Every year BBB – a volunteer-led charity that supports families facing financial hardship by providing baby and child essentials – distributes around 300 bespoke hampers as part of its Christmas for Every Child campaign.  Now it has partnered with charitable leisure trust, Mytime Active, to make donating even easier for local residents.

Each hamper is filled with age-appropriate gifts including advent calendars, Christmas jumpers, toys, books, games, toiletries, pyjamas, supermarket vouchers, Christmas treats and even vouchers for older children to choose their own present.

Donation bins have been placed in the reception areas of Mytime Active’s The Spa at Beckenham, The Pavilion, The Walnuts and Crofton Halls leisure centres. Donations for the Christmas campaign, which can be made up until Friday 6 November, can include clean, pre-loved Christmas jumpers for anyone from babies through to adults, plus new pyjamas (ages 0-11) in non Christmas designs. Alternatively, gifts can be purchased directly from Bromley Brighter Beginning’s Christmas Shop: bit.ly/bbb-xmas-shop.

Packing begins on Sunday 22 November so hampers can be delivered by the beginning of December, enabling young children to open their advent calendar on 1 December and wear their festive jumper to Christmas Jumper Day at school.

Thousands of children in the London Borough of Bromley experience poverty. The BBB campaign began in 2016 and has grown from helping around 50 children to providing hampers for more than 700 children and their families last year.

Anna Austin, fundraising and communications lead for BBB, says: 'For families experiencing hardship, Christmas can be especially challenging. It’s often the time when the gap between what parents hope to give and what they can afford feels widest. Through this campaign, we aim to make sure children get to feel the joy of Christmas – something new to unwrap, something to talk about with friends and no reason to feel like they missed out. We’re excited to be partnering with Mytime Active, whose support will help us reach and support even more families across the borough.'

Steve May, CEO at Mytime Active, says: 'Christmas should be such a special time for families, but for those living in poverty the stress of facing a day with no presents to give their children can be immense. That’s why we’re supporting BBB’s Christmas for Every Child campaign at our leisure centres, encouraging the local community to each give one thing to help someone in need. So please pop in and help put a smile on a young child’s face this Christmas.

'The bins will then remain in our reception areas throughout the year, with collection needs changing to reflect BBB’s ongoing support for local families.'

Schools, businesses and other local groups can also host collections by contacting jenny@bromleybrighterbeginnings.org.uk.