HUNDREDS of people who may be alone, vulnerable or isolated over the festive period enjoyed a Christmas celebration to remember at Coventry Building Society Arena.
Hundreds of people made new friends at the event.
More than 300 people attended One Day at Christmas as the huge Christmas party returned to the 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.
The day got underway with a live performance from The Big Sing community choir, before a welcome from Paul Michael, Managing Director of the Arena, and Coventry City Owner and Executive Chairman Doug King.
Guests were invited from community organisations including Coventry Building Society’s friendship groups, Sky Blues in the Community, Saheli Group, Grapevine, Age UK Coventry and 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 bingo session hosted by Paul McLaughlin, formerly of Free Radio.
Father Christmas joined the celebrations, with Winnie the Sky Blues Therapy Dog also enjoying the festivities.
The event closed with a full dancefloor as guests got on their feet and danced along with X-factor finalist Charlie Healy.
Guests danced along with X-factor finalist Charlie Healy.
Joanne, one of the guests, said: “It means a lot to me to be out with like-minded 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 and join us next year, and don’t be lonely.”
Fellow guest John 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.”
One Day at Christmas takes place at 10 venues across the country and is organised nationally by Mash Media, with support from organisations from the UK events industry. The Coventry party was supported by Coventry Building Society and BtoB Events.
