King Charles praises Coleraine woman Margaret Peacock's 'milestone of service in the community'

Margaret Peacock and her band of volunteer helpers served up a delicious December 25 dinner, along with gifts and entertainment, at Coleraine's Rathain Fold on Christmas Day as she has been doing for decades.

Despite ill health, Margaret rallied community support to provide a meal, entertainment, bingo, gifts, a visit from Santa and afternoon tea for her guests who would otherwise have spent Christmas Day alone.

Margaret said: "Our Christmas Day Special 40th Anniversary went well, as always, and was appreciated by all our guests, who enjoyed good food, great company and wonderful entertainment, including a sing-a-long led by Una and Aoife Culkin and the wonderfully talented Les Magee who gave up part of their day to join in the festivities at Radius Rathain Fold Coleraine.

"We had a few speeches before the start of the celebrations during which I thanked, from the bottom of my heart, my volunteers and those who donated to us for their kindness, for without them, the day wouldn't have happened."

Then it was Margaret's turn to receive thanks for her volunteering work from none other than the King!

Margaret continued: "I was then surprised by a greatly supportive letter from HRH King Charles III. Unknown to me, my niece Alana had informed his office of our 40th anniversary celebration.

"He thanked me for continuing a tradition I started all those years ago, and stressed that 40 years is a great milestone for service in the community and he extended his best wishes to all our guests."

Margaret attended the coronation of King Charles having been invited due to her work for people living with Fibromyalgia and her tireless work to continue the annual Christmas Day dinner.

She added: "That is a letter I will treasure, along with my invitation to the King's Coronation which I was privileged to attend, as well as being a guest at last year's Garden Party at Buckingham Palace."

Margaret was also quick to thank everyone who supported the Christmas Day special 40th anniversary event including Jane at the Progressive Building Society Coleraine "for their generous donation and gifts", the staff at Boots Coleraine for supplying gifts in lieu of their traditional Secret Santa, Ronnie McKee from TBF Thompson for their continued support, Sainsbury's and Argos for their support, Tesco for supplying the vegetables, Simon and Paul of The Quays Portrush for not only supplying and cooking, but delivering the turkey parcels on the day.

Thanks were also extended to people who donated in other ways and Margaret also offered special thanks to Amanda Forgrave and Wendy McClelland for sorting and wrapping all the gifts, and their help in setting up the dining room on Christmas Eve.

Margaret continued, offering her thanks to "Alana and Mo for flying over from London to take charge and cook the delicious food we all enjoyed, as due to ill health I was not able to take an active role this year.

"Thank you to our long standing volunteers who have been invaluable to the success of the event - Jill Witherow in the kitchen, Debbie Davis, Majella Farmer, Caroline Boreland, and my newest recruit Anne Lywood on the floor. Finally Yvonne Thompson for allowing us to use the facilities at Radius, Rathain Fold, Coleraine."