THE SPIRIT of Christmas giving is alive and well in Droitwich, as one church has demonstrated through its record-breaking charity appeal.

Droitwich Spa Methodist Church smashed their previous fundraising efforts with this year's Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal, collecting a whopping 385 boxes to post out to youngsters in need around the world.

Donations of £1,000 were also collected which will help contribute to the costs of transporting the boxes to their destinations.

The reverend Jane Wilson, minister of the church, said: "We would like to thank everyone who came along to pack boxes and helped us achieve another record year.

"As yet we don’t know what the final destination of the boxes will be, but we have been sending boxes from this church for over 20 years and we know that since 1990, more than 124 million boys and girls in over 150 countries have experienced God’s love through the power of simple shoebox gifts from Operation Christmas Child."

A team of dedicated volunteers gave up their time to wrap the shoeboxes in brightly coloured, festive paper on Saturday, November 14 and the day after, another group spent the day packing them full of gifts.

Co-ordinator Jean Shail said: "Thank you to everyone for making the event so successful. People have been knitting hats and gloves, making pencil cases and toys, buying sweets and sending in gifts for the boxes all year, and the atmosphere on the packing day was wonderful.

"It was such a friendly, happy and sociable day which was great fun so nothing felt like a chore. The helpers on all the stalls, the tea and coffee makers and shoebox packers, checkers and stackers all worked tirelessly, and we were so pleased to welcome visitors from other churches and organisations who came to help ensure our success.

"It was an amazing day.”

David Shail, who also helped to co-ordinate the event, said: "Thank you to everyone who contributed their time, talents and donations to this successful project.

"Although we thought we had plenty of boxes we did run out so a few more were wrapped on the day.

"It seems unbelievable that from starting from a single box 20 years ago we are now up to almost 400.

"After a brief rest we will be starting preparations for 2016 and encouraging folks to start looking out for and making items for next year’s shoeboxes when perhaps we will reach the 400."

Operation Christmas Child is an international project which sends presents to impoverished children around the world.

Since 1990 more than 100 million children in more than 130 countries have received a shoebox through the charity.