CHEF Hazel Davis served up an unforgettable Christmas meal to people with brain injuries at Headway in Worcester, with more than a little help from local energy company npower.

After contacting companies, friends and family asking for support, the response she received was overwhelming. Miss Davis said: “Enjoying a Christmas dinner is such an important tradition at this time of year, and sadly, there are so many people who go without. I wanted to use my culinary talents to help the day centre clients at Headway – they love food, I know food, so I figured, that’s my answer.”

After hearing of the idea, npower donated £260 worth of supermarket vouchers to contribute towards the meal, enough to serve up a week’s worth of homemade Christmas dinners.

Tracy Mole from npower’s Worcester office said: “When we heard of Hazel’s Christmas meal plans, we were extremely happy to be able to support this local charity during the festive season. The team of volunteers from npower assisted with Headway’s Christmas festivities by preparing and serving meals as well as decorating the arts and crafts workshop. We’re looking forward to building on this new relationship with Headway, and supporting other local charities in the new year.”

Samantha Skilbeck, day opportunities manager at Worcester’s Headway centre, added: "With delicious Christmas meals on offer, our clients were soon putting their names down. However, due to a tight budget, we were unable to put more staffing hours into the Christmas week so we called upon the volunteering team at npower to help plate up, wash up and serve our clients. They’ve loved the fantastic home cooked food and the chance to share this experience with others living with brain injuries.”

While enjoying their meal, the clients were treated to Christmas carol singing by 35 children from nearby St George’s Roman Catholic Primary School. This also gave the children a chance to learn about brain injury and how they can help people within their community. A further £125 was raised through donations from individuals and a number of local companies donated crockery items, nibbles and vegetables.

After welcoming people with brain injury within Headway’s care from Kidderminster and Bromsgrove Day Activities Centres, a total of 78 dinners were served, more than 200 plates washed and 25 kg of turkey eaten.