Nottingham woman hosts drive-thru Christmas dinner for 350 people

Mo will hand out meals from a caravan which she has bought for the occasion

A woman who has fed lonely people at Christmas for the last four years is preparing a record number of meals.

Mo Fayose from Nottingham is cooking for up to 350 people on Christmas Day - handing out the food from a caravan.

In previous years she has booked a community hall, but because of Covid restrictions people will instead collect online orders from the caravan.

The mum-of-two said making people smile was her reason for ensuring this year's dinner could still go ahead.

As well as takeaway orders, volunteers will also help deliver some meals to people's doorsteps.

'Double marathon'

Ms Fayose expects it will take her 24 hours to cook the meals with the help of her son Jebediah, 17, and daughter, Ebby, 21.

"I start on Christmas Eve morning and I cook overnight because we need to start packing the food at 7am on Christmas Day," she said.

"By 11am the meals start going out so the food has got to be ready.

"Every Christmas I don't sleep until everything is done. It's usually a marathon but this year is a double marathon."

Mo has enlisted the help of her children to cook and hand out meals this year

She added: "I have over 100/200 people on a regular basis that are on their own without family members and you can't walk away from them.

"It's literally impossible.

"They are people who are not within the system to get help, so we are the only help they have.

"These people need this more than ever now and it is affecting them, and seeing them smile makes me happy."

In previous years, Mo hired a hall to host Christmas dinner for up to 150 people

Ms Fayose, who runs the Community Cares Club, first came up with the idea of cooking Christmas dinner for other people while working as a mental health nurse - when a woman told her how isolated she had become.

Last year she also sent out 1,900 Christmas cards to strangers.