Wigan community hub's Christmas Cracker project

The group, based at the town’s library and community centre, is aiming to put smiles on the faces of residents who have endured a tough 2020 due to the novel coronavirus.

It has had a massive response to its call for gifts to be donated to go in its hampers and is also putting together emergency food parcels for those finding it really hard to make ends meet during the festive season.

Now residents are being asked to nominate people who have been affected by the events of this year and would benefit from a hamper.

Crisp Communities CIC director Sam Broxton said: “The Covid Christmas Cracker is about spreading magic and kindness and putting smiles on faces throughout the community.

“The hampers are all really personalised.

“We’ve been in discussion with families to see what sort of things the children enjoy. We want these to be special gifts, not generic ones.

“The emergency hampers are about supporting people in need. It’s the season of goodwill and no-one should be struggling unnecessarily. We want to be there for these people.

“We’re having quite a lot of referrals coming in now and we’re just blessed to have the amount of support from our community that we do.”

Hampers are being distributed throughout Hindley and Hindley Green and the community interest company has been in touch with care homes, supported accommodation facilities and

families.

The gifts which have been donated are being put in hampers alongside hand-made objects, with Crisp Communities CIC receiving National Lottery funding to support the arts and crafts element of the Christmas Cracker.

The project has been run by Ema Brocken and Michelle Silcock and supported by a range of community groups, including Thrive CIC, Belmont Community Support and a Facebook page dedicated to doing random acts of kindness in the community.

The CIC said the project was its way of giving something back to the community after a year in which Covid-19 has prevented it running its programmes of craft sessions and inclusive activities.

To find out more about the project, search for Hindley Library and Community Centre on Facebook or ring the venue on 01942 255287 between 10am and 2pm Monday to Friday.

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