SOME of Swindon’s most vulnerable children will be waking up with Christmas smiles on their faces.

Staff at Nationwide’s Windmill Hill offices have clubbed together to buy more than 130 presents for youngsters facing this Christmas in care.

The gifts, which range from a weighty plastic digger to perfume sets for the older children, will be handed over to the council’s children’s services team next week.

It is the second year the firm has run the scheme, asking staff members to buy gifts – or club together as teams to donate a Christmas present.

Organiser Natasha Woolf, an operations manager at Nationwide, said: “We did it last year, but the teams in the building asked if we could do it again.”

Around 50 staff members have been involved, buying presents for 132 children cared for by Swindon Borough Council’s children’s services team.

Natasha said: “They gave us a list of the children’s ages and genders. We’ve got presents for all of them. The youngest is two months and the oldest 17.

“We gave everyone free reign. Some teams have done it as a team collection, while others said they have been getting their children to buy them.”

Natasha said she had bought one young girl a game of Connect Four. “I thought it was quite fun when I enjoyed it as a child,” she said. “I’ve got a niece who is obsessed by it.”

The presents have all been wrapped with colourful festive paper, with a tag on each gift denoting the age and sex of the lucky recipient.

The gifts will be delivered to the borough council next Wednesday.

Councillor Fionuala Foley, cabinet member for children's services, said: “This is such a touching gesture and will mean so much to the young people who receive the gifts.

“I would like to thank all the staff at Nationwide for their generosity and for helping to make Christmas that little bit more special for the children in our care.”