Video: Fish and chip shop to provide free Christmas dinner to homeless and elderly

A special festive serving will be fried up at a West Yorkshire fish and chip shop.
Staff at the Avondale Chip Shop , in Wakefield, are offering support this Christmas.Staff at the Avondale Chip Shop , in Wakefield, are offering support this Christmas.
Staff at the Avondale Chip Shop , in Wakefield, are offering support this Christmas.

And the store’s efforts to provide a free Christmas dinner to the homeless and elderly has already gone viral.

Avondale Fisheries, in Wakefield, said they have been inundated with offers to help provide the fish and chip dinners after they shared the news in a post on their Facebook page.

Staff at the Avondale Chip Shop , in Wakefield, are offering support this Christmas.Staff at the Avondale Chip Shop , in Wakefield, are offering support this Christmas.
Staff at the Avondale Chip Shop , in Wakefield, are offering support this Christmas.
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The post has since been shared on the site more than 13,000 times.

It said: “We will be serving fish, chips, tea, bread, butter and a mince pie Christmas Day for all our local homeless and elderly who cannot get a warm meal.

“If you know of any elderly person or homeless person or shelter that could benefit, please get in touch.”

The owners of the fish and chip shop, Angela and James Blair, will distribute the meals via a voucher system run in conjunction with Wakefield Council.

Theresa Race preparing to fry a fish.Theresa Race preparing to fry a fish.
Theresa Race preparing to fry a fish.
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They will also deliver meals to homeless people in Castleford.

Grandmother of five Angela, 42, said they had been overwhelmed with the response.

She said: “I’m a bit shocked to be honest. People have offered all sorts of different things to help.

“There are a lot of lonely people at Christmas and it’s nice to bring people together.”

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Her brother-in-law, Darren Millard, 36, said that the family had the charitable idea after his nine-year-old daughter, Georgia, shaved her hair for a cancer charity earlier this year.

He said: “We thought if a nine-year-old can do something for charity, so can we.

“If we can give just three or four hours of our time on Christmas Day, we can cheer some people up and make sure they don’t go without a Christmas dinner.

“It feels good to know we’re going to help people - after all, that’s what Christmas is all about.”

The owners of the shop are appealing for donations of tea, coffee, biscuits, hats and gloves in the run-up to Christmas.