Mary will spend Christmas Day helping the homeless and lonely

Mary Maybury, a 60-year old assistant Group Scout Leader at St Augustine’s Scout Group, will spend Christmas Day cooking up a joyful festive celebration for around 60 of Luton’s forgotten residents. It is just one of many good turns she has done in her lifetime.

A master chef who has prepared banquets for royalty, Mary has organised this seasonal event at St Martin de Porres RC Church in Luton for more years than she can remember. This year it will be her biggest party ever.

She said: “I’m so grateful for all the volunteers who come along to help and to Fr Michael Patey the parish priest at St Martin’s for his devoted support.”

Mary joined the Scouts at the age of nine in her native Nigeria and for 50 years she has made the Scout Law her way of life. Like Scouts of old she has a lifelong ambition to do a good turn every day and to smile and whistle at whatever the world throws at her.

To date she reckons that adds up to 18,250 good turns with more to come.

She has had her fair share of stresses and strains but, at the age of 60, she still takes life as it comes.

For 40 years Mary has shared her time between fundraising for numerous charities and looking after the weekly needs of the Scouts at St Augustine’s Scout Group in Luton.

She has so far contributed over £50,000 to Mencap, NOAH (New Opportunities and Horizons) and the Glanfield Children’s Group who send disabled children to Lourdes each year.

This year she ran an Italian cuisine evening which raised £2016 for the charity. Regularly every August Mary takes unpaid leave from her job to accompany as many as 25 Luton children and adults on their pilgrimage to Lourdes.

NOAH Chief Executive Jim O’Connor said: “Mary’s cheerful example in all sorts of adversities has motivated people around her since she was a youngster. We are proud of her commitment to the homeless folk we care for and so grateful for the thousands of pounds she has raised for us.”

Like Scouts of old she smiles and whistles in all circumstances. When Baden Powell was writing ‘Scouting for Boys’ in 1907 he was probably thinking of someone just like Mary!

To find out more about Scouting in Luton or to join the adventure near you, visit www.lutonscouts.org.uk or contact 0844 414 5687.