A series of Christmas crafting workshops in aid of Diverse Abilities have raised £1,000 for the disability charity supporting both children and adults across Dorset.

Two workshops were held at the charity’s day activity and therapy centre for adults, The Beehive, and were hosted by Edwards Artisan Florist, and Maggie the Seaside Baker from this year’s Great British Bake Off. The first workshop, hosted by Edwards, allowed participants to create a festive wreath with fresh foliage, and the second, hosted by Maggie, taught everyone how to make a Christmas Pudding, along with sharing her insight from the Great British Bake Off tent. 

Karen Hay, events manager at Diverse Abilities, commented: “We are thrilled with the success of our festive workshops, they’ve definitely helped in getting people to start enjoying the Christmas spirit. Wreaths are being hung across the county and we’re really excited to see everyone’s baked Christmas puddings on the big day.”

Maggie added: “I had a fantastic time at my first post-GBBO live event – everyone was so lovely, and it was great to see a few little ones come along and get involved too. I would like to thank Diverse Abilities for making me feel so welcome, it was a marvellous evening.”

Festive fundraising continues throughout December for Diverse Abilities, to help combat the shortfall of fundraising throughout 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

Karen continued: “We’ve got the return of our Carol Concert later this month on Wednesday, December 15, at St. Paul’s church in Bournemouth so we’re really looking forward to seeing more of our supporters out and about. Everyone’s safety is at the forefront of our planning so we’re doing everything we can with the evolving guidelines and have our fingers tightly crossed!”

Diverse Abilities is also continuing its Christmas Treecycling collections this year. For a suggested £10 donation, the team of volunteers will collect your Christmas tree on the weekend of Saturday, January 8, to Monday, January 10, and dispose of it sustainably.

Visit diverseabilities.org.uk/carolconcert or call 01202 711502 to book tickets to the concert or diverseabilities.org.uk/trees to book your Christmas tree collection.