Melksham’s incredible community spirit shines through at Christmas

IT’S been another tough year but once again, as Christmas approaches, Melksham’s incredible community spirit has shone through.

Local volunteer groups have been pulling out all the stops in the run-up to Christmas and tributes have been paid for the work being done.

There is a long list of groups who have been praised for their efforts including The Christmas Lights team; Melksham Community Meals; Melksham Foodbank; the Melksham Community Response Team and The Melksham Community Dining Team and Core Church / Queensway Chapel who are both providing a free Christmas Day meal.

Leading the praise have been community leaders, mayor cllr Jon Hubbard and chair of Melksham Without Parish Council, John Glover.

“Melksham continues to benefit from the amazing voluntary groups that support our community and it’s been fantastic to see the established groups opening back up and even some new ones start to serve our town,” said councillor Hubbard while cllr Glover said, “Once again, wider Melksham has shown what a community-minded area we are.”

It has been a challenging year but the coronavirus pandemic has seen the community really pull together and Christmas has put the spotlight on many local groups…

• The Christmas Lights team have created another tremendous display and have been hailed as ‘festive heroes’ for a display that is the envy of Wiltshire. “A great big heartfelt thank you to the Christmas lights team,” said one person, “absolutely fabulous as always, I think the whole of Melksham turned out for the switch on, makes me feel proud to live in such a great town.” Click here for a spotlight on the Christmas Lights volunteer team.

• Melksham Foodbank which provides emergency food for people in crisis. “We would like to thank the people of Melksham and the surrounding villages, and all the businesses who have helped and supported us,” said the group. “We would especially like to thank all of our volunteers for all their help and support during the past year.” Click here for more details.

• The Melksham Community Meals has returned in recent weeks and over 80 people joined the volunteers for their Christmas meal on Sunday 5th December in the Melksham Assembly Hall. Click here for an article about Melksham Community Meals.

Director of Melksham Community Meals, Sue Mortimer, paid tribute to all the volunteers and the ‘fantastic support’ she has from the community.

• The Melksham Community Dining Team, offers a free meal and a chance to socialise every Wednesday at Bowerhill Village Hall for anyone in the community, as well as a free Christmas Day lunch. Click here for more details or visit www.mcdining.org

• Free Christmas Day Dinner which is being provided by the Core Church and Queensway Chapel at the Queenway Chapel together with carol singing. 

• The Melksham Community Response Team which continues to help people affected by Covid. To date, the group has delivered over 1,700 prescriptions to people’s homes; made over 1,800 calls to local residents; made over 1,100 shopping trips and helped nearly 1,000 people.

“The Melksham area continues to owe a huge debt of gratitude to all those who have continued to help out with the Melksham Community Response scheme,” said cllr Glover. “The emphasis has changed from an initial parish and town led response to a true community supported scheme.” 

The importance of local volunteers in the life of the town has been highlighted by the mayor, cllr Jon Hubbard.

“There is so much about our town that is special,” he said, “but for me one of the things that stands out above all else is the willingness of a dedicated team of individuals who, across so many groups and organisations, give up their time freely to provide help, support, activities and amenities for their neighbours.

“Since being elected as Mayor in May it’s been a busy time and, as ever, I have been blown away by the wonderful volunteer teams we have around the town who have done so much and continue to do so much for our town.”