SOMETHING wonderful happened in Okehampton over Christmas, when the community came together over three days to feast together.

Community Christmas organiser Rebecca Green was moved to tears by the help she received from Christmas puddings to presents to make the festive season special for more than 60 people.

The three-day extravaganza at the Ockment Centre was completely free to all those eating and taking part, thanks to the generosity of everyone who put time, money and donations.

Rebecca said: ‘Amazing things happen when you get a lot of people and you feed them all in one room. There were so many reasons that people were there and they were totally different. We had a lot of older people talking to younger kids. It was amazing. I can’t put it into words, how you feel when you can make that much difference, and all I did was hire a hall and cook a lunch.’

Rebecca staged the day with husband Shane and volunteers, from her not-for-profit Okehampton Community Kitchen, which was also been sending out ‘Christmas rescue packages’ to households in crisis. These included a foster family, a woman whose boiler had broken down and someone who had abruptly lost their job.

The event itself was also about tackling loneliness in a way that people felt comfortable with. The only thing that needed to be booked were the meals – a full Christmas dinner and a Boxing Day buffet – with everything else from coffee morning on Christmas Eve to the Biscuit Bingo on Boxing Day afternoon – being on a ‘just show up’ basis.

From this spontaneity some wonderful things happened, with everyone rallying around to give a welcome to woman who had a housing crisis and found herself with nowhere to go at Christmas. She ended up taking part in all three days and temporary accommodation was organised for her.

Rebecca said: ‘Our main thing is we just want to say thank you. This was a community Christmas run by the community. Everything was donated by local businesses and local people. Kay Bickleigh from Upcott House donated eight Christmas puddings, the Okehampton United Charities funded the hall, everything was provided by local people. I am really proud of them all.’She said the three day event had ‘made a fantastic difference’ to all taking part. ‘We had a lot of people who had lost their partners this year and they were not sure what to do at Christmas. They came along for the carols on Christmas Eve, then came back on Christmas Day for the lunch, enjoyed the lunch and then came back on Boxing Day and made friends. Watching that was amazing, The whole project was amazing. I don’t ever want to stop it. When you find a way to bring people together miracles happen and you can’t put a price on that.’

Ockment Centre trustee and local councillor Tony Leech acted as caretaker on all three days of the Community Christmas. He said: ‘I personally would like to thank Rebecca, her husband and all her volunteers for basically giving up their Christmas over four days. ‘The day before Christmas Eve was getting everything ready in the hall and then there was a three day event. It was really special, so we need to thank all the grant givers, all those people who have donated loads of stuff. It is surprising with everything going on this country how many people can still think of others like this, which is what Christmas is all about for me.’