"I was successful growing up, I had houses and mortgages and I had a child bereavement and it was hard to overcome that so I stopped chasing the money, stopped chasing the dream and took time out in life."
When Damian "Damo" Haslam, 47, from Cardigan lost his loved one and struggled with depression, he stopped working as a furniture designer and became homeless. Living in his hometown of Burnley, Lancashire, at the time, he isolated himself and refused help.
"I never asked for benefits in those years, I'd refuse them. I just refused help, it's the way my mum brought me up," he said. After years of homelessness, Damo moved to Cardigan with his partner Jill Garner, 48, who runs the Finch Square Café. This year, Damo wanted to help residents in his new Welsh home and decided to put on a free Christmas dinner. You can get more local news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
"When I'm down here and I've not got a lot to smile about, I can put smiles on other people's faces," Damo explained, adding, "It's just amazing because even though you haven't got a lot you can give a lot."
When he was experiencing homelessness, Damo said free Christmas dinners that he attended were a great help. "You're not unwanted that day," he said. "It's just nice when somebody opens the door for you and pulls you through the door. It can mean the world to you on those days."
While his partner Jill is sadly facing the closure of her cafe due to the owner of the shop she rents selling up, the couple wanted to help out their regular customers who have been facing hard times due to the cost-of-living crisis and feelings of isolation.
Jill used to work in a care home and works part-time as a mental health support worker as well as running the cafe seven days a week. The hard worker said a lot of her regular customers had told her they were having a hard time at the moment. "I know they're on their own. I know they're lonely," she said.
Originally from Bury, Greater Manchester, Jill said she had been welcomed by the community in Cardigan and was happy to give something back before she had to close down the cafe. On Christmas Day the pair provided 54 sit-in meals to anyone who needed it and delivered additional meals to vulnerable people in the community. Open from 11am-6pm, the couple cooked the meals themselves and received generous donations from their local butchers.
They planned the event in just two and a half weeks after an elderly man who Jill and Damo planned to cook Christmas dinner for this year sadly passed away. Inspired to help as many people as possible, they planned a bigger event with food and entertainment for guests.
Back in Lancashire, Damo volunteered at Christmas dinners in Burnley with Church on the Street and the now famous Pastor Mick who will soon have a gritty TV drama made about his life of drugs, violence and crime. "You might have taken me out of Burnley but you can't take Burnley out of me," said Damo who has brought this community spirit to his new home in Cardigan.
Damo said the dinner was also a great way for him to make new friends and he met people from all walks of life including merchant and royal navy veterans. With his first-hand experience of homelessness, he was able to offer support and a hot meal to those who needed it this Christmas.
Damo said the dinner was also a great way for him to make new friends and he met people from all walks of life including merchant and royal navy veterans. Reflecting on more challenging times in his life, Damo said: "Even when pride is concerned, it's best to take the meal because you don't know when the next one will come."
People who needed a free meal this year in Bridgend were also offered somewhere warm to enjoy a roast dinner at Bridgend Community Outreach Centre. Outreach Manager Rebecca Lloyd said they had to put on an extra free event because there was so much demand.
While the centre previously provided food hampers to those who needed support, they now offer cooked hot meals six days a week as many people they were helping could not afford the cost of using their oven to cook meals.
One of their Christmas meals this year was sponsored by Tesco and the centre expected thirty people to show up but sixty-two arrived on the day and even more people reached out for help. The centre then put an additional event on themselves on December 23. Twenty spaces were booked but forty-seven people were fed on the day.
"Everybody was quite understanding, they were having their food and moving out the way for somebody else. Originally we were working with just the homeless but now we are working with the whole community. We had families with children and everything this year," Rebecca said.
"One lady was having pizza for Christmas dinner so on the 23rd she came with her kids for Christmas dinner with us." The centre gave out hampers to families too so they could cook dinner on Christmas day if they were able to.
The centre has not shut for Christmas this year like it usually would and only closed on Boxing Day. On why she had kept the food hub open and just closed as a drop-in centre for the Christmas period, Rebecca said "[It's] because people are so desperate. They're cold, they're hungry, they can't put heating on in their homes. We're a warm space so people can come and keep warm and fed."
"We're now supporting two parent working families. There's two parents, they are both working and they still can't manage. We're supporting people that we never thought we would be. People that were supporting us last year and giving to us, we're helping them."
The centre received a toy donation from Bridge FM this Christmas and said one mother came in and said she had told her kids that Santa would not be coming this year. She had only been able to buy selection boxes and socks for her children but she went home that day with enough presents to wrap for all of them.
On the growing demand for support that staff at the centre are experiencing, Rebecca said: "I don't know what needs to change but something needs to change quickly. The country can't sustain this. It's just getting worse and worse. We're doing vouchers at the moment for people that are running out of gas and electric on pre-paid meters, they'll only be available until March and in April the price is going up again. There's no provisions from March - how are people going to manage? What are they going to do?"
"You can't afford to put Christmas dinner on the table with a two-parent working family. You hear of it but when you see it day in and day out you see it happening and it's unbelievable to watch."
For the fourth year, Victoria Fish Bar in Whitchurch, Cardiff, offered free meals to people who are homeless, vulnerable and elderly as well as giving out coats, hats, gloves and scarves to those in need. Last year, they handed out 975 meals on Christmas day. Despite having less people volunteer to help out this year, the chip shop still dished out over 700 meals.
On why he is still working to feed his community on Christmas Day four years from when he first started, owner Mohammed Nazakat said "You have to do something. We work for the community and they give us so much."
Over in Swansea, Denny's Diner opened their doors on Christmas Day for the eighth year to provide warm food, shelter, clothing and a friendly face to those who are homeless or are at risk. Over 70 guests arrived and Swansea City footballers Joel Latibeaudiere and Ryan Manning even helped out.
The Co-operative store at West Cross donated fresh bakes and tinned goods and customers generously donated warm clothing, socks, hats, scarves rucksacks and other essentials. Each year the Denny's team get together to walk the streets of Swansea in search of people seeking shelter and comfort on Christmas morning and this year was no different.
A spokesperson from Denny's said: "There are many organisations such as the Wallich who continue to help the most vulnerable people on our streets, providing outreach in the form of hot food, advice, referrals and pathways out of homelessness, but with the current rise in the cost-of-living, so many families and individuals are at risk of facing difficult circumstances, and if opening our doors and walking the streets helps put a smile on their face and supports these amazing charities, then that we will continue to do."
Read next:
- The social worker crisis in Wales and the millions of pounds spent on agencies to plug the gaps
- The shocking amount more Christmas dinner is costing this year
- The rise of Welsh women-only rock choir belting out anthems by the Killers, Primal Scream and more
- Champers: The '80s Swansea pub that became the centre of the city's gay scene, then vanished amidst tears
- Little boy with 'blue tinge' had heart 'plugged in the wrong way round'
