Wish come true!

NOT alone anymore:(from left) Marilyn Muir, Matthew Sykes (Saddleworth Round Table chairman), Rena Edwards and Gill Morris (Paul’s Quality Meats, Uppermill)

WHEN kind-hearted Marilyn Muir popped in to see her elderly neighbour last Christmas it broke her heart.

She found tearful, 83-year-old, twice-widowed Rena Edwards sitting alone eating a ready meal for one for Christmas dinner.

But this year things will be different. Marilyn, of Richmond Avenue, Royton, wrote to the Chronicle to ask us to grant Rena a special Christmas Wish.

Thanks to our campaign with Saddleworth Round Table to grant wishes to deserving people across the borough, this Christmas day Rena will enjoy a full turkey dinner at Marilyn’s house, with the help of Saddleworth Round Table member, butcher Paul Lowlock.

“I see Rena every day,” said Marilyn. “I was heartbroken when I popped in last year on Christmas Day and Rena was having a meal for one with a tear in her eye. It just broke me up. Thus year she’s coming to lunch with me and my son, Jake.

“Rena has no family or carers but she’s very independent and never complains about anything. She is such a lovely lady who never bothers anyone for anything!”

Rena, a widow for the second time for the past 20 years, normally spends Christmas with an old friend from Lincolnshire. When he died suddenly in March last year, Rena lost a very good friend and a big part of her social life.

“It’s so lovely of Marilyn to do this for me; I’m really looking forward to having Christmas dinner with her,” said Rena, of Burnsall Grove.

“Last year was terrible sitting there on my own. I used to spend Christmas and new year with my friend Alan in Lincolnshire, so to go from that to being here on my own was awful. We were such good friends. I just cry when I think about him not being here any more.

“Luckily, I have some lovely neighbours and friends who help me out. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

Matthew Sykes, chairman of Saddleworth Round Table, said: “We were deeply touched by Marilyn’s letter about Rena.