Trust's goodwill move to Bulgaria

More than 2,000 Christmas shoeboxes have been collected by the Trussell Trust to be given to underprivileged people in Bulgaria.

The Wiltshire-based charity issued an appeal for everyday essentials to take out to poor families in the eastern European country.

The trust asked people to fill shoe boxes with items for donation.

A trust spokesman said it had collected more than 2,000 boxes at its Salisbury base and trucks were due to leave.

Spokesman Richard parsons said: "Last year orphaned children were so excited to have toys to call their own, whilst elderly people received boxes with tears in their eyes, touched that people in the UK had thought of them."