A CITY centre church was the venue for a Christmas dinner for the homeless on Friday evening.

Up to 80 people were expected to come along to enjoy the traditional festive feast of turkey and all the trimmings at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Pump Street.

The event was organised by local churches and concerned residents and businesses.

The food was donated by church members and other well-wishers, and cooked and by a team of Volunteers.

Jim Harker of the Hope Church, one of the organisers, said: "It's something that we've done for several years and we find that it's really appreciated.

One of the volunteer chefs, whose first name is Adam, said that he had been homeless himself several years ago.

He said: "I really like cooking for people, and because I know what it is like, it's great that I can do something to help. As a Christian, I want to help others."

St Andrew's church will also be distributing warm winter clothing and sleeping bags that have been collected by the employees of local firms.

Over the past two months, employees at parcel collection service, Pass My Parcel, and its sister brands, the newspaper and magazine wholesaler Smiths News, coffee company Jack’s Beans and Tuffnells Parcels Express, have been urging locals to donate any unwanted winter clothing to help homeless and vulnerable people in Worcester this Christmas.

The initiative forms part of the firm’s annual Pass It On charity campaign which will see the firm hosting a series of events throughout the year to help the nation’s most vulnerable.

Now in its second year, this year’s campaign saw the team receiving an astounding number of winter clothing and sleeping bags which the team will be donating to homeless and rough sleepers.