Staff at a leading law firm have been getting in the Christmas spirit by stocking up Christmas hampers to donate to local food banks across North Wales and Cheshire.

The idea came from Awel Haf Roberts, a legal secretary at Swayne Johnson’s St Asaph branch and has been enthusiastically taken up by her colleagues at the company which has six offices across the region.

They have now amassed a bumper mix of Christmas treats and staples at the offices in Menai Bridge, Llandudno, St Asaph, Denbigh, Ruthin and Tattenhall, near Chester and these will be delivered to each office’s local food bank this week – the St Asaph hampers will go to the food bank at Rhyl.

Awel said: “Our motto is always to give back to the community and I thought this would be a good way to do that because it is unbelievable how many people do rely on food banks.

“I thought it would be a really rewarding thing to do at Christmas which really is all about giving.

“The food banks have asked for non-perishable goods but we have also added some treats as well – we have done secret Santa in the past but this just seemed a good idea.

“We at St Asaph have put a food donation box in the office so that we can collect as much food as we can for our local food bank in Rhyl and the response has been excellent.

“We have had plenty of donations from clients as well so it has been a really simple but gratifying way of giving back to our community.

“All the other offices have come on board and created their own collection points so we have boxes for the food banks in Rhyl, Denbigh, Ruthin, Anglesey and Chester.”

Normally food banks provide three-day parcels for their customers but over Christmas they intend to provide seven-day parcels to last the Christmas week.

They are particularly keen to receive Long Life juice, tinned goods and cooking sauces, coffee and tea, UHT and powdered milk, cereals, jams and treats including chocolate, biscuits, Christmas puddings, mince pies, sweets and Christmas crackers.

Yvonne Hughes, a solicitor and Court of Protection Panel Deputy, said: “We’ve had a fantastic response in each office and the items donated are all things that will be used and appreciated.

“We’ve even had donations of dog biscuits and cat food because after all it’s Christmas for pets as well.”

For more information on food banks see the Trussel Trust website: https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/emergency-food/food-parcel/ and for more on Swayne Johnson go to

http://www.swaynejohnson.com/.