Mid-Winter Christmas Dinner at Bridge Court June 2017

Our vision at Friends of the Farm is to be a caring, connected, wastewise community so it’s important to ensure that our elderly don’t get left out when it comes to planning events in the community. On 24 June we hosted another successful Mid-Winter Christmas Dinner for the residents at Bridge Court, the local Housing for the Elderly complex.  Our members were kept busy during the preceding weeks getting the food together to put on a roast dinner for 30 people. Invitations were delivered to all the units and followed up with phones calls.

Doors opened at 2.30pm sharp and there was a steady flow of residents.  We started with afternoon tea and games and there was lots of chatter and laughter as people learned new games and got to know neighbours that they’d never actually talked to before.  With 72 units, residents generally only know those in their own block but not from the wider complex. Kaumatua Hauraki Ngawaka, who opened the event with a welcome and karakia, made mention of this and thanked Friends of the Farm for providing this opportunity.

Food was in abundance and there was very little left over from the menu of; roast pork, chicken, ham, roast potatoes, peas, apple sauce and gravy.  Dessert was Christmas cake, apple crumble and pie, custard, cream, yoghurt and fruit salad. Five meals were delivered to units for those who had replied but were not able to attend due to health issues.  They were so appreciative to have been thought of. 

We have numerous people to thank for their generosity in providing items for the meal, including; Andrew Giarn, Fresh Choice, for three cooked chickens, custard, cream and Cadbury’s Favourites; Hun at the Village Butchery who donated the leg of pork which Denise cooked; Brandon from Brandy’s Roasts who gave us a good discount on 70 roast potatoes; Gary, owner of the $5 Deli who gave us a ham at cost and delivered it to the Sunday Market for us to pick up, Donna for fruit salad, and thanks also to Sharryn who baked the lovely Christmas cake and apple crumble. Denise’s son Ellery was tops on the gravy and was a great help the night before setting up the hall with tree and lights and decorating tables - and then washed nearly all the dishes on the day!

It takes a team to put on a successful event like this and we’re thankful to all those who arrived to either help unload or reload cars, keeping food warm and serving it and helping with the clean-up at the end. We went home exhausted, but the happy smiles on the resident’s faces will make sure this event will be included in the annual Friends of the Farm planning calendar.

Written by

Denise and Carol-Anne