In the corner of a small Bolton retail park there's a little bit of Christmas magic taking place.
A space which was previously occupied by a Ninja park has been filled with pallets stacked high with non-perishable food and drink items and over the course of the weekend, almost 200 volunteers visited the unit to help pack Christmas dinner hampers for the most vulnerable people in the borough.
The annual project, which is called 'Christmas Dinner On Jesus', is the brainchild of Dave Bagley - the founder of Bolton's Urban Outreach charity.
Explaining how the inspiration for the project came about, he said: "About eight or nine years ago now, I did an assembly at St James's High School in Farnworth, and I said to the kids 'if Jesus was going to take you out for lunch, what would he take you out for?'
"The first year, the kids at the school packed 60 hampers and the day they were packing, Ofsted were in the school so it was a bit chaotic. Ofsted officers were chasing Brussels sprouts which had spilled out of bags!
"Since then it's just grown and grown. It's a phenomena that we manage to get Christmas dinner to people every year."
Last Christmas, Urban Outreach delivered 1,263 Christmas hampers. This year's target is 1,200 hampers and an additional 400 bags for 'single' people.
At the first packing session of the year, on Friday morning (December 18), Mr Bagley's son Sam started the day with a prayer and gave instructions on how the hampers would be packed in a socially distanced manner.
Tables were set up two metres apart inside the former Yusha Ninja unit at Trinity Retail Park and each volunteer individually picked up a box, took it to each table in turn and placed various items inside.
Sam Bagley said: "It's been very different and we've had a lot of sleepless nights working out how we're going to make it socially distant and still make it fun and accessible for people.
"It's been a fantastic turn out. We have 50 people in for each session and it was booked up within four days. With everything going on, people have been itching to get involved."
Acting as 'quality control' at the end of the packing line, Sam Bagley's wife Laura put the finishing touches on all of the boxes.
"We knew that we would always do hampers and that we'd find a way to make it work," she added.
"I think the biggest challenge has been trying to work out what we do if the rules changed."
Once completed, each box should contain: a foil tray, instructions/recipes, a bottle of Shloer, cranberry sauce, cans of fizzy pop, a Christmas pudding, brandy sauce/custard, chocolate mints, gravy granules, stuffing, mince pies, biscuits, crackers for cheese, luxury crisps, Christmas crackers, and a Christmas card.
A couple of days before Christmas, a selection of vegetables will be added to the packs, along with cheese and either a whole chicken or an equivalent vegetarian option.
Two of the volunteers in attendance on Friday morning were Rachel Bridge and Rachel Cowling, who came along to the packing session with a church group.
They said: "We've brought about 15 volunteers in total. Urban Outreach is also reaching out to the most vulnerable in our society.
"This is our first year volunteering and we're trying to do our bit for deprivation in our local town."
Alicia Wyke and Oliver Stanthorpe also heard about the project through their their respective churches.
Alicia said: "There are so many people who need it.
Oliver added: "Everyone knows someone who needs something like this and this fills a gap for so many people.
"It brings families together and puts a smile on the face of people who might usually hate Christmas because it's just such a difficult time for them."
