Cafe owner cooks Christmas dinner for Doncaster community

Harry Clarke, Jane Tindall, her husband Gerald and their daughter Lauren, pictured at Cafe Express, Carcroft, where they will be providing elderly in the community with Christmas dinner. Picture: Marie Caley NDOS Cafe Express MC 1

Gerald, owner of Cafe Express, Carcroft, is providing the free food to elderly residents - many who live alone and would not otherwise have a festive meal.

The kind-hearted 49-year-old will be helped by his daughter, and the cafe’s manageress, Lauren, aged 25. His wife, Jane, a 49-year-old beautician, will also be on hand to help spread some festive cheer.

“I’ll be in the cafe at 6am on Christmas morning,” said Gerald.

“Everything will be freshly prepared that day and then we’ll go out delivering it between 12pm and 2pm, wearing our Christmas jumpers.”

The fifty people, who will have turkey and all the trimmings delivered to their door, are regular customers in the cafe, which Gerald has been running for three years.

“I haven’t done anything like this before, but I’d been thinking about it for a while as I wanted to do something to help other people.

“It’s nice to do something for others at this time of year. My children are grown-up now, they’re 24 and 25, and I don’t have any grandchildren to look after yet so I wanted to something for other people - especially those who might not have any family of their own.

“We do a delivery service throughout the year too, and the people we meet are so lovely, there’s some right characters. You can tell they’ve been looking forward to you coming as well, some want a chat as well as a meal.

“When I asked people if they would like us to bring them some dinner they were to thankful and that was nice to hear.”

Not quite content with providing a Christmas meals-on-wheels service, Gerald is inviting a further 20 guests to his cafe tomorrow afternoon - and he’ll be cooking for them too.

“I’ll be having my Christmas dinner with my wife and daughter in the cafe, along with the 20 other people that we’ve invited,” he said.

“I’ve also offered to cook for a few people on Boxing Day, but it won’t be as many on Christmas Day. I just want to help as many people as possible.”

The cafe, on Station Road, will be open today from 7am until 4pm. It wull then be closed to the public tomorrow, (Christmas Day), and Saturday, (Boxing Day). It will re-open on Sunday December 27 from 9am until 3pm.

For more information, call the cafe on 07508 504508.