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak Marion’s design! Following my chat with Marion, I joined residents and families at Ashgrove Care home’s Christmas fayre to get into the festive spirit. A huge thank you to all residents at Ashgrove Care home for sharing their memories and putting entries in for this year’s Christmas card competition.
Talking of Christmas, this year, the Everyone Deserves a Christmas appeal was bigger and better than in previous years! Together, we raised £660 on the JustGiving page! Last year, Everyone Deserves a Christmas (EDAC) helped to provide over fifty Christmas hampers and fifty Christmas gift bags to some of the most vulnerable and deprived members of our community, many of whom are children, to enjoy during the festive period. The appeal was launched as a collaboration between Mecca Bingo, Wrexham Rotary Club, Caia Park Partnership, and my office. This year, EDAC has certainly built on last year’s success by providing further support to our community this Christmas.
Following the launch of EDAC, I wrote to businesses to make them aware of the campaign, and I am extremely grateful to those that have donated. Once all the donations had been gathered, I was pleased to join the team at Mecca Bingo to deliver the Christmas hampers and gift bags. The closing date for donations was 12th December but if you missed the chance to donate, then make sure to keep an eye out for next year’s appeal. A huge thank you to everyone who donated, these Christmas hampers and gift bags truly brighten many families’ festive celebrations.
As always, if you are a resident in Wrexham and need my assistance with any local or national issues, please contact me by emailing sarah.atherton.mp@parliament.uk.