‘Tis the season to be jolly… and full-up on turkey dinners.
On Thursday 61 teenagers and 10 staff enjoyed a lavish banquet of festive fun and fayre with all the trimmings, thanks to local businesses and their kind donations. Our BHY Christmas Dinner was co-produced by young people, volunteers, youth workers and senior managers who all ‘brussled-in’ to ensure the feeding frenzy was a roaring success.
What could be better than tender turkey, soft vegetables, crispy roasties and pigs-in-blankets after a hard day at school!? All this followed by a selection of scrumptious desserts including profiteroles, chocolate roulade and meringues with double-thick cream!
Young people started arriving straight after school to volunteer their time to help prepare the meal, decorate the venue and welcome their peers. Almost 100 Christmas Crackers, Santa Hats and Balloons got everybody into the festive spirit.
We are indebted to Edwin Booth CBE of Booths Supermarkets who donated around £1000 worth of produce from the company’s Poulton-le-Fylde store. We crammed fizzy drinks, turkey crowns and Christmas crackers into The BHY’s minivan along with a huge selection of delicious desserts from Latham’s of Broughton all courtesy of Booths, who recent celebrated 150 years’ serving local communities.
Laurance Hancock, our CEO said: “Booths provide such high-quality products, which is exactly what our young people deserve. It’s a privilege to attain this support from such a great local company. Naturally we understand that for many families working with The Boathouse Youth, this is a difficult time, so bringing some joy into an advent week gives us great pride”.
We are also grateful to Fran & Rick from It’s Turkey Time at Gracemire Farm in Salwick who donated two delicious hand-reared turkeys; Alastair Horabin of Seniors Fish & Chips who threw a sack of spuds into the mix; and Morrisons Blackpool for their donation of vegetables.
The fun didn’t end after tummies were filled – the music came on and the festive games began. Overall, a superb night that brought our community of 12-16 year olds together in creating something really special.
