The Gold from the Stone Foundation

The Gold from the Stone Foundation was set up as a registered charity in 2016 to support the Christmas Dinner project. To find out how to receive funding, or to set up your own Christmas Dinner get in touch.

“I am not defined by darkness” Confided the night
”Each dawn I am reminded I am defined by light”
Lemn Sissay

The Trustees and Team

  • Founder & Trustee. Lemn is a BAFTA nominated International prize winning writer. He was awarded an OBE for services to literature by The Queen of England, The Pen Pinter Prize, and in 2018 he was awarded a Points of Light Award from The Prime Minister for his work in establishing The Christmas Dinner project.

    He is an extraordinarily prolific writer of plays, poetry, and articles, and performs and speaks publicly all over the world. His memoir, My Name Is Why, was published by Canongate in 2019. To read more about his work, head over to his website and blog here.

  • Chair of Trustees. Angela works across the Arts and Mental Health, advising and speaking internationally on both subjects.


    She sits on the All Party Parliamentary Group for Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention; presented the BBC BAFTA nominated documentary Life After Suicide and is a member of Tate Liverpool’s Advisory Board. 

    She is Co-author of the NHS70 Parliamentary award-winning Suicide Prevention Zero Suicide Alliance training; Trustee of Hospital Rooms, and has contributed to broadcast media from Channel 4 to Radio 4.

  • Trustee. Parvinder arrived as a refugee from Uganda in 1972 and has dedicated her working life to working with young people and playing an active role as a community activist, storyteller, and Youth Worker, who qualified through Manchester Metropolitan University.

    She has been a member of the first Manchester Christmas Dinner steering group in 2013 to present and now works part time at Manchester Museum. She is a Trustee of Lancashire BME Metropolitan University, More Music, Dhanakdhol and Hyndburn Cultural Services.

  • Trustee. Alison is Director of Campus Services at The University of Manchester, leading the Hospitality, Events and Campus Services teams.  Passionate about the hospitality industry, she is a proud winner of The Public Sector Catey in 2022. Alison joined the Manchester Christmas Dinner Steering Group in 2015 and continues to do so. She can be found on Christmas Day at the Manchester venue ensuring the magic happens. 

  • Hello! I am Rosheen- I link the dinners up with each other across the country and help with building our community of Christmas DInners. I work for the foundation because I believe in making magic that everybody deserves. I truly love working with and for the foundation. It is a privilege to work alongside a plethora of extremely inspiring individuals all over the United Kingdom. In particular, connecting with the dinners via zoom brings me an enormous sense of fulfillment and inspiration, hearing about the dinner projects they are putting on. 

“The Gold from the Stone Foundation is incredible! It gives grants to communities, who come together to change the lives of care leavers, every Christmas. The goal is to bring joy, and that’s exactly what they are doing!”

Thank you to our Funders & Supporters