Ho – Ho – Hovis Premier staff turned into Santa’s helpers to deliver stacks of food and goodies to a church centre in Holme Wood, feeding the homeless over Christmas.

Holme Wood Christian Community Church in Maddison Avenue, on the estate, will be opening its doors to give shelter to 12 homeless people every day between Christmas and the New Year, feeding them and giving them a bed for the night.

Jane Raw, who works at Hovis’s administration department at their Thornbury depot in Gain Lane, said: “We hope we can make a little difference to people's Christmas by doing this.”

It is the third year that well-wishing staff at Hovis have rallied round to collect tinned foods and other staples to support the church. The bread-makers have also been supplying loaves and rolls to the church for its City Lights project which takes warm food out to Centenary Square on a Sunday evening feeding between 70 to 90 people.

Vicar the Reverend Mark Woodhouse said: “Not all of those people are homeless as in having nowhere to stay. They might be in squats or be sofa-surfers but they are still hungry and if they are hungry then they are welcome to come to us and be fed.”