Residents Mark Festive Friday Thanks To Generous Donation From Local Card Designer

Veterans at Royal Star & Garter in Surbiton have been busy writing Christmas cards to loved ones, thanks to a kind donation from a local businesswoman.

Independent greetings card publisher Emma Bryan gave the cards to help spread some festive cheer among veterans at the Upper Brighton Road Home.

Residents wrote the cards on Friday 27 November – known as Festive Friday, when the greeting card industry starts to encourage the sending of festive cards – after they were dropped off by Emma earlier in the week and quarantined.

Royal Star & Garter is a charity which provides loving compassionate care to veterans and their partners living with disability or dementia.

Emma set up her greetings card business in 2019. She said: “I used to work in Richmond and would pass the old Home on the Hill every day. And now, there’s a Home in Surbiton where I live, so I know a bit about the charity, and it’s lovely. My job as a greetings card designer has never felt more important than this year where connection has been so crucial during the lockdowns, so it gives me great pleasure to donate these greeting cards so that the Surbiton residents can enjoy writing to family and friends on Festive Friday.”

She also handed over cards donated by Davora, a Manchester-based firm that supplies ethnic and specialist cards.

The Home’s Activities Manager Raquel Pena Aristizabal said: “The residents thought Emma’s designs were beautiful, and really appreciated the donation. They enjoyed writing to their friends and relatives.”

In October, Royal Star & Garter’s own Christmas cards went on sale to raise money for the charity. They are part of their 2020 Christmas Card Catalogue, which also features wrapping paper and tags, gift wallets, crackers and virtual gifts.

Four of the 22 cards on sale have been designed by the charity’s residents