The annual Christmas Day lunch for pensioners in Marlborough, which had to be postponed because of ice and snow, will be taking place on Sunday May 1, two days after the royal wedding.

The organisers postponed the lunch on December 25 because of the risks in getting 60 pensioners to and from the town hall, especially as a number of those who had booked lived in villages outside of the town.

Turkey ready-meals were delivered to the homes of about 40 of the guests together with Christmas pudding and a pre-packed Christmas tea.

Ann Harley, co-organiser, said: “We said all along that we would hold the lunch as soon as we could guarantee some better weather and then we had this suggestion that we wait until the royal wedding weekend.

“There are sure to be celebrations in the town for younger people and families but the older people tend to get left out so by putting our Christmas lunch back to that weekend we can make sure that the pensioners, too, have a day to remember.”

Mrs Harley said that, despite the fact that it will be almost summer, the pensioners would still be getting a traditional turkey feast together with gifts.

She said: “We have never had to postpone a Christmas Day lunch before and we sincerely hope that the weather in December will be nothing like last year’s so that we can have what has become a traditional Christmas Day lunch in the town hall for the pensioners as we have done for the last seven or eight years.”