THE sight of homeless people trying to keep warm on the streets of Swindon prompted a tender-hearted youngster to come up with the idea of a fundraiser to help provide them with basic essentials.

Eleven-year-old Chloe Lewis took the suggestion to her dance teacher and on Saturday they put their all into a two-hour dance-a-thon at the Memorial Hall in Royal Wootton Bassett.

The youngster had been upset thinking about the plight of folk living on the streets with little or no shelter and couldn’t stop thinking about them.

“Before Christmas we went into town and the situation with the homeless in Swindon had got quite bad,” said mum Vivien.

“Every time we go into town she wants me to buy them coffee.”

Determined to do something to help she went to her teacher Charlotte Black at NST Dance and together they devised the fundraiser.

Pupils at the school put their best feet forward, with key stage 2 dancers going non-stop for two hours while younger members of the troupe pranced and pirouetted for an hour.

“They did fantastically well,” Charlotte told the Advertiser. “They certainly showed perseverance and their team skills were great. They were helping and encouraging each other.”

They managed to raise in the region of £270 although the final figure is expected to be around £300, and the plan is to buy small everyday essentials to put in shoeboxes so they can be handed out to people living on the street by Swindon Helping Hands. Wroughton Co-op also donated £15 of food to the cause.

The group was formed late last year with the aim of helping the town’s rough sleepers keep warm and well fed.

Its next fundraiser is a night out at Meca with live music on March 17. Meanwhile the NST dancers are preparing for their summer show based on the theme of the Greatest Showman.