A REMARKABLE gesture from the people of Bolton saw 3,000 of the town's poorest people tuck into Christmas dinner.

Homelessness charity Urban Outreach distributed nearly 1,000 hampers to households across the town on December 23.

Community groups and organisations collected 965 hampers from a unit on the Trinity Retail Park — meaning an estimated 2,960 benefited from them.

Dave Bagley, the charity's chief executive, said the generosity of those donating was humbling and that nothing like this had been done before in the town.

Greater Manchester Police, churches, social services, Bolton at Home and housing associations were among the 72 groups to collect hampers.

About 70 volunteers for Urban Outreach contributed to the effort.

Mr Bagley said: "It was remarkable. Just the sheer number of people that were involved and the thousands that have made this possible.

"It showed Bolton in its best light and I don't we have seen anything like this ever before.

"It showed a true sense of community spirit and an outpouring of such wonderful kindness."

The hampers, each worth about £45, were stacked with chickens, potatoes, vegetables, selection boxes, chocolates, Christmas puddings, crackers and other festive goods.

Keoghs solicitors donated 1,600 selection boxes, while pupils from Bolton School organised the collection of 1,005 packets of after-dinner mints.

Volunteers worked for nearly eight hours — often getting drenched by pouring rain — as they loaded the hampers into vehicles earlier this week.

Mr Bagley added: "It was a great laugh. All of us there together packing these things up.

"But it was also a humbling day and we owe a big thank you to everyone who contributed.

Urban Outreach expected up to 40,000 people, including those who donated individual items to the hampers, to have played a role in bringing hope to 1,000 households at Christmas.

Individual organisations applied for a certain number of hampers, which they distributed to households they deemed to be deserving of them.

Urban Outreach nearly doubled the number of households helped from the 600 reached last year.