A MUM is giving up her Christmas Day to cook lunch for people on their own.

It is the third time Anna Gatrell, 50, has put on dinner and games for Didcot people who have no-one to spend their Christmas Day with.

In December 2006 she entertained just nine guests, but this year she is expecting more than 40, after teaming up with the Didcot Day Centre in Britwell Road.

While her sister looks after her own parents, and her 15-year-old daughter Lydia spends the day with her dad, Mrs Gatrell will make sure nobody in Didcot is forgotten.

She said: “I just think there are too many people on their own on Christmas Day.

“I used to invite various elderly people to my house, but they often felt they were intruding.

“I thought the answer was to get somewhere else, where people see it’s not ruining my family’s Christmas Day — it’s for them.

“The old people get to socialise rather than be on their own.

“We give them Christmas dinner, crackers, the full works, and games afterwards. Above all, they get a chance to chat, which they love more than anything.”

Caterer James Hart, of J Hart Catering, will be cooking turkey with all the trimmings, while day centre manager Pauline Krason and team leader Tracey Payne — and their husbands — have given up their Christmas to help.

But the team still needs local businesses and individuals to support the event, and for volunteers to drive people to the day centre, help peel potatoes and wait on the guests.

Anyone in the Didcot area who will be on their own this Christmas is invited to share the day by getting in touch with her.

She said: “It is not just elderly people that come along — a few of our regulars are members of mental health charity Mind.

“Several have families, but perhaps they do not want to have them over on Christmas Day.

“One middle-aged man told me that since his parents died, he had only ever spent Christmas with the Fowlers and the Butchers on EastEnders. I told him not this year, you’re spending it with us. That is the real spirit of Christmas.”

Anyone wishing to volunteer, donate, or attend should call Mrs Gatrell on 07789 428795.