GENEROUS staff from firms on Chineham Business Park have shown plenty of festive spirit by donating items to give to homeless and vulnerable people in Basingstoke.

Four team members at Level 3 Communications, which has offices in the Chineham Gate and Oakwood parts of the business park, in Crockford Lane, spearheaded the collections of food, clothing and toiletries for the Camrose Centre, in Church Square.

The Camrose Centre is a drop-in venue which aims to help homeless and vulnerable people, and is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10am and 2pm.

Rob Hayes, 33, Jack Smith, 25, Zoe Collins, 24, and Orla Parmar, 35, have been collecting items for six weeks after Rob sent an email to companies around the business park.

The collection is part of a company programme which allows employees to contribute eight hours to community projects whilst still being paid, each year.

Rob, an order manager for Level 3, said: “I got more than I thought. People were very generous – especially the smaller companies.

“There is no way I could have done this alone. I am absolutely delighted with the response – companies have been really supportive.”

Jack, a customer care manager and one of Rob’s handy helpers, praised his colleague, saying: “Rob has done well to organise this and we have been glad to help.

“To be able to help out this charity is a great feeling. In the run-up to Christmas, it adds to the feeling that we are doing something good.”

Catherine Goswell, manager at the Camrose Centre, told The Gazette: “These items will be so beneficial because we need to give out food packs and we have been running low, so it has been a massive boost. It is nice to have people acknowledging us and what we do here.”

Among the companies on the business park that provided items for the collection were Seal Dynamics, Imtech Traffic, Tridonic UK Limited, Kofax, Gist Limited, Gas Safe, the Omnico Group, Cirrus Logistics, the Willmott Dixon group, Tech Data and the NHS North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group.