Christmas
Lonely Pensioner Teared Up After Students Surprise Him With Incredible Christmas Gift
It was so simple to make someone happy.
Terrence was pretty sure that it is going another lonely Christmas night for him this year. When you’re 78 years old pensioner, you don’t expect much in having a crowded night.
But his residence in Oldham, Great Manchester WAS crowded by students who sung him a choir of ‘Silent Night’ and brought a Christmas tree to his home.
It all happened after the BBC Breakfast morning program had shown the pensioner revealing that he’s been struggling with loneliness and has no Christmas tree at home. Host Dan Walker and Oldham College students planned the surprise for him.
He was surprised and as he greeted them one by one, tears began rolling out of his eyes. The students brought the tree into his home and continued decorating it. They then sang him ‘Silent Night’, which also made Terrence cry again.
“What used to happen, I used to go round to my mother’s on Christmas Day because I always cooked a meal for her here.”
“I used to buy her little bits all the time, like cigarettes and all this sort of stuff, and I used to parcel them all up at Christmas and put them in a pillowcase and take them round to her,” he continued as he reminisces on the days when his mother was still around.
He continued, “One day, I’ll never forget her saying to me, she said, ‘Do you know, without you, bringing me my presents at Christmas, I wouldn’t have any presents would I?’
“I often think about that now. People on their own now don’t get any presents from people.”
He was also planning to go on a Christmas dinner with a 90-year-old demented woman, Nancy, whom he met when he was working with Age UK Oldham.
Charity director at Age UK, Caroline Abrahams, explained, “We’ve all been moved by Terrence’s story and by seeing how much the kindness of Dan Walker and the wonderful students of Oldham College has meant to him.”
She added, “Christmas is for giving as Terrence has explained – by giving his friendship to a lady in a nursing home he has enriched his life, and we can enrich our lives too by helping the older people around us.”
Christmas is a festive day where millions celebrate with family and close friends. But it appears that millions of elders in Britain and more around the world do not look forward to it. They perceive it as a lonely time of the year and it is predicted that about 200,000 are spending their Christmas alone.
