A FAMILY of seven who are facing a bleak New Year after redundancies at H&H Electronics in Porte Marsh Road, Calne, have received gifts from kind-hearted Gazette reader Geraldine Aust.

Lynn and Neil Elliot, of The Knapp, Calne, were one of 38 families left shattered when the firm laid-off almost half of its workforce before Christmas.

The firm, which has gone into receivership, is still paying its remaining staff, but those who lost their jobs also lost their final wage packet for Christmas, and they will not receive their redundancy for months.

As a result, the Elliots had to tell their five children, aged between 22 months to 18, that they would not be able to afford the Christmas they had planned.

Mrs Elliot said: "My husband has been at the company for 23 years. We are receiving a crisis loan for food and electric but we still have no money for more Christmas presents.

"To make matters worse, we've been told that it could take months to get the money we are still owed."

Hearing of their plight, mother-of-one, Mrs Aust, 40, of Malmesbury Road, Chippenham, contacted the Gazette offering to help.

"It's only a small gesture, but I have given Mrs Elliot some toys. The family must have been heartbroken to receive such a blow so near to Christmas."