40 years in the past a person died below a bush – his tragic finish improved 1000’s of lives

On Feb 28, 2026

Forty years ago, at the age of 75, “Angel of Mercy” Alison Kay started the People’s Kitchen, which today feeds 1,000 people a week, after a man died sleeping in freezing weather

08:30, 28 Feb 2026

Ailie Goddard remembers her last visit to Newcastle. “Last time I was at the People’s Kitchen, a man came up to me and said, ‘I come here to remember your mam and everything she did’,” she says. “I thought that was wonderful. To think he kept coming back, even after his own crisis had passed, because he had become part of a community.”

Ailie’s mum Alison Kay passed away in 2001, aged 91. But she remains a legend in her birth city. Her obituary in the Newcastle Chronicle called her the “Angel of Mercy”. Forty years ago, at the age of 75, Alison started the People’s Kitchen, which today feeds 1,000 people a week, after a man died sleeping in freezing weather in Leazes Park in the city centre.

Back in 1986, the North East was reeling from pit closures and the end of the miners’ strike, and while Margaret Thatcher’s Big Bang saw the City of London explode with wealth, families in Newcastle were suffering the effects of industrial decline and mass unemployment.

“It was the Thatcher era,” Ailie, 80, a retired secretary who worked for the Dutch consulate in Newcastle, says. “Jobs were changing, industry and heavy industry was going – ship- building, mining, heavy engineering. So, times were really hard for many. It started when Mum read in the newspaper that a homeless man had died alone under a bush in Newcastle. She couldn’t bear it.

“She filled a Thermos full of coffee and wandered off into the city in the dead of night. She met one or two homeless people and they were very grateful for the coffee and she promised to do it every week. Then she ended up getting a trolley with coffee, soups and things like that and stood in the middle of Eldon Square.”

An outdoor soup kitchen on Dean Street followed. “People heard about it and joined her as volunteers,” Ailie says. “It very quickly expanded and that is why she needed to find premises. Eventually they found an old chapel on Bath Lane.” Today, the building is the “Alison Centre” from where The People’s Kitchen is run.

Alison had lost her husband Arthur in 1971. When her beloved son Richard – Ailie’s brother – died aged just 50 in 1987, killed by a drunk-driver, she channelled her heartbreak into her work. In 1992, tragedy struck again when her other son David, 57, and wife Margaret, 59, died when their light aircraft crashed.

Still, Alison never lost the capacity to love and take care of people, long after she had become frail and registered blind. “I think of them as my children,” she said of the homeless and other struggling people fed at The People’s Kitchen. “Lots of them call me Mum and Gran. It’s love that keeps me going and I’ll continue until I die.”

Now The People’s Kitchen still stands as a brown brick beacon of hope. The former Methodist Church, which stood on wasteland when it was bought by Alison with a £250k mortgage in 1997 – a debt cleared by an anonymous benefactor – is now dwarfed by shiny university buildings.

Inside, the need has only grown greater – but everyone that comes to seek help is still known as a “friend”. Trustee Maggie Pavlou says that friends today come from a variety of backgrounds, from people living on the street, sofa surfing or living in hostels – people who actually have accommodation but just can’t afford the electric to cook anything warm.

“More recently we have had people come to us with their work lanyard on because they simply can’t make ends meet,” Maggie says. “When I started volunteering here six years ago, we were doing on average 180 meals a night. Now we’re doing 300 every night. Hunger is an awful thing, and we pride ourselves on providing food and friendship. Our volunteers chat to our friends as sometimes that is the only conversation they’ve had all day.”

Today 300 volunteers, all unpaid, staff a seven-day operation, which includes a canteen providing more than 1,000 meals a week. The service has grown and evolved – there are hairdryers, and places to shower, dry clothes, charge phones and get to know other people.

There is a cosy reading nook as you enter, framed by bookshelves full of crime novels and comfy chairs. In a warren of back rooms there is a vast food and goods store, including donated goods from brands like long-term supporter and Newcastle-founded company, Greggs. There are “grab and go” toiletry kits for people who arrive in crisis, fleeing domestic violence or suddenly made homeless, and a store of sleeping bags, handwarmers, LED lights and mats for people sleeping rough – “we always have around 25 of these on standby,” Maggie explains.

There is no limit to who can come, no form filling, and tonight everyone gets a piece of “chocolate crack” – a caramel biscuit slice topped with chocolate. Volunteer and retired librarian Marilyn Champion has been here since the start after meeting Alison on the street. Back then, she says, they gave out hot drinks and porridge to mainly homeless men.

“The idea is still the same,” Marilyn says. “We accept everybody, we accept the Friends for who they are.” But, today, the demographic has changed from mainly homeless men to families. This is backed up by research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that shows almost one in four children in the city now live in poverty – up 10% since 2014. Meanwhile its growing housing crisis made national headlines just before Christmas when charity Crisis said it was buying housing stock in a once affordable city to meet a sharp rise in homelessness.

A report this month by Professor Alice Wiseman, director of public health for Newcastle and Gateshead, found that 40,000 Newcastle residents are currently using foodbanks. Volunteer and stores manager, Kathy Devlin, 73, has been part of the team for nine years. “My son tried to take his own life,” she says. “He had us, his family, to support him but it made me realise a lot of people don’t have that. People are arriving at the door with no support, so I wanted to help. The people who come in uniforms can pay their bills and rent, but they don’t have anything left for food.”

Ghassan, 39, is originally from Palestine. He came here for support and food two years ago – now he volunteers in the kitchen three evenings a week. “This is good for me to practise English and meet new people,” he says. “This is a special place. Everyone can come here, and you will always be a friend.”

Ailie retired and moved to the Midlands, but still makes time to visit the centre named after her mum to hear the stories of people living better lives because of her legacy. “It’s hard to believe that 40 years later the need is still there,” Ailie says. “It’s busier than ever because things are quite bad at the moment. There are fewer jobs, a lot of people are struggling. All types of people need support now. People who 15 to 20 years ago would have been coping aren’t able to any more.

“It’s heartbreaking that we’re still needed 40 years on. But it’s also a testament to the incredible volunteers and supporters who show up. It started with one person and a flask. Now it’s a lifeline for hundreds daily. Mum would have been very sad to see all these people needing help in 2026, but she’d be proud of the work being done too.”

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*If you would like to help out, visit: peopleskitchen.co.uk/donate