Oldham pensioners send home comforts to the troops

Kind hearted residents of St Mary’s Court sheltered housing scheme in Oldham have been collecting home comforts to send out to British troops in Afghanistan.

The idea was first suggested by resident Winnie Morrow, aged 60, who quickly found she had around a dozen other friends at the scheme wanting to help. Between them they gathered up enough toiletries, sweets, books, pens, writing paper and envelopes to fill 15 shoe boxes. The shoe boxes will be sent to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Steve Alexander from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment visited the scheme this week (23/2/10) to personally thank the residents for their generous efforts.

Sgt Alexander said: “For soldiers serving abroad, especially people without families at home, this kind of gesture means a lot and really keeps your spirits up. The support from people in the UK has been incredible and very touching. In fact the Army has been so overwhelmed by such generous acts that we currently have quite a backlog of parcels waiting to be sent out to the troops.

“Rest assured though, they will all get there in due course and will be very much appreciated. In the meantime, we are asking people who want to show their support to contact one of the military charities such as ABF, The Soldiers’ Charity, to see how they can help with fundraising. I know this is something the residents at St Mary’s Court are now looking into.”

The scheme, on St Mary’s Way, Oldham offers sheltered accommodation for the over 60s and is home to 36 residents. It is owned by local housing association Guinness Northern Counties and managed by Guinness Care and Support.