Christmas arrived early in Rotherham to make sure everyone had a chance to celebrate the festive season in style.
Residents who will be spending Christmas alone were invited to an event at the beginning of December to enjoy the company of others, make some new friends and enjoy some of the traditional festive trimmings.
The Home Alone at Christmas event took place at the beginning of December at the Park Inn Hotel, in Manvers. It was organised by Sheffield housewife Gloria Stewart with the help of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
Guests were treated to presents and entertainment donated by local businesses and organisations.
Mayor Rose McNeely said: “”Unfortunately, there are occasions where people find themselves alone at that time of the year when you should be surrounded by friends and family having fun.
“When you realise what, potentially, it will mean for people who will be alone this Christmas to be in the fantastic environment that Home Alone at Christmas provides, then it makes it a very worthwhile event to organise and stage.
“Plus, it gives people the chance to make friends who they can then invite to enjoy Christmas with them on the 25th.”
Sheffield housewife Gloria Stewart has organised a Home Alone event every December in other areas for the last four years after meeting an elderly woman who had spent several previous festive seasons alone after losing her husband.
She said: “I wanted to give Rotherham a taste of the success other Home Alone events.
“These people did not ask to be lonely, it just happens and it could be any one of us.
“No one knows when it is going to affect them, after all most of us are guilty of living in our own little bubble, not thinking about the rest of society.”