YEAR seven pupils from Wootton Bassett School have been baking mince pies to give to a local homeless charity.

The baking group, ‘Bassett Bakers and Royal Icers’, decided they wanted to contribute something to the community by helping local people.

The pupils took the time after school yesterday to bake the pies, looked after and advised by head of food and KS3 design and technology co-ordinator Deborah Sheehan.

Royal Wootton Bassett Town Councillor Sue Hughes has also been involved in the project and was helping out in the classroom.

Coun Hughes has been volunteering for the homeless charity, the Filling Station, for two years.

She said: “This is a brilliant project and it is great to see the children getting involved. Homeless is a real issue at the moment and is increasing with the financial climate.”

The Filling Station is a twice-weekly project in Swindon that has been running for 16 years, from Queenstown Car Park next to the Carfax NHS Medical Centre.

It’s held every Tuesday and Thursday from 7pm-8pm, and provides a soup kitchen, along with hotdogs, cakes and biscuits. They also aim to provide a ‘care package’ to every person who comes along including blankets, sleeping bags and candles.

Deborah Sheehan learned of the project and the plight of homeless people in the Royal Wootton Bassett area from a nurse she met and decided to get her pupils’ involved.

“I wanted to do something to highlight the problem, it was a surprise to realise there were homeless people in Royal Wootton Bassett, you never think of these problems as being on your own doorstep,” she said.

The cooking group was set up in September and they are hoping to stage other events throughout the year.

The group meets twice a term and one meeting per term will be devoted to projects which will help others in the community, with a Master Bake Off next July.

Georgia Turner, 11, from Royal Wootton Bassett, said; “I got involved because I really enjoy cooking and I like our Food Technology teacher also.”

Semi Seru, 11, from Lyneham, added; “It’s nice to do something to help the community, especially the homeless in Wootton Bassett.”