School’s Hamper Challenge Provides Puddings

Bolton School has once again hit its ‘Hamper Challenge’ target with a whopping 1,700 Christmas Puddings donated! These festive treats have been delivered to Urban Outreach to help fill the local charity’s Christmas Hampers.

This year, Bolton School was tasked with collecting 1,700 400g Christmas Puddings in just two and a half weeks, with the countdown beginning in mid-November. The Primary Division (Infants, Junior Boys and Junior Girls), Girls’ Division and Boys’ Division all chipped in to help, and donations also came from Bolton School Alumni, Foundation Services staff and guests attending Tea at the Riley, an afternoon tea hosted by the School for older people in the local area.

There was a slow and steady start, as it wasn’t easy for pupils to get hold of puddings in the weeks before the Christmas period truly started. However, by the time collection day arrived, the School had amassed enough puddings to fill Urban Outreach’s hampers!

In the Girls’ Division, fundraising and donations were spearheaded by Year 12 students. Sophie Cutler and Freya Brogan persuaded fellow students to give cash and went shopping on their year group’s behalf. Aisling McCabe, Annika Bullen, Olivia Melling, Charlotte Harris, Charlotte Howarth-Siney and Harriet Atherton also ran a bake sale for two days which raised £321 towards the cause. The Girls’ Division ultimately donated 835 large puddings and 80 small puddings.

The Boys’ Division also made the most of donations in the form of puddings and cash. In the final week before collection, students from the Boys’ Division Charity Committee were sent to Morrisons daily to spend donations and collect more puds for a final total of 300!

Junior Girls collected well over 430 puddings and even came to the Girls’ Division one morning to deliver an assembly to boost donations. The Junior Boys and Infants also donated over 220 puddings, with still more coming from Alumni, Foundation Services staff and guests at Tea at the Riley.

The Christmas Puddings will be packed into Christmas hampers by Urban Outreach and delivered to those in need across the whole of Bolton, providing Christmas dinner with all the trimmings to those families and individuals who would otherwise not be able to enjoy a festive feast.