THE accusations made by Marguerite Lewis in your story about 'forgotten OAPs' are completely untrue. We will be contacting Mrs Lewis to understand what drove her to make these unfounded assertions but, in the meantime, I should ensure readers are aware of the true facts.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council is one of the only councils in Britain to put on a special Christmas Day lunch for elderly and vulnerable residents, who might otherwise spend the day alone.
More than 100 volunteers - many of whom are council staff - gave up their Christmas Day to make sure more than 250 residents had a wonderful day out.
The reason Betty Smith and Angela Faragher did not attend the lunch was because their tickets were cancelled by someone who we believe to be their carer. We have phone records from December 18 proving this phone call was received.
Of course, if this cancellation had not been received we would gladly have picked Betty and Angela up to drive them to the town hall and give them the magical Christmas Day they deserve.
We were saddened not to see Betty and Angela on Christmas Day and, for that reason, our events staff visited their day centre to personally deliver them presents that they would have received on December 25 had the cancellation not been made.
Cllr Paul Bristow Cabinet Member for Residents' Services
Hammersmith and Fulham Council
