Eric welcomes friends old and new to coffee morning
LICHFIELD & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust president Eric Wood welcomed visitors to his Whittington home for an Easter Saturday coffee morning after a two-year break caused by Covid restrictions.
Eric and Doreen Wood’s annual fundraiser for the trust was last held in 2019 and this year’s event was blessed with beautiful sunshine on the hottest day of the year so far.
The sale of barbecue meals, cakes, bric-a-brac and souvenirs raised around £1000 for trust funds.
LHCRT communications director and events co-ordinator Christine Howles said: “I’ve been at the coffee morning since 2015 and I have never seen so many people. They came by boat, by car, by foot and on bikes.”
Eric, one of the trust's founders who celebrated his 90th birthday last year, said: “We have been doing these coffee mornings for about 40 years and even before we came here we used to help the Trent & Mersey Society.
“Since we’ve been here we’ve started making friends and I’ve always said it's more important to make friends than making money. However these coffee mornings have been able to collect quite a bit of money for the trust and it’s helped towards the restoration programme.”
He added: “I’ve had people here today that I haven’t seen for 40 years and the place has been packed out so it’s been absolutely wonderful.”