Generous Northampton family to give out 230 gift parcels to the elderly for seventh Christmas

Paris Robinson, her husband and two sons give back to the elderly individuals of the Brixworth community every year, and the number of parcels continues to grow.

Paris was inspired by her mother, who created and gave out hampers in Harlestone, and wanted to start a similar project in her own area.

As the founder of a cleaning company, Paris explained that she sees many older people on their own at Christmas time – and she wanted to do something to put smiles on their faces.

She said it makes an “absolutely huge” difference to people’s Christmases, with the parcels packed to the brim with up to 80 items that have all been donated by generous businesses or individuals.

The way it works is that the recipients of the parcels must be nominated by someone else from the Brixworth community, and they all attend a coffee morning to collect their gifts. The George Inn kindly facilitates the event and this year's is planned for Saturday (November 30).

Paris, her family and the other kind individuals who offer their support then spend the rest of the day delivering the parcels to those who cannot take them home from the pub – which often takes up to 10 hours.

The day before (November 29), Paris welcomes people into her home who would like to help put the parcels together. Anyone interested in getting involved can email [email protected].

This year’s parcels include mini bottles of alcohol, Christmas puddings, crackers, pyjamas, socks, gloves, food items, toiletries and candles, just to name a few examples.

“Seven years ago it was very difficult to get people to trust us with their names and addresses and we started with 50 nominations,” said Paris.

“Now we’ve got 230. It’s absolutely mega and quite emotional. My little boys are eight and 10. They were so little when it started and they’ve grown up knowing about it. They cannot wait for next week. We live in chaos but we love it.”