Christmas dinner shared

Press, 26 December 1985, Page 1

Christmas dinner shared

By

LIZ ROWE

Alex and Edie Marcon, of the Anglican City Mission, could rightly be called Mother and Father Christmas for the people who have shared Christmas dinner with them over the years. For the last 14 years hundreds of people have had a happier and more contented Christmas thanks to the couple who started the mission’s annual Christmas Day dinner. “We were looking after the night shelter in Here-

ford Street at the time and realised that some of the old chappies who had left the mission were living in flats nearby,” said Mr Marcon yesterday. “We decided to contact a few and bring them back to the mission for Christmas dinner.”

That year the Marcons and 15 guests sat down to dinner in the cafeteria of the mission’s clothing store. The next year word had spread and 60 people came to dinner at St John’s Church hall in Latimer Square. “The next year it

doubled again and it has built up from there,” Mr Marcon said.

Yesterday between 300 and 350 people enjoyed roast chicken, ham, mutton, peas, potatoes, and salad, followed by fruit salad and trifle, courtesy of the generosity of Christchurch people and about 40 volunteers. “Some of them like to come back each year for the friendship and company. We also have families who come who would not otherwise have a Christmas dinner,” said Mrs Marcon.

Food for the dinner is given through the mission Christmas dinner appeal. Other donations help make the day special. For the last three years each table setting has been decorated with a bunch of lavender brought in on Christmas Eve by an anonymous person from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

After the dinner, Mr Marcon dresses as Father Christmas and hands out sweets and other presents. A magician and a face

painter helped entertain the guests this year. About 85 people and 15 helpers from the Methodist Central Mission enjoyed Christmas dinner at Aldersgate, in Durham Street. A smaller gathering, of 16 people, was held at the Salvation Army’s Family Care Centre in Bealey Avenue. Most of those who went were people who had stayed at the centre during the year and who had beqp invited back for Christmas, said Captain Lynne Thomson, of the Salvation Army.