Santa has bid a fond farewell to one of his loyal helpers who has spent the last 20 years almost single-handedly spreading Christmas joy throughout the community.

Pensioner Pat Algar-Jones has invested a quarter of her life and much of her own money to ensure the borough’s needy are not forgotten during the festive season.

Now the 80-year-old retired teacher is taking a well-earned break from organising the annual festivities for Dartford’s blind, elderly, sick and infirm.

Every year Pat, of Devonshire Avenue, sends out dozens of invites and spends hundreds of pounds on cakes, sandwiches, drinks and special gifts for visitors to the annual gathering at the Scout Hall, in Heath Lane.

And from just a handful of guests to the first meetings at the old Miskin College, in Miskin Road, the numbers have swelled. Almost 100, including members of Dartford Association for the Disabled and Dartford and District Volunteer Bureau, were invited to Miss Algar-Jones’ farewell party.

She said: “I started off with a very small group of people that my doctor at the time told me about and said it would do them good to get out because they were housebound. So I organised for some friends to be drivers and bring them for tea and take them home afterwards. That was how it all began. After that it just snowballed.”

Aside from time, organising the event also takes a sizeable chunk of Miss Algar-Jones’ pension. She manages to hire the scout hall free of charge, but this year’s catering budget was about £110, while goodie bags for each guest, filled with five items from perfumes and pens to calendars and hand-made aprons, set her back from £500 to £600. Add to that the cost of photocopying and posting 100 invites, and the bill draws close to £1,000.

But, according to Miss Algar-Jones, it is money well spent. “I start straight after the last one ready for next year and get all those little bags ready. And I buy all the material for aprons I do it gradually because I am a pensioner, but I’ve never asked for a penny.”

Old age has forced her to retire, but Dartford councillor Ann Allen, who already helps Miss Algar-Jones with the catering, is standing in to carry on her good work.

She said: “She spends the whole year writing to people and getting everything ready. She’s one of those ladies who have dedicated her life to charity.”