Hundreds of people who may be alone, vulnerable or isolated this festive period enjoyed a Christmas celebration to remember at Coventry Building Society Arena.
More than 300 people attended One Day at Christmas as the huge Christmas party returned for the major Coventry venue for a second successive year.
The day aimed to create a special Christmas day experience and provide a space to celebrate, dance and build new friendship groups for guest.
One Day at Christmas takes place at 10 venues across the country and is organised nationally by Mash Media, with organisations from across the UK events industry support the event to make it a magical day for guests.
Coventry Building Society Arena was the first venue to host the party this year, with the further nine hosting the celebration the following day, with the Coventry party supported by Coventry Building Society and BtoB Events.
The day got underway with a live performance on entry from community choir The Big Sing, before a welcome from Paul Michael, Managing Director of the Arena, and special guest Coventry City Owner and Executive Chairman, Doug King.
Guests were invited to attend the event from community organisations operating across Coventry, including Coventry Building Society’s friendship groups, Sky Blues in the Community, Saheli Group, Grapevine, Age UK Coventry & Warwickshire, Chat Central and The Haven Nursing Home.
They enjoyed a full Christmas meal, before live entertainment and games took centre stage – with a quiz, heads and tails and a competitive Bingo session captivating the room, hosted by Paul McLaughlin, formerly of Free Radio.
The event closed with a full dancefloor as guests got on their feet and danced along with X-factor finalist Charlie Healy. Father Christmas even arrived in the middle of the day to join the celebrations, with Winnie the Sky Blues Therapy Dog also enjoying the festivities.
Joanne was among the attendees on the day. She said: “It means a lot to me to be out with likeminded people who are in the same situation as I am in and be sociable.
“I enjoyed all of it, it was such a nice experience. We’d urge everyone to come along, join us next year and don’t be lonely.”
John joined Joanne on her table. He said: “This was all about meeting friends. I loved everything, even the food, it was excellent! Please join one of the groups and join us next year.”
Paul Michael, Managing Director of Coventry Building Society Arena, said: “This was all about giving everyone a truly memorable Christmas experience. We hope that we delivered on that promise and we would like to thank all our partners for making the event so special this year.
“We are proud to continue to support the delivery of an event that really does support our local community at Christmas time.”
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