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Ruth Shelton: Hallo I’m Ruth Shelton and I’m the Chief Executive of Emmanuel House
Day Centre which is all around us. We’ve been unusually around for 30 odd years and
responding to the needs of homeless, vulnerable and marginalized people of the city of Nottingham.
What a great tradition which is build up over 30 years and with a name like Emmanuel we
can’t not be open on Christmas day. I think last year we served 129 Christmas turkeys
will all the trimmings and Christmas pudding and custard and we expect to have the same
sorts of numbers again. I think this time of the year is the hardest time of the year
for the people who come to Emmanuel House. I mean as the pressure builds up outside you
can feel it as you’re walking around the Victoria center here in Nottingham. A sort
of glittering nightmare of shopping that we’re all embroiled in and the emphasis on festivities
and hope for the future and family get-togethers. That only serves to highlight some of the
difficulties that our services are facing so that’s why we do make a huge effort.
We’re having a Christmas party at some point between now and Christmas day, on Christmas
day itself as I say the lunch is very much the focus, the focal point of the day. Everyone
who comes will receive a present and we’ll do something very similar on Boxing Day.
Tom Finley: My name is Tom Finley and I’m in Emmanuel House. If not be for Emmanuel
House I’d be on the street now so I was sleeping rough and somebody gave me this address
to come here and since I’ve come here I’ve got I mean I’ve got in a night shelter I’ve
been getting fed three times a day especially it kept me off the street so I get something
to warm through the night you know. If I hadn’t found Emmanuel House Christmas would have
been horrible, I don’t know what Christmas would be like really, I really don’t, but
now this like the light at the tunnel. I see a light at the end of the tunnel now because
of Emmanuel House. It has been a big difference in my life.