Staff at Kent Blaxill in Colchester have collected 26 rucksacks containing items to be sent to Malawi.

The rucksacks are filled with food, clothes, toiletries and school equipment for the Mary’s Meals charity, which is currently feeding 923,572 of the poorest children around the world, most of whom are suffering as a result of war, poverty, famine or natural disasters.

The collection was organised by Kent Blaxill’s Monica Hartley. She said: “Initially we were aiming for eight rucksacks, but things snowballed as people got into the festive mood, with rucksacks coming in from across the company.”