Most of those present have at least some remaining family members with whom they will be spending Christmas Day
Brenda told of her plans, "I'm going over to my daughter's on Christmas and Boxing Day. She's got two girls, two boys and then she's got a granddaughter."
Vera will be busy catering for ten people this coming Sunday, "I lost a son this year to cancer, about three months ago now, so I've got his wife coming and two of the grandsons and I've got my daughter coming with her husband and the two boys."
Captain Martin Cordner, who co-runs the Lewisham branch with his wife Captain Leanne, said that there would be only two ladies at the dinner who would be spending Christmas Day on their own this year. There are many more in the UK who will be facing a similar day, he adds, however.
"In the wider scheme of things in Lewisham, in London and the nation there's a big need, there are a lot of people who don't have anyone," he said.
"Hopefully the things we can do - like what we have done today - are able to counter a bit of that loneliness and let people know that life is a journey we share together and they don't have to be on their own."
The event is just one of many ways The Salvation Army is working to bring comfort and compassion to people this Christmas. Other outreach initiatives have included visits to lonely and housebound elderly people, offering food, clothes, sleeping bags and shelter to the homeless, and giving toys to the children of poorer families.
For Captain Martin, the inspiration behind such outreach lies in the Salvation Army ethos of filling the needs of those around as key to spreading the gospel.
"If you go back to the New Testament and see what Jesus did, before he could speak to someone about the Kingdom or move them on in their faith he would meet their need," he says.
"William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army, that was his big thing. He said you can't preach to a man who has an empty stomach. So you first have to feed him, that's his immediate need isn't it? Then his spiritual need can be nourished as well.
"That's how we view life and spiritual life here ... if we can meet needs - whatever it might be. Kids need looking after, after school and coming to the youth club we can take care of them, or whether it's pensioners and people with different learning needs."
And why does he do it? Captain Martin always hopes that those who are helped will see Christ who is at the heart of the good work.
"We want to try to identify those needs in the community and we want to try and meet them. Our prayer out of doing that is that they might come to have a knowledge of Jesus Christ," he enthuses.
