Cambridge homeless meal: Couple step in on 'hardest day'

Dr Nish Manek said she and her husband Dr Dhruv Panchal will juggle hosting the Big Brunch with looking after their four-month-old daughter

A couple are putting on a new year's meal for homeless people after vowing to help while at the funeral of a man who had previously told them it was his "hardest day".

Nish Manek and Dhruv Panchal set up the Big Brunch in Cambridge last year after being told homeless services in the city had been shut on New Year's Day.

Dr Manek said 65 homeless people and helpers were at the first event.

"It is about us being side by side at the same table," she said.

Volunteers and homeless people will gather together again for a New Year's Day meal in Cambridge following a successful first Big Brunch in 2019

The trainee GP and her husband, both 32, were inspired after meeting a homeless man called Johnny Cunningham while volunteering in 2018.

"He said to me the hardest day of the year for him was New Year's Day, which came as a surprise," said Dr Manek.

"He said it was because everything was shut on New Year's Day unlike Christmas - the homeless centres and the library.

"It was a depressing start to the year and he would spend it outside in the cold."

Dr Manek said she would like to see Big Brunches being held elsewhere

Mr Cunningham died, aged 63, shortly after they met.

She said: "I was sitting at his funeral and thought we can do better, so why don't we do something different so our community can come together and start New Year's Day in the right way?"

Barber Lewis Prime will return to cut hair again during the event at St Andrew the Great Church on St Andrew's Street next to Lion Yard

A barber will be providing free haircuts and a young singer will perform carols during the event at St Andrew the Great Church.

"[Homeless people] are not a different species. They are just like us and any one of us could be in their shoes," said Dr Manek.

"We would love to see the Big Brunch adopted in other places. It's so easy to do and it makes such a difference starting the new year together."