Throughout November and December North West Durham Labour were busy raising money via their initiative ‘The Spirit of Christmas’, which was set up with the sole aim of providing additional support to local food banks over the Christmas period. From gathering donations at virtual meetings, an online raffle and a showstopper event on 5 December which gained support from members of parliament John McDonell, Mary Kelly Foy, Kate Osborne, Ian Lavery and Rebecca Long-Bailey, as well as the performance poet, Rowan McCabe, NW Durham Labour were raising money at every possible opportunity to support the most vulnerable people in our community.

Fundraiser, Emma Heenan said: “At NW Durham Labour we know just how much support our food banks provide to local people and we wanted to contribute to their efforts again this Christmas. Our generous members and friends have helped us to raise £1,245 for this initiative and we are so grateful to everyone who has supported us. 2020 has been an incredibly difficult year for so many people and if the donations we are going to make help to make things a little easier for families, then we are pleased to have been able to help.”