Chesterfield gym provides some Christmas cheer to the homeless

Chester Street Gym showed the true meaning of the festive period by offering hair cuts, Christmas dinners and entertainment to people sleeping rough in the town.

Gym owner Adam Bingham said he wanted to help after noticing a ‘massive’ rise in homelessness in Chesterfield.

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“As a life-long resident of Chesterfield this seemed to me a very sad situation for these vulnerable people,” he said.

Adam and staff at the gym provided some much-needed festive cheer by opening up the gym to offer Christmas meals accompanied by a few festive songs with a guitar player.

“We wanted these unfortunate people to feel welcomed and feel like they have not been forgot about over Christmas which is a time where nobody should be alone,” Adam said.

“This year we had just a handful of people turn up.

MORE: Dozens of people are homeless in Chesterfield according to new figures

“However, we believe that our special event will be the start of something amazing and we will hope to build on our success.”

Adam said he was humbled by the reaction from the community and some of the feedback from the people who came along on the day made it all worthwhile.

“The reaction we got from the community was amazing, we were well supported in this task.

“If it wasn’t for the community’s support in helping contribute towards the food this would not have been possible.

“So we owe so much to the local community of Chesterfield, not only for helping with the cooking but also for the massive donations.

“My favourite quote of the night was from one guy who said ‘am I on drugs because I feel like I’m in Heaven, nobody is ever this kind to me’.

“This made all our hearts melt as we couldn’t believe how much he appreciated such a small thing that we did for him!”