A BRADFORD woman has brought some festive cheer to her elderly neighbour, buoyed by the generosity of total strangers and the power of Twitter.

Ashleigh Marsden, of Westwood Avenue, Eccleshill, shared a letter given to her by her 95-year-old neighbour Margaret earlier this week.

When Bradford was hit with a deluge of snow last weekend, like much of the country, it made getting out and about fairly treacherous, and particularly dangerous for older people.

Because of this, Ashleigh nipped out for some shopping, and while there she did some shopping for Margaret to keep her well-stocked during the snowy period.

To thank Ashleigh for her gesture, Margaret sent her a letter, along with a £20 note to cover the cost of the food.

In the letter, Margaret said: “Ashleigh, we didn’t finish our conversation on Monday!

“Very many thanks for bringing the frozen dinners etc, they will last me ages (and I don’t have to go out). I’ll talk to you later.

“Take care tomorrow, snow forecast. Margaret.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Ashleigh MarsdenAshleigh Marsden

Posting the letter on Twitter on Thursday, Ashleigh said: “My 95-year-old next door neighbour posting this through my door because I did a bit of shopping for her when it snowed.

“She will be getting the £20 back tomorrow morning. It’s nice to be nice. She reminds me of my grandma. If you’re lucky enough to still have one, protect her.”

The tweet garnered more than 6,600 likes and scores of retweets and replies, and to give Margaret a Christmas treat – as she has no family to spend it with – Ashleigh decided to create a Christmas list for her on Amazon and asked people to show their generosity and help give her a Christmas to remember.

These included toiletries, a crosswords book, reusable shopping bags, chocolates and biscuits, and some cosy thick wool socks.

She said the response was “amazing”, with the list getting fully bought up in a matter of hours with more than 50 people chipping in to buy gifts.

She added: “Margaret’s shopping list is sensational, I’m blown away.

“Any additional lovely bits that will be duplicated I will be donating to the nursing home that my Grandma was in, they specialise in dementia and it’s very close to my heart. Love you all.

"It's lovely to share some positivity among all the negativity and uncertainty."

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@telegraphandargus.co.uk